It’s the magical time of year. The time of year when resorts can’t seem to decide if they are more excited for leaves changing now or snow(making) coming soon
For example, as I scrolled through my Twitter feed just now, four posts in succession were:
Sometimes it’s hard to believe Breckenridge is real… #BreckLife pic.twitter.com/n1WqCDLI8O
— Breckenridge, Colorado (@GoBreck) September 15, 2018
Getting closer… 28 days!
Wildcat Snowmakers are getting ready to fire up. Hope you're ready for the season too.
Great deals on lift tickets now at https://t.co/INoxXvAsHw pic.twitter.com/9PtjdlhG4o— Wildcat Mountain (@skiwildcat) September 17, 2018
It may be a couple days early, but we're just excited to kick off fall. Come on up this Thursday for the VT Beer Pairing Pop-Up Series featuring @CollectiveBrew, a brand new route for the Suffer Fest, and an art show with works by local artists and curated by Collective Arts. pic.twitter.com/Vk4axxsR4q
— Bolton Valley (@BoltonValley) September 17, 2018
There is plenty new at Cypress Mountain for the 18/19 Winter Season! New Snowmaking, New RFID Technology, 2 New Snow Cats, Lots of Slope Improvements on Top Gun, Panorama, Horizon, First Sun, Coyote 7, New night lighting on Cat Track Run and so much more! https://t.co/Ian8e9w8vQ pic.twitter.com/xeeODYdK7B
— Cypress Mountain (@Cypressmtn) September 17, 2018
There is, of course, no “right” answer. Many resorts can fill rooms with leaf peepers much more than they can with early season skiers. But season pass deadlines are rapidly approaching.
The one thing I’ll share is this little analysis from Tuesday Trends a couple years ago. The question was:
The last month has been a gold mine for ski resort content. Fall leaves arrived and peaked with some of the best colors in years at some resorts. At the same time, the first snow dusted mountain tops and snowguns were tested in preparation for the upcoming ski season. But which earned the most engagement?
The results? Rather clear.
Not Just Snow
But I think the lesson here isn’t to focus solely on snow, but simply to remember that ski resort social media accounts are like magnets and skiers are like spare bits of metal. By the nature of their core, most-months-of-the-year product (skiing), your follower lists are going to be filled with people who naturally get more excited at snow than they do at fall leaves.
But just like not all skiers like groomers or need lessons or drive far enough to want a bed to stay the night, we shouldn’t let the fact that a group is a minority get in the way of their existence and sharing updates and offers and stories about that part of your story.
So I share those golden aspens and share those red maples. Especially if they are covered in a dusting of snow ;)
About Gregg & SlopeFillers
I've had more first-time visitors lately, so adding a quick "about" section. I started SlopeFillers in 2010
with the simple goal of sharing great resort marketing strategies. Today I run marketing for resort ecommerce and CRM provider
Inntopia,
my home mountain is the lovely Nordic Valley,
and my favorite marketing campaign remains the Ski Utah TV show that sold me on skiing as a kid in the 90s.
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