Let’s suppose, for a minute, that you’re sitting in a bar. A friend walks up to you and says, “Dude, you will not believe how awesome my day was!” Minutes later, another friend walks up and asks, “Dude, you were ripping that powder so hard today! Where did you get so good?” Which friend, of the two, would you be more inclined to talk to? My guess is, the later. Why? Because humans are kind of funny, the same things can be said in a conversation, but if the subject is us we like it. If the subject is someone else, we don’t. Yes, this is shocking news, but we like to talk about ourselves and one of the people I think knows this best is my kid sister.

Her Facebook profile is made up of questions, almost exclusively. Rarely does she post anything else, here are a few recent ones from the last week:

• “Where do you want to be in 2 years?”
• ‘How does your body react to anger? Any unusual symptoms? Perhaps blushing? Blood veins? Red eyes?”
• “What do you find extremely satisfying?”

Now, each of these questions arose for a reason: she was in that situation herself. At that point she could have done one of two things: she could have said, “I hope in 2 years I am living in Boston…” or should could put it as a question, “Where do YOU want to be in two years?” Are you seeing what I’m seeing?

One is about only herself, the other gets people to talk about themselves which, as we discovered just minutes ago, is something we like to do. Funny thing, as people comment, they usually end up asking about her and she is able to share what she wanted to in the first place. The difference? Oh about a dozen comments and likes.

Realize This
When you send a message over a social media channel, the people that are reading it are NOT skiing the powder you are talking about. They are not sitting next to you on your first lift ride on a day with perfect groomers and they are not sliding rails in the park. While many people DO turn to social media to hear how good the day was they just missed, more often than not these status updates come across like the first bar-friend, only talking about themselves.

If you want to avoid what Brian Reagan calls the “me monster“, give your followers and fans and chance to talk about themselves. Interestingly enough, that this is also a great way to do simple market research and build buzz around new things, you can even do both at once:

• “That snow is looking nice and firm.  What is your favorite run on a groomer day?”
• “Wow, just tried the new turkey chili in the lodge!  What’s your favorite ski day meal?”
• “I just met someone that drove 3 hours to get here. How long does your ski commute take?

Get them talking and maybe, just maybe, your brand will be like that second friend in the bar.

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.