Page 20 - Summer 2014

BEST SOCIAL MEDIA CAMPAIGN Instagram and tweeted more than 100 times. Deer Valley Resort Company, Utah Deer Valley’s website and TV monitors displayed aggre- In the interest of getting it right the first gated user-generated content from social networks, gathering time, Deer Valley conducted online 759 #SkiTheDifference photos from 341 users, with more than research and onsite surveys to provide a 1 million followers on Twitter and Instagram. In three months, strategic foundation for its 2013-14 social five Facebook posts accumulated 58,734 views, two Instagram media campaign. The information gleaned posts tallied 800 likes, and four tweets had 30 retweets. In addi- from those efforts was invaluable—inform- tion the resort sponsored a highly successful #SkiTheDifference ing not only the social media initiative but Pinterest board. also the resort’s overall marketing strategy. Deer Valley’s 24,898 Facebook “likes” as of October 31, Those surveyed indicated that connecting and reconnect- 2013, grew to 28,406 by March 13, a 14 percent increase. The ing with family and friends while having everything taken care number of Twitter followers over two accounts grew from 8,665 of for them was the motivation to choose a Deer Valley vacation. to 11,689, a 35 percent increase, and Instagram followers grew “Knowing that all ski resorts have certain things in common, from 1,974 to 5,383, or 172 percent. Deer Valley focuses on the details that make guests’ vacations easier and more enjoyable,” said Coleen Reardon, director of BEST DIRECT MARKETING PROGRAM marketing. Hence, the resort integrated its “Ski The Difference” Roundtop Mountain Resort, Pennsylvania tagline into a simple hashtag with the objective of promot- Less-than-ideal scores from a Net ing the resort philosophy and helping guests share how they Promoter Survey motivated #SkiTheDifference with family, friends, and other guests. Roundtop to go the extra mile and The resort developed contests to encourage guests to use the check in with guests personally for hashtag when posting on social media platforms. Facebook con- insight and direction, resulting in tests translated over all platforms, with giveaways on Twitter and a response so positive that even the regram contests on Instagram. The first week-long contest added marketing department was surprised. Taking a cue from the 747 fans to the resort’s Facebook page, boosting total reach from Golden Rule, the resort adhered to three maxims to boost tepid 99,486 to 220,667 people, and Twitter accounts gained 524 ratings on the website and online store: 1) Listen to the guests new followers. A regram contest started off with 3,229 follow- intently, 2) Respond to the guests respectfully, and 3) Act upon ers and 178 photos shared; at week’s end the number of photos what we learn. shared nearly doubled. Roundtop committed to viewing the survey results as a A three-week photo contest drew 786 entries, and 86,938 marketing opportunity, and the data became the focus of weekly people engaged with the resort’s Facebook page. Through pro- staff meetings. The marketing department included every rental moted posts and fans sharing photos, the contest reached and snow-tubing guest in the questionnaires too. “Even though 668,630 people. More than 1,000 photos were shared on we knew this would inevitably skew our scores lower (even on a perfect day, no one really wants to be in rentals), we felt that the informa- GE Capital tion gained would be well worth it,” said Corporate Finance Chris Dudding, marketing director. The resort responded personally to EQUIPMENT FINANCING. every guest who submitted a negative AND AN ALL SEASON PASS comment or unsatisfactory score to any of TO GE BEST PRACTICES. the major categories listed. “Most guests were surprised that we responded at all; Visit GECapital.com/corporatefinance or call 1-800-326-6342. in fact, many were surprised that any- one even read the surveys,” Dudding said. “Of the 233 guests with unsatisfactory experiences that we replied to, only one (continued on p. 60) 18 | NSAA Journal | SUMMER 2014 w w w. n s a a . o rg NSAA Summer 2014 prepressed v6a.indd 18 7/3/14 4:19 PM