Fascinating article by Ken Castle on use of Social Media for ski marketing from March 2010 issue of Ski Area Management Magazine
http://www.saminfo.com/issues/article.php?tid=3839Highlights/article excerpts:
Online communities (such as DCSki?) are mere flirtations compared to the engagement potential of Social Media.
Social media gateways Facebook, Myspace, Flickr, Twitter and YouTube are now fully validated and serve a voracious user group that demands constant feeding.
participation rapidly increasing and age demographics edging upward.
Vail Resorts CEO Rob Katz said online video has become the most powerful tool in destination ski marketing, especially in the early season, subsequently they've pulled back significantly on long-lead magazine print advertising in favor of real-time messaging through social media.
web monitoring services such as Vocus and Radian6 help marketers track relevant social media activity
trash talk and rumors can spread like wildfire, the trend of top management having a direct and personal "voice" can be a powerful communications tool to calm the angst because it carries credibility and gravitas
there is no returning to the old days of managed information and the hard sell. If you spin a snow report that anyone finds questionable, the contrarian posts will fly like darts. If you use Twitter and Facebook only to sell something, users will castigate you as a spammer.
With the benefits of social media comes the need to exercise social responsibility and transparency, and to understand the rules of engagement. The formula for developing a positive relationship with online communities is to be honest, informative and entertaining.
