• Instagram grew from 76%
• Twitter fell from 53% and moved from fourth to fifth place
• YouTube took fourth place, up from 53%
• TikTok increased from 5%

Speaking of the TikTok Craze

TikTok was the second most installed non-gaming app worldwide in January 2021, with close to 62 million installs. The countries with the largest TikTok installs were from Douyin in China at 17 percent, followed by the United States at 10 percent.

Search Engine Optimization is an important element of Content Marketing

In 2021, 69% of content marketers invested in SEO, using it for strategic keywords (70%), localization (50%), and mobile optimization (48%). Optimization is becoming more about creating the best possible tailored experience for users.

Podcasts on the Rise

Podcast Insights reports there are more than 2,000,000 podcast shows, and that number continues to grow. Podcast listeners are much more active on every social media channel (94% are active on at least one – vs. 81% for the entire population). Podcast listeners are more likely to follow companies and brands on social media, and 80% listen to all or most of each podcast episode.

Data and Research

Content marketers are investing more in gathering proprietary data and benchmarks using tools such as Google Surveys. Eighty-three percent of marketers are conducting market research, and 88% of companies use market research to make business decisions. Of those surveyed, 67% of marketers plan on increasing market research spend in the next year. The top two technologies B2B organizations use to assist with content marketing are analytics tools (86%) and email marketing software (85%).

Trends and stats are continuously evolving rapidly, so the focus needs to be on adaptability rather than certainty. See how our experienced team can help you with content development, content marketing strategy, SEO, and more.

Do you hate the giant paragraphs of text that articles make you read through before you get to the main point? Us too! Without 800 words of rambling text about why SEO tools are important, here’s a few of our favorites  

SEMRush: A fan favorite, SEO users love that you can easily compare your website against your competitors. A detailed report allows you to better understand your website’s traffic, paid and organic keywords, SEO content, position tracking, and overall website analytics. A helpful tool is the writing assistant that quickly quantifies content optimization and offers suggestions for improvement. 

Cost: Pricing ranges between $119 to $449. 

Screaming Frog: Considered one of the best among SEO experts, Screaming Frog quickly extracts data to provide valuable insight for each page on your website. It’s incredibly user-friendly and has one of the best copy/paste features, and includes any other URL data you may need as well. A beneficial feature is that it provides a complete list of 404 errors and a list of where to find and fix them. 

Cost: Screaming Frog is free, however you can purchase a license to crawl more URLs and have access to advanced features. 

Sitebulb: A website crawler or search engine bot, this tool provides enhanced visuals and a prioritized list with actionable recommendations for a comprehensive analysis. Many of its features go far beyond standard SEO audits for a deep dive to communicate complex ideas with your users better.

Cost: $35 per month for single user license, then $3.50 per month per extra user.

Google Search Console: A free tool for everyone with a website, Google Search Console allows you to monitor your website in Google’s SERP (Search Engine Results Page). It is different from Google Analytics in that it is search-engine focused, rather than user-oriented, and provides insight to improve website visibility and presence in Google search results. Easy to read graphs and reports, Google Search Console supports multiple domains and can sort based on times and pages.

Cost: Free

Google Analytics: A SEO staple, Google Analytics is tried and true to track overall website activity and collect visitor insights. Especially helpful in reporting to a general audience, Google Analytics provides detailed data yet easy to understand insights such as demographics, bounce rate, time on page, incoming traffic, etc. An internet standard, Google Analytics is extremely user-friendly, and best of all, it’s free.

  Cost: Free

Clearscope: A SEO content writing tool, Clearscope gives you a letter grade for top-ranked articles. It makes revamping content easy with its text editor tool that outlines SEO content, suggests relevant keywords to use, performs competitive search terms, and gives an overall “score.” Excellent for new content development, Clearscope helps streamline the writing process with an easy-to-use interface and delivers robust SEO algorithms.

Cost: The Essentials plan starts at $170.00 per month with custom pricing available. 

SpyFu: A bit more complex but reasonably priced, SpyFu is a great overall package. It offers a wide selection of keyword search and management tools along with interactive reporting. A helpful tool is the ability to see how competitor websites rank in a keyword search, how much they spend on pay per click and view their ads. 

Cost: There are three subscription levels available: 

• Basic – $79/month or $49/month (paid annually) 
• Professional – $193/month or $75/month (annually) 
• Agency – $999/month (monthly) or $833/month (annually) 

Rank Math: A WordPress SEO plugin, Rank Math is an upgrade from the free version of Yoast but comes with premium features at no extra cost. Rank Math has many features, including SEO analysis with a position chart, adding alternate attributes to images, redirect manager, social media optimization, multiple keyword focus, and more. With all of these free features, you can see why Rank Math is one of the fastest-growing SEO plugins. 

Cost: Plans are available for individuals at $59 per year and businesses for $199 per year.

Yoast: One of the most popular SEO plugins for WordPress sites, Yoast is a valuable tool in setting targeted keywords, managing sitemap integration, meta descriptions/titles, built-in readability score analysis, and improving overall website optimization. Offering both a free and premium option, Yoast is user-friendly, with detailed on-screen instructions for each feature. Plus, you can find a comprehensive offering of free tutorials and guides since it is widely implemented across millions of WordPress sites. 

Cost: Free trial with price per website 

Check out how our team of experts can help improve your SEO with an actionable plan.  

If you are looking to get started with TikTok videos or Instagram Reels for your business, here’s some ideas of where you can start! 

1.     Get Involved in Trending Challenges

TikTok has become synonymous with viral challenges. Challenges are a unique way to get your followers to create user-generated content that aligns with your brand standards and that you can share on your platforms. These can include dance and musical faceoffs to simple or off-the-wall activities – really anything that can be easily replicated and engaging enough for audiences to participate. 

2.     Helpful Tips 

Posting simple timesaving tips and lifehacks of your product will have users coming back for more. The more practical and easier to incorporate, the more trust and rapport you build with your followers. Brands can entertain and educate if they are authentic and bring some personality to capture the attention and engagement of users. 

3.     Go Behind-the-Scenes 

Everyone likes to get the inside scoop. Give a behind-the-scenes tour of your brand, the people who work there, or tell the story of how the business got started. This can be inspiring to many followers and brings a human touch and connection to your content. TikTok & Instagram have made video creation easy, so you no longer need a large video or production crew to get your content viewed and shared.  

4.     Partner With an Influencer 

Whether you love them or hate them, influencers are thriving, especially on TikTok on Instagram. Look beyond influencers’ follower numbers to ensure that they represent the image and values that align with your brand. Brands should select influencers with an engaged audience and who have worked with similar brands or products. It’s essential to be strategic in your selection and to set clear expectations for posting since users will remember what you share. 

5.     Take a Stand 

Social Media platforms have become important for social and political issues. Brands are going beyond using social to educate and inform their audience, but also asking for a call to action. Incorporating trending hashtags on cultural issues such as #BlackLivesMatter and #Pride can elevate the algorithm, allowing educational content to be seen by millions. 

6.     Make a Tutorial 

Who has time to watch a lengthy video? The truth is users want their information quickly and in small digestible form. More users are turning to TikTok and Instagram as places to discover how-to and informative videos. These videos go beyond standard step-by-step instructions and feature fun music, effects, and visuals that appeal to your audience.

7.     Cover News in Your Industry 

If your target audience is younger (ages 16-30) and you want to keep them informed of happenings in your industry, TikTok n& IG are excellent platforms. By creating industry-relevant content and sharing related stories, you can become a reliable hub for users who will return again and again to receive the most up-to-date industry news. More importantly, you will create brand recognition and get in front of a new generation of consumers you weren’t reaching before. 

8.     Run a Contest 

Everyone wants the chance to win something for free. The better the prize, the more enticing it is for users to spread the word organically. Keep the contest simple and accessible. Make sure it relates to brand standards and is authentic. If not, the followers that you do gain will quickly disappear after the contest is over. Before running any contest, ensure to follow all platform rules and guidelines to maximize engagement and performance. 

9.     Try Something New

If there ever was a platform to try something wild and out of the box, it’s TikTok & IG Reels. It’s all about experimenting with trends, visuals, and effects to see what users respond to. Businesses and brands that thrive the most on TikTok are the ones that post videos that are light-hearted, funny, and don’t take themselves too seriously. For creative inspiration, check out what similar or competing brands are doing to see how you can get creative with your content to set you apart. 

10. Interact With Your Audience

TikTok & Reels are an opportunity to connect and interact with your audience as people rather than as a business. Users aren’t looking to watch objects; they want to see the people and faces that make up the brand. The more you create and share videos, and as your followers grow, the more they will interact with you. They may recreate your videos, use your products in their videos, and record responses to your videos. These are exciting ways to engage with your audience and keep sharing your content with them. 

See more video marketing stats that brands shouldn’t ignore here

#1 It’s Affordable

You may think you need a large advertising budget to begin boosting, but a few dollars can go a long way. Compared to other traditional advertising like tv, radio, and print, social media boosting is very cost-effective. You can expect to pay around $6 per 1000 views for boosted posts on average. The cost will ultimately depend on your target audience, as well as the number of people you’re trying to reach.

#2 Define Your Target Audience

When you boost, you have control in determining who will see your posts and define what groups are your target audiences. Choose a location, age, gender, education, interests, relationship status, and more to determine the specific groups of consumers most likely to want your product or service. You can create multiple audiences depending on the content and even select behavior traits associated with similar brands or products. You also have the option to choose people who currently like your page or your followers plus their friends.

#3 Capitalize on Popular Posts

If one of your posts performs well organically, it makes sense to boost or promote it, knowing that the content will most likely do well with a larger audience. Or, if you see good results from a current boosted post, you can extend the duration and budget to increase its visibility. By quickly seeing how users respond and engage with the post, you can create future posts using the same content strategy.

#4 Quickly See What’s Working and What’s Not

By boosting a post, you get access to various analytics that show how well the post is performing. If you see a boosted post performing well on one platform, it can be a strong signal to promote the same content on another social media channel. Since boosting is affordable, implement A/B testing with two posts and boost them together to see how different audiences respond. With this data, you can learn what content works best and refine your strategy.

#5 Build Impressions and Engagement Faster

Both impressions and engagement are critical to increasing brand awareness. The more impressions, the more people are viewing your content. The next step is having your audience engage with your content through interactions such as likes, comments, shares, retweets, etc. Boosting provides both at a faster rate. By boosting just some of your posts, you increase the likelihood your impressions and engagement will grow. If you are working on a limited budget, save your boosted posts for important announcements, events, limited deals, and sales to maximize exposure.

#6 Build New Followers

Gaining new followers takes time, especially when you are trying to build your audience on several platforms. Boosting is an efficient way to grow your audience and get new users to see your content repeatedly. This is a crucial step to building rapport and gaining trust with new followers. Also, since Facebook’s organic reach is less than 5%, boosting ensures that your current followers continue to see and engage with your content to stay connected.

You can put all the content you want out there, but if you aren’t analyzing how it performs, you don’t know where it’s landing or how effective it is. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) evaluate how effectively marketing activities positively impact your business objectives and goals. Are potential customers able to easily find you, are current customers engaged and responding to your calls to action?  Measuring your KPIs will tell you what’s working and what needs improvement.

Tools to Use

Google has a plethora of marketing tools at your disposal. However, knowing which ones provide the insight and data you need will be most effective in increasing the number of visitors to your site.  The most popular, Google Analytics, is user-oriented and provides data related to how users interact with your website, such as visits, bounce rates, average page time, etc. Google Search Console is search-engine focused and gives insight on website visibility, search queries, click-through rates, HTML errors, and identifies opportunities to improve overall performance.

KPIs You Should Be Measuring  

You could spend days analyzing different performance data, so how do you know what is most important.  Understanding and tracking these 8 KPIs can provide a boost to your success online.

1. Organic Impressions

The number of times your landing page appears in search results viewed by a user is a good KPI indicator of how your content performs. If your impressions are high, it means that your content is consistently displaying in users’ search results.  This pre-click data is provided by Google Search Console and can help you determine what content is relevant.

If you aren’t receiving the impressions, you hoped for, adjust your landing page. To increase visibility, make sure your content is concise, up to date, and contains keywords that users frequently search.

2. Organic Queries

Using Google Search Console, organic queries (keywords) indicate the total number of searches that returned your landing page over a set time, not including paid searches. To optimize your content, you need to understand the connection between what users search for and how often your landing page appears in those queries. These reports will help you improve search engine optimization (SEO) to increase your site’s visibility and rankings in search results.

Exploring keyword data is essential, along with quality content that draws in new users.

3. Organic Traffic

Most of us cringe at traffic on the roads, but we welcome traffic to our website, quality traffic, that is. You want to be sure your content reaches your target audiences. Otherwise, users quickly leave your site and can increase your bounce rate. Google Analytics provides an in-depth look at the channels, sources, and referrals of how users find your landing page.

Once again, keywords play an important role along with optimizing existing content and creating fresh content.

4. Inbound Links 

Also known as backlinks, inbound links are website links that direct users back to your site. Google interprets inbound links as an indicator of how high quality your content is and is a crucial element in SEO.

Earned links take time to gain, but if your content is receiving consistent inbound links, you’ve got a strong indicator that it resonates with your target audience. 

5. Social referral traffic 

Measuring social traffic to your landing page from Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter allows you to monitor how many people you’re driving from social media to your website. Social referral traffic can be a great indicator that users are interested enough in your content to leave the social platform they are on.   

6. Social shares of the content 

Social shares can be powerful in KPIs. Someone else touting your excellence goes a lot further than you touting your own.  To increase social shares, leverage your existing audience to share your content with their social media, groups, influencers, and connections.  This allows your content to reach new users that previously you may not have had access to.

Not to be overlooked, make your content easy to share with accessible share buttons in all of your social channels.

7. Social Engagement Metrics for social posts sharing the content 

You’ve got a user’s attention, but are they engaging with your content? To increase performance, users need to be consistently engaging with your content in the form of likes, shares, and comments. Social engagement is part of a customer’s experience. Transparency, open dialogue, and two-way communication are what customers expect. Incorporating these elements will ensure you build a loyal community that stays engaged.

8. Conversion rate

How frequently are the number of visitors who, after clicking on a link, take action on your page, such as an email newsletter signup? A high conversion rate shows that users value your content and are compelled to act. A low conversion rate means you lost your audience at some point in their journey.

•         Was your call to action clear?
•         Were there too many steps to complete?
•         Is your page easy to navigate?

Conducting A/B testing can be effective in assessing if your content is performing or if other improvements need to be made to your site to increase conversions.

KPIs are more than just numbers on a spreadsheet or chart. They tell the story of how your marketing content is performing and how to improve your efforts. It would be best to analyze them monthly and compare them quarterly to ensure they align with your current marketing strategy and goals.

On the surface, video marketing may seem like a huge undertaking; it takes more time and money to produce than other forms of marketing. But, ultimately, it’s a trend other marketers are hopping on — and seeing a lot of success.

In fact, 85% of businesses today use video as a marketing tool, which is up from 61% in just 2016.  And that’s not slowing down anytime soon, as 80% of all internet traffic in 2021 will be video traffic. In other words: It’s time to get on board with video marketing.

With that, we’re sharing the top 2021 video marketing stats that prove you need it now. 

Video marketing works

Simply put: video marketing works. When done right, it works really, really, well. Although it takes more time to generate video content, it’s an investment that pays off. Here’s what we mean:

• 88% of video marketers say they’ve generated a positive ROI
• 93% of marketers have landed new customers through social media videos
• Video marketing can generate up to 66% more qualified leads per year
• Those who use video marketing can boost their brand awareness by 54%
• Videos have increased sales for 80% of video marketers

If that’s not enough to convince you yet, consider this: By 2022, it’s estimated that a whopping 82% of global internet traffic will come from video streaming and downloads — an 88% increase from just four years ago. The takeaway? There is virtually limitless potential in the future of video marketing. 

Videos drive more engagement

While other marketing tactics are still crucial to a successful strategy, video sees a bigger boost in overall engagement than other content forms. In fact, consumers will retain 95% of a video message vs. 10% of those who read it. And when it comes to social media, video engagement is much higher (and more successful) than image engagement. 

Take Facebook, for example. It’s no secret that it’s difficult to fight for attention on crowded newsfeeds. But one tactic that seems to be working? You guessed it: Video marketing.  According to Databox, video ads on Facebook have generated: 

• 20-30% higher conversion rates
• 2x increase in clicks
• 2-3x higher click-through rates

Your audience wants video

Because we know users are more engaged with video content, it only makes sense that they would want more of it. And that data certainly backs that up: 

• 54% of users want to see more video content from marketers 
• 60% of people would rather watch online videos than television 
• People watch an average of 16 hours of online video each week, which is up 52% from two years ago – a 52% increase in the last two years
• 85% of all U.S. Internet users watch online video content each month from any of their devices
• An overwhelming majority of consumers (72%) prefer to learn about new products through video content.

Video can be used virtually anywhere

Video marketing doesn’t have to be limited to the more obvious channels like YouTube or Facebook. With a successful video marketing strategy, you can expand videos to paid ads, blogs, product descriptions, social media, and much more. Beyond that, you can get incredibly creative with the types of videos you generate and market. Videos like:

• Blog, recipe, and e-commerce videos (websites with videos are 53x more likely to reach the front page of Google)
• Product videos (97% of marketers say video helps users understand their products and services better)
• Social media videos (social media posts with video generate up to 48% more views & 1200% more shares)

Kick-off your video marketing strategy with V9 Videos

Ready to launch your video marketing strategy? Our sister brand, V9 Vids, is ready to help. Our ultimate goal: making video marketing accessible to you. In other words: we make the videos, you see the results. 

Check out V9 Vid’s video marketing packages to launch your 2021 strategy now.

The ski industry’s marketers may get the shortest end of the ski-pole. But, we know their resilience (and years of practice) will shine this year, more than ever. For those ski industry marketers out there, we recommend getting back to the basics. Goodbye for now, flashy marketing campaigns, and hello, user-centric, inexpensive, marketing tactics.

1: Bulk Up The Informative Content 

Given the relative similarities amongst the competitors for core content, it becomes very important to think outside of the box. If Google and users are seeing “basically the same” site time and time again within the competitive set, small improvements in content breadth and quality can go a long way towards improved organic positions.

Tactically, this looks like reevaluating your ‘core content’ on the site, those most visited pages. Do they satisfy user-intent? Do they answer the most frequently asked questions? Do they include links for further reading? 

BEST EXAMPLE: You! After visiting more than a dozen site’s homepages they all began to blend together. They shout (buy a lift ticket!) rather than invite and inform.

COVID TIP: But first, before you revamp your core content, build a ‘bulletin board’ of up-to-date information on safety practices and protocols. This should be easy to find and present on every single page.

2: Redefine What Makes Your Resort Unique

As noted, the resorts take one of the following approaches: they are either trying to sell all the stuff that comes along with a ski vacation (i.e. things to do, logistics, lodging, etc.) or they are trying to think bigger and push the experience of a trip. When looking at the sites collectively, the approach of pushing experience overwhelmingly works better for content. It is more inspiring, more complete, and most likely better to convert. Furthermore, you can cover the same focus areas of the ‘selling’ sites while still pushing lifestyle. It is difficult to do the reverse.

BEST EXAMPLE: There is, perhaps, no domain doing a better job of emphasizing lifestyle than Aspen. They are far and above the best at showing the ideals, principles and guiding philosophy of their mountain. For example, nothing beats the ‘We Are Different‘ content silo on Aspen Snowmass. It encapsulates everything that they value. What’s more, the silo is not just a half-hearted tag-along piece of content. It is a core aspect of their content strategy online, just as the ideals are a core piece of who they are as a business. The combination is a powerful one.

COVID TIP: Speak candidly about how your resort supports your workers and your city. People want to feel like they are contributing more than just the price of a lift ticket, especially now.

3: Create First-Timers’ Guides

Most sites offer content to new visitors, but a few take it to the next level. Some of the best content we see exists in the form of comprehensive first timer’s guides. These are excellent content. We recommend all sites push a hard angle towards these new visitors. As much a resort can make them feel comfortable, informed, and excited ahead of time, the better. Plus, these should be relatively easy to put together as they consist of the basic info about a place.

BEST EXAMPLE: Jackson Hole is hard to get to, but worth the extra effort. And they built an app for that. We’d love to see other on-site content here too.

COVID TIP: A first time visitor will have a whole new set of concerns this year, therefore, you could test very unique formats to connect with them. What about hosting a welcome webinar? Or open up your chat feature? Or do an AMA on Facebook or Instagram live? 

BONUS TIP: Google loves showing current, up to date content in the SERPs. Users like seeing up-to-date reports from the mountain. The easiest way to do that is via social. A content strategy that strives to integrate these concepts would be very powerful.

4: Show Off Your Surroundings

All the sites talk about the epic and incredible locations in which they are situated, but few actually show what they mean. A huge opportunity lies in letting people explore, get to know, and experience the areas and people they will be visiting. The mountains are an incredible place. Create content that provides information and resources all about the area where people will be coming.

This could look like any number of creative ideas: you could talk about the geography of the area. You could write about the local history of the land and how people have engaged with it. You could highlight local shops that people love to visit.

BEST EXAMPLE: A lot of resorts sprinkle this in through all their marketing channels, but they haven’t given it a permanent home. The closest example we could find is Aspen Snowmass’s employee page. Who doesn’t want to get to know the locals and steal their tips?

COVID TIP: Let your people speak for you. Highlight seasonal workers, staff, and locals. Mimic the collection and tactics of ‘testimonials’, as ways to connect your visitors to your community, before they visit.

5: Continue to Leverage User-Generated Content

A way to further expand upon shared social content is to take it a step further by actually featuring and exploring user stories.

It is no secret that we live in an age where people love to share, show off, and generally distribute the cool things they do. A ski trip or a day on the hill is a very cool thing for most people. As such, the opportunity to tell a story and feature the experiences of others is huge. This content already exists to a large degree, so the key is to harness it and find ways to make it a core pillar of the on-site strategy.

BEST EXAMPLE: We encourage you to look beyond the ski industry for inspiration, often. Our favorite recent example is from medium-sized home decor and pottery shop in Kansas City. They make a habit of posting behind the scenes stories on Instagram and asking for feedback, constantly.

COVID TIP: Make these easy to find, so people can feel like they can capture a ‘live’ look at your resort, whenever they need it.

6: Focus on Demographic-Specific Content

Most competitors naturally segment their content by activity or function (i.e. lodging, vs. tickets vs. mountain info, etc.) However, very few attempt to organize content based on the actual users coming to the site. This lack of demographic segmentation within the content is striking. It’s almost unheard of for resorts to think of their content in a manner of, “Ok… I’m an avid skier, but not an expert looking for a hard-charging weekend. What do you have for me?”

Thinking about content generation and segmenting from a person’s perspective could be an incredible way to not only drum up new content ideas but also, to think about more effectively organizing content that already exists. The ski industry lends itself to fairly easily definable personas, so take advantage of this with custom-generated content generation.

BEST EXAMPLE: You again! We truly could not find a great example.

COVID TIP: Budgets will be tighter this year and building content not just for what type of skier they are, but also what type of experience they can afford this year.

7: Show off Your Environmentalism

For many, being on the mountain is about more than just skiing. In the face of mounting environmental, people, and legal pressures, the effort to protect and steward the mountains is growing. These pressures represent an opportunity.

Environmental protection, altruism, and support of worthy causes can be a key theme for any resort and represents a major content differentiator. Many of the competing sites talk about these things, but few show an actual commitment. In a growing age of focusing on these values, expanded content in this area could represent an opportunity to be a real leader with regard to this content by highlighting it on the site.

BEST EXAMPLE: Taos Ski Valley is the first-ever, B Corp ski resort. They must live what they market, thanks to these high B Corp standards.

COVID TIP: Find ways for visitors to become a bigger part of the change or help them understand the impact of their visit and how they can off-set it.

8: Optimize Your Old Videos

Most ski resorts are investing heavily in video, but some are doing it much better than others. For an industry that is so heavily dependent upon visuals, stories, and selling the experience, it is difficult to argue that there is any better medium to do this than with video.

However, properly optimizing a video requires a whole lot more than just putting it on a page. There are many techniques and tips you can use to ensure that you are getting maximum visibility out of not only the video itself but also out of the URL on which it sits. Here is an excellent resource for the top 10 video optimization tips you can use for improving your video’s impact.

BEST EXAMPLE: Almost all resorts! But do they begin to all look the same?

COVID TIP: Focus less on new content and reformat, enhance and optimize what you can.

9: Tell All About the Specifics of the Mountain

Nearly every competitor has a silo dedicated to ‘Mountain Information’. Each set of content looks generally the same: it explains mountain stats, vital info, how to get around, etc. This content is useful from an informational standpoint and has its place. However, it is still missing something vital.

Once visitors understand the general layout of things, they want to then know the specifics. They want to be able to find that information quickly and repeat users will reply on it, for each trip. details and will seek out information that will give them a unique experience. Resorts should not forget that not everyone is local. Much information that feels like it’s obvious can be hugely beneficial and interesting to site visitors.

BEST EXAMPLE: Eldora’s Twitter feed is less fluff and more ‘vital stuff’. Parking updates, wind, and lift conditions can be found simply, in one location. Every single time.

COVID TIP: Create a similar feeling through email alerts, that folks can easily rely on. This information will be way more vital this year, so skip the long email newsletters, for now.

2020 and Beyond

Good content marketing in the ski industry can be tough. It is a very competitive, growing space. What’s more, the competition out there generally does an excellent job of covering their bases and offers a healthy set of core content. In light of these challenges, it is more important than ever to get back to the basics.

As marketers who have fought on the front lines with ski resorts for many years, we’re all ears. We’d love to help in any way we can.

If this John Denver classic pops into your head often, you’re one of us. You love marketing resorts as much as you love visiting them. But marketing a dream destination is far from easy. The competition is vast, budgets change rapidly and guests’ expectations continue to rise. Now, more than ever, you must move beyond the norm. You must listen to the guests and be willing to try something new. 

But don’t worry, we’re here for you. As a marketing agency based in Colorado, we live in a vacation destination. We have partnered with resorts all over the country for over 15 years. Our resort marketing efforts have weathered real storms (think: hurricanes) and economic downfalls. While COVID-19 continues to change how we market, we want to walk you through some easy-to-implement ideas and bigger A.C. (after COVID-19) strategies. 

What is Resort Marketing?

Resort marketing is the magic of making your target audience feel like they are visiting your destination — before and after their visit. Resort marketing is the practice of speaking to your target market at every point in the funnel. It means keeping a close eye on trends, but even a closer eye on your own data. As a resort marketer, you should always be testing something new and unique because your competition isn’t just other resorts — it’s any possible way a guest can spend their free time and money. 

How Do you Market a Resort?

Data shows us that a majority of guests’ resort research begins on a mobile device, months in advance, and conversions happen last-minute, now more than ever. Therefore, you must have a resort marketing strategy for each part of the marketing funnel. But never forget the power of a repeat visitor. It’s always easier to make a brand fan out of a current visitor than it is to find someone new.

How to market a resort is also found in what your customers are already telling you in their search patterns, the pages they visit, and the reviews they leave. As marketers, we need to listen more. Christine Chen sums it all up, perfectly. 

It’s rare that brands make first-person data a priority, but often this type of data is way more powerful than traditional metrics. Challenge yourself to amplify your guests’ voices because, in challenging times like these, almost nothing is predictable.

Set aside time each month to mine this data, make a visual representation of it, and share it with your entire team. From there, you can apply those learnings to each marketing channel and populate the content to match what they desire and need from each.

5 Foundation Resort Marketing Tips

Now that you know why your marketing needs to change, let’s talk about which marketing strongholds should be working harder for you.

Money Pages

It’s time to take a deep hard look at your ‘money pages.’ Examples of these pages are your actual resort pages, homepage, and main booking page. Chances are, they are too general and speak to too broad of an audience. First, tap into your new ‘real talk,’ as Chen puts it, and apply those learnings here. 

• What problem is this page supposed to address? Is it addressing that in great detail?
• What ‘snackable’ information is missing that will address their basic needs (think FAQ-style content)? 
• Are your unique differentiators listed in a clear and concise manner?
• Is it easy for them to understand what to do next?
• What is the competition doing better than you, content-wise?

Once you’ve bulked up the content, then revisit your keyword research and basic SEO optimizations. Always remember that your money pages may be more evergreen, but they should also be updated a few times a year.

Get More Reviews

Are you capturing reviews at all touchpoints, both online and offline? Audit and inventory your review collection process often. This is where the gold is found. Reviews, more than any other tool, allows your guests to do the marketing for you.

Revamp Blog Posts

At least 10x a day, we say “Quality over quantity” — and we’ll keep saying it until all marketers listen. There is too much content out there and your guests are feeling major content fatigue. As a result, you should focus on revamping your content more often than creating something brand new. Older content deserves it — it has gained traction and authority. It can always be more robust. Start with intent research for each keyword you’re going after and mimic what’s winning. 

Capture New Imagery

The world does not look the same and your marketing photography needs to adapt. An expensive photoshoot is not needed here. Instead, phone photography and live footage will do. Bonus points if you have a drone. Keep a running list of ideas and spend time each month capturing how your visitors are experiencing your resort differently.

Never forget the power of user-generated content (UGC), either.

Data Clean-up

When was the last time you audited your own data stack? Clear conversion data is required more now than ever. Our advice? Pay an expert (an agency or freelancer). Of course, it will be on you to help them understand which metrics mean the most to your brand, so come to the table with a full list of your goals, things you want to improve, and a plan for better monthly reporting. Don’t forget the first-person data here, too. It will help inform new goals and custom reports.

5 Unique Resort Marketing Tips

We’re big believers in the constant testing of new ideas and we love working with resorts that believe in this, too. That’s why we’ve collaborated with our great client, Resort Collection, to come up with this list of unique resort marketing tips. (Oh hey, Lauren!)

Build a Bulletin Board 

Fear of the unknown is real, so why not remove a lot of the unknown? Create an up-to-date bulletin board on your site with news and alerts. Don’t make them rummaging through your social media feeds to figure out exactly what’s happening today — from weather to COVID-19. Instead, create a page on your site that is very detailed, FAQ-style, and updated often. Let them breathe (and plan) easy.

Drive-to Targeting

Travel is still a luxury for many and we must try to make it more accessible. Begin by targeting your neighbors who could easily make a day, overnight, or long weekend trip by driving to your resort. Build a ‘travel is within reach’ ongoing campaign. Speak to the ‘why’ (they deserve this trip!) in paid ads. Include drive-time estimates or create a blog post that maps out exactly what they could do each day and how much it would cost. Make it an easy decision for them and they will make it easier to market to people just like them (look-alike audiences for the win!).

Content for the Far in the Future Visitor

People will be searching differently for the foreseeable future. Watch what they are coming to your site for (via Site Search or Google Search Console) and build content just for this future visitor. Keep the vacation dream alive, even if you are extending the normal runway a bit.

Market Flexibility

Again, remove the fear factor about traveling to or staying at your resort. It may take systemic business change or small tweaks to your site. As the voice of the guest, you have the power to voice their concerns. Figure out their fears and try to address them. That may mean big things like new linens or a creating a print-out of your safety guidelines they can share with their fellow travelers. 

For example, our client Resort Collection adapted quickly. Their marketing team pushed for extremely flexible booking dates and it’s paying off in ways we may never be able to measure. But if it’s what’s right for today’s guest, it will be easy to advertise.

Be Willing to Chat (Insert Empathy)

Whatever you do, make connecting with your brand easy. Do you have chat installed on your site (with a real person, not a bot)? Do you have someone monitoring your social media feeds every day? Is it obvious what time people will be answering the phones to answer questions? Simple things like this can add a personal touch and make your brand more accessible. Isn’t that the end goal for all of us: to make our brands feel like a good friend they can trust?

From One Resort Marketer to Another 

There has never been a better time to change how we market. In the past, we may have relied too heavily on things that have ‘always worked’ and we didn’t amplify our visitors’ voices enough. We hope this list makes you feel empowered and ready to make changes that work for your visitors now. We’d love to hear what other new resort marketing tips you have, too!

And don’t forget to take some time for yourself soon. We know a great place to escape to.

When your customers and competitors are using social media like never before, it takes powerful insights to level up your social media strategy. So what exactly can social listening do for your business?

Why Your Business Needs Social Listening

Competitive Analysis

Just as you have to compete for sales, you have to keep your business competitive on social media, too.  Tracking your competitors online lets you identify missed opportunities and areas of improvement for your organization on social media.

Customer Service and Sentiment

Your brand is being discussed online — do you know what people are saying? Being able to instantly find both positive and negative feedback from your customers will help you identify both the strengths and weaknesses of your business or product.

Along with valuable insights, this form of social listening provides you the opportunity to show appreciation for positive mentions of your brand and to address any unsatisfied customers and change their potentially negative experience into a positive one.

Lead Generation

It’s obvious that your business needs a plan to attract customers, but how does social media marketing fit into that? With social media listening, you’re able to find and join conversations from these potential customers, to let them know directly about your product or service.

Not only is social listening helpful for contacting prospects, but it provides you with valuable information about their priorities and what they’re looking for from a business like yours.

How to Build a Social Listening Plan

Knowing about social listening is all well and good, but like most strategies, it’s only an idea until you figure out how to make it happen. Here are a few tips to create your social listening plan.

Priority Platforms

To make the most effective social listening strategy, focus your efforts on where the most important conversations to your brand are happening. To do this, consider what social media platforms your target audience is most likely to use, based on their demographics and interests. You wouldn’t go to LinkedIn for foodie content, just as you wouldn’t go to Instagram to find a job.

Find a Tool

Before getting started, you’ll need to figure out how exactly you’re going to capture data for your social listening. We’d recommend using a tool that allows you to search a variety of relevant keywords and hashtags, monitor your competition’s social media, and keep tabs on important conversations from your target audience. A few of our favorites include Sprout Social and Hootsuite.

Keywords and Hashtags

There are endless conversations happening on social media, so it’s important to know how to sift through them to get the data you want. To start piecing the puzzle together, start monitoring these essential phrases:

• Your brand name and handles
• Your brand’s top products
• Your brand’s slogans
• Common misspellings of your brand name or products
• Key people/public personalities  in your company (CEO, etc.)
• Your branded hashtags
• Campaign names 
• Industry terms and hashtags
• Your competitors’ brand names, account handles, and top product names
• Your competitors’ branded hashtags and slogans
• Key people/public personalities  in your competitors’ company (CEO, etc.)

Top Competitors

To remain competitive online, your listening strategy needs to track your competitors and what they’re doing on social media. To get the most out of competitive insights, try to answer the following questions:

• What messages are your competitors communicating to your audience?
• What trends or current events are they taking advantage of?
• What social media platforms are they the most active on?
• How often do they post?
• What is their strategy for community management and engagement?
• What are customers in the industry saying about your competitors, and how can you use this to your advantage?

Turn Up the Volume on Your Social Strategy

Data-driven social listening can take out some of the guesswork of your social media strategy if you have the time to implement it. If setting up a social listening tool, tracking keywords and hashtags, and analyzing audience sentiment doesn’t sound like fun to you, contact the social media experts at Volume Nine. We live for this, and we can help you make sense of all the noise.