STRATEGY
Organic Social
“Can you make it go viral?”
If I had a nickel for everytime I heard that, I’d probably only have a few bucks, but the fact remains that success is often incorrectly viewed as virality. True, there are benefits of having a reel pop off. You do typically gain followers and it just feels good, but does it help long-term growth?
Relying on virality is not a strategy. Understanding your brand and how to capitalize on trends, pop culture, and humor is.
Twilight Skiing
As a Millennial social media manager, it is my sworn duty to incorporate my pop culture references into our content. One of those just so happens to be the Twilight movie franchise.
The boss didn’t get it, and still doesn’t, but the audience did. A prime example of knowing your audience, keeping it relevant, but executing at a high level.
MORE MAINE. MORE SUNDAY RIVER.
Love AI or hate it, it’s here to stay.
In the early days of ChatGPT, a trend emerged asking it to depict pictures of various things, but making them more and more extreme, culminating with the request to “make it God-like”. Naturally, we hopped on this trend.
However this was one we were pretty cautious about. AI was brand new and very polarizing. We settled on trying it on TikTok first, and if it did well enough there, we’d bring it to Instagram.
Well, it went off. Several other ski resorts followed suit after us, but no one came close to the metrics we saw.
“In your 20’s…”
Sometimes the big hitters only take you 10 minutes to make. And I absolutely hate that.
As a self-identified storyteller (ugh I can hear the pretentiousness dripping with that one), I love taking time to film artistically, color grade, and find the perfect backing track. Sadly, not everyone else does.
The trusty iPhone has been a heavy hitter recently. People want less curated and more UGC. It gives the impression that it hasn’t been edited; it’s more honest. And you know, it really isn’t.
I’m culling the clips with the same attention to detail as I would a proper production. Just because I’m editing on my phone does not take away my power over the final cut.
This was, and still is, a tough pill for me to swallow. However, if we want to remain relevant as a brand, it’s my responsibility to do just that.
With that in mind, this was another “capitalize on the moment” trend and we hit it perfectly. Again, other mountains followed suit, but none got the traction that we did.
Christmas Flood Recovery
7” of rain fell in one day just ahead of Christmas Break in 2023. That not only descimated out snowpack, but washed out roads, retaining walls, and bridges. It was catastrophic.
With roads across the state completely washed away, access was challenging and many couldn’t grasp the extent of the damage until they saw the footage.
This was an important story to tell because it was one of resilience. The region pulled together, and we were able to reopen just a few days later.
The lesson here: people love an underdog, and boy, were we a long shot. Plenty were assuming we’d call it and shut down for the season. Nope. Not how we do things.
The Iglu at Sunday River
The “cool” and “new” factor cannot be overstated on social. When you’re constantly trying to stand out and differentiate yourself, it’s hard when there’s no opportunity for innovation.
Sunday River was the first resort in North America to get one of these slopeside igloos. Now in our third year, we still see exceptionally high engagement surrounding it.
Not only is it just sick as hell, but visually it stands out. Bright pinks and deep blue interior lights are scroll stopping combinations. Even if you don’t stay for long, it’s still a visual standout in a wave of doomscrolling.
Wicked Big News
Speaking of cultural moments, how about the Wicked movie?
Not only was Wicked backed by a colossal PR blitz, but the term ‘wicked’ is also quintessentially New England. So, when we say we have some wicked big news, that’s right in line with how we talk.
Santa Sunday
And sometimes, shit just sometimes goes viral.
For the life of me, I cannot tell you why this took off the way it did. All the other posts on here are strong performers relative to the Sunday River engagement. This was just stupid.
I’ve tried replicating with the same music, similar cuts, same caption, each year since and I’ve come nowhere close to what this did.
