In the last few years, we’ve seen many innovative campaigns by ski resorts using social media.
Some have worked, some have sunk like a stone, but few have been as successful as the pre-season Facebook promotion by the Grand Massif region in France.
Pre-season opening promoted exclusively on Facebook
After the great snow that fell in November, the Grand Massif decided to try an exclusively Facebook based promotion.
From 2800 Likes to 10000 in one week
At the time the Grand Massif Facebook page had only 2800 Likes – relatively low compared to other large ski areas in Europe. However, the campaign only started a week before the proposed opening.
We asked Emmanuel Lafitta, Sales and Marketing Director at Compagnie des Alpes about the promotion:
Usually we use traditional media to promote the opening of Flaine – the first Grand Massif resort to open. However, the commercial impact of a media campaign at this time of year is very limited. The revenues barely exceeds the cost of ad space in newspapers and local radio.
‘Plus le compteur monte, plus vous en profitez’
The idea was pretty simple: ‘Plus le compteur monte, plus vous en profitez’ – loosely translated as ‘the more fans, the more you save’.
The resort would open early for both Saturday 7 and Sunday 8 December, and the price of the day ticket would go down the more Facebook fans they had by that time.
Emmanuel Lafitta again:
We planned the promotion to run for one week, without really knowing how many days would be needed, or even if we could get there in a week.
Stunning results
The results were stunning: the initial post received 3210 Likes, 125 Comments and an incredible 1686 Shares. Their fan count went up by around 1000 Likes per day and finally hit the magic 1000o0 at 8.30pm on the day before opening.
Impressive engagement
You can see below the impact on their Likes and People Talking About metrics from that time. In early December, the PTAT ratio was a phenonemal 87%
11300 Likes from a zero-cost promotion
Their Facebook page has continued growth and now has more than 11300 Likes and has given a massive pool of fans for the region to market to. And all from a promotion that didn’t cost anything in terms of purchasing space.
It was a simple idea, but superbly executed. And allied to a TV campaign raising awareness of the Grand Massif, it’s been a superb start to the season. We’ll be following them closely at the start of next season – and we’re sure we won’t be alone.
By Iain Martin