We previously interviewed Thibaut Loubère, digital marketing manager for Val Thorens back in 2015.
This month he spoke to Agorapulse about the resort’s social media strategy:
Could you introduce yourself and tell us more about your missions as marketing manager for Val Thorens?
I am Thibaut Loubère, marketing manager for Val Thorens. My mission as marketing manager is managing a team of 6 people, all recruited for their specialized skills but also and especially for their passion for the mountain.
My job is to make them work on effective and innovative communication, in line with our brand DNA Val Thorens Live United.
What are the social media obectives for Val Thorens and which networks do you use?
We have two main objectives in Val Thorens:
The first is to bring Val Thorens to life for people who only come for one or two weeks a year to stay with us. We must constantly make them experience the destination as if they were with us, every day.
The second is to bring together a community around us by taking out the barriers that exist between Online and Offline. To meet these objectives, we use Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter. We are also doing some great things on Tik Tok and WhatsApp.
What are the most important social networks for you?
Today, in terms of engagement and business, Facebook remains the most important social network.
In terms of possibilities for personalizing content and interacting with communities, Instagram is clearly on top.
Do you follow a different editorial line on each social network?
Due to limited time, we have a common editorial line on Facebook and Instagram. With Instagram we also work on our stories with content that are different from “classic” content.
We have a different line for Twitter and LinkedIn which we consider more B2B.
Val Thorens is an international brand. How do you manage this?
We choose to translate our content into English with equivalent messages. It’s a strategic choice that allows us to accumulate likes and comments on a single post.
Also, we reflect the cosmopolitan side of Val Thorens with comments in French, English, Dutch.
What will be the big social media projects in the coming months?
We are currently working on a project that is not 100% social media but rather linked to the e-reputation of our brands.
By setting up a partnership with Easyguiders, we will monitor all opinions on Facebook, Tripadvisor and Google My Business, which will allow us to follow satisfaction levels week by week.
How do you see the evolution of community management?
For me, community management is not just a story of social networks but also a question of relationships.
This is something that is very strong in Val Thorens, where there is an attachment to the destination which is almost indescribable, and which was there long before the arrival of social networks.
The role of the community manager is therefore two-fold:
On the one hand, to share the life of the resort and to promote it in an inspirational way.
On the other, to animate a community by removing the Online / Offline barrier as much as possible. We have to create a virtual community and not hesitate to share things as soon as possible with members of that community.
