EngineWorks

Mashable, the world’s largest blog focused exclusively on Web 2.0 and social media news, published a revealing piece pertaining to the recent successful push by destination resorts into social networking platforms and online communities.   The article, titled ‘How the Resort Industry is Using Social Media’, astutely points out that these new strategies are being used to directly connect with individuals researching and booking family vacations and recreational trips, and to influence potential guests that may not be reached through traditional marketing channels.

While the fact that Social Media Marketing is enabling brands to have direct interaction with target audiences has been touted via our EngineWorks blog for quite some time now, this Mashable article unveils the level of commitment that major destination resorts are placing upon this new marketing channel.  As stated in this article, the world-renowned mountain resort company, Vail Resorts, has dedicated a full 80% of their total 2010 marketing budget to digital production and social media strategies.  EIGHTY PERCENT!

The tremendous ability of online search marketing and social media strategies to acutely target potential customers, and to fully measure a resort’s return on media investment, is driving this tectonic shift away from traditional marketing channels.  As punctuated in this article by Hannah Bowling, Communications Coordinator at Park City, Utah’s largest ski franchise, The Canyons, “A lot of the people here higher up don’t necessary understand social media. But when I did a big contest giveaway on Facebook and they saw how our number of fans grew so quickly, we started thinking of future social media strategies that include more contests, making sure our blog is updated with information our customers want to see.”

Let us know if you have implemented, or experienced, other amazing Social Media Marketing promotions worthy of merit within the destination resort industry.