When a typical influencer poses on Instagram, the marketing or PR department should look beyond the number of eyeballs (known as hits if you are old school) per post, and rather look at where their audience is from, and whether they are inspired by this type of experience, their consumer behaviours are, etc. We all often see the young, attractive type that may or may not enjoy snowsports, but will happily share selfies from the hotel hot tub with some hashtags in exchange for a free trip. Will that lead to an increase in bookings? The discussion is open.
To quote all-star pro skier Cody Townsend, “the word Influencer is a loaded term these days, almost used as an insult. But what is true ‘Influence’? Can it be positive in our day and age?’ (In reference to the new ski movie Influence, featuring many Canadians who inspired others).
One of the viral content creators the Canadian Ski Council collaborates with is Erich Leidums, with wife Courtney and their 3 young kids from @ThatMountainLife on Youtube, TikTok, Instagram and Facebook. This active mountain living family is perfect to represent year-round outdoor content that encourages and inspires others to get outside and enjoy life. By valuing the process of “documenting” vs “scripting,” Erich’s goal is to create genuine and relatable mini stories. Keeping the content as natural as possible resonates best with their large audience, and their creative video editing skills can be catered to suit a resort’s vision. Erich explains that once his @Thatmountainlife channels had reached a big enough following from some viral videos he created (see link below) and he built enough engagement to be considered well established in that niche, then came the trust from even more followers, built on organic reach and integrity. As he says, trust is everything in partnerships. “When we talk about the importance of engagement, somebody could have 30,000 YouTube subscribers, and 25,000 of their followers could watch every single video. And that’s a really high view/ratio to their subscribership. If they talk about a product or resort experience, it’s probably going to do well, because there’s going to be a high level of trust and integrity, and there’s a lot of loyalty within their community.”
Erich and his family are based in Fernie, BC. His channel @ThatMountainLife has 686,000 Tik Tok followers and a monthly peak of 19 million video views on Instagram. To watch his content or subscribe, visit his YouTube channel.
Among other successful examples of more in-depth sports marketing, pro freeride skier Nick Steers has earned multiple mutually beneficial partnerships in the ski industry with brands, ski areas, and a well-known multi-resort pass product. He travels the globe representing his sponsors and creating content as an ambassador. Referencing his biggest partnership, Ikon Pass, Steers says, “Most may not know that Ikon Pass has a great inclusive mix of diversity, top women, para-alpine athletes, visible minorities, snowboarders, indigenous skiers, moms, and many more to represent all market segments to represent”. The mission of their ambassador program is to represent the diverse community through a group of engaged brand advocates that are passionate about the mountains and talented content creators who represent their partner resorts year-round.”
Steers makes the case for the importance of authentic storytelling. An ambassador may be an amateur athlete on his/her way up who just needs support from their local ski area. Tremblant supports many great up-and-coming athletes by providing them with media exposure, season passes, support, and other perks. Many athletes, however, overlook the valuable service they provide, such as edited videos and behind-the-scenes footage they can share with ski areas.
Smaller ski areas with smaller budgets can still leverage influencer partnerships in their marketing mix. Erin Boucher is a Director at Camp Fortune, a hill so close to Canada’s capital, they get approached regularly with all kinds of requests, “We are very selective now. The hot market for us is families, diverse cultural backgrounds, and new Canadians. That’s good content to reach new skiers. They touch all sales points and represent the ideal customer and more of the reality than just pros. We have a lot of ‘fashion’ influencers who want free everything because they are insta-famous, but that is not our market.”
5 Tips for Successful Influencer Partnerships:
- Set Goals & Stick to Them. Common pitfalls include having the wrong (or no) goal for influencer marketing – considering just awareness before conversion and sales. Communicate your expectations and requirements up front and keep providing feedback through the partnership. If they represent you, they must get the message right too.
- Quality over Quantity. If your product or destination converts well to niche audiences, go straight to those influencers first to save time and money. Not everyone with a huge following will influence your target audience, and also nurture local relationships with those micro influencers who truly enjoy your ski area and share their experiences.
- Partner Up. Go for the vetted partners/media/content creators suggested by your tourism associations or PR agencies; they may be able to assist with tracking impact and will be aware of their experience or contribution to past campaigns. Note: reach out to us at Canadian Ski Council!
- Go Global. To reach international markets, partner with agencies who specialize in those countries. They will be able to connect you with influencers who can visit and produce content in their native languages to be used on your website or social channels. Content included photo assets, blog posts, YouTube, Instagram videos and social promotion.
- Measure, Report, Repeat. Estimated media value is based on many metrics. Reach refers to the number of people who saw a post, based on 1st party data (for authenticated accounts), video views or the Klear True Reach. Potential Impressions is the aggregated number of followers from all campaigns. EMV aggregates all metrics and calculates your campaign’s value by paid media standards and an earned multiplier. Distinguish between networks and engagement type (i.e., Instagram story views, Instagram post likes, FB views).
Be cautious not to get too distracted by the biggest numbers or most polished creators. Whether you’re just dipping your toe into the world of influencer marketing or are a seasoned pro, databases like Klear and resources such as Izea are useful for research and vetting. Monitoring social media tags and hashtags for user-generated content and building relationships with nearby content creators is another way to source new people.
Reach out to us at the Canadian Ski Council for help and guidance on your partnerships. We have a wide array of great proven content creators we use for various niches, and to encourage diversity and more visible minorities to discover and enjoy our Canadian ski areas.
Links and commentary regarding @ThatMountainLife’s most viral content can be found below:
Sometimes the simple riding videos with good music get a lot of traction, like in this Instagram Reel
The creativity to mic up my kids went a long way in capturing this organic moment at Big White. Adia was just 3 years old and almost 2 million people have shown their love on TikTok!
This Youtube video was published last winter, but it gained more traction and views this winter. A trend I’ve noticed with my YouTube channel is increased views November – March, regardless of how new or old the videos are. This means a good vlog, or ski resort experience can remain relevant for years and watched by many for seasons to come!
