Locals recruited with the lure of a lift pass, vivacious volunteers with ski host programs, empathetic employees, and savvy social media writers and photographers: these are the latest ‘word of mouth’ vehicles for ski resorts to disseminate positive info, images and local knowledge directly to tourists in a trustworthy word-of-mouth format.

Informal, honest, sincere and well-meaning, this new form of influence is augmenting customer engagement in the ski industry and starting to take over from traditional advertising and marketing. These persuasive, personable and passionate people are known as ‘Ambassadors’ in some ski areas, or ‘Influencers’ in others and ski resort marketers are increasingly on the hunt for them.

First there’s the Ski Host – sometimes known as a Ski Friend or Ski Ambassador and a regular at resorts all over North America. Aspen Snowmass, for example, has an Ambassador Program encompassing 22 members at Aspen Mountain, 14 at Buttermilk, 18 at Aspen Highlands and 52 at Snowmass. “Most are ‘regular ambassadors’ but we do have a few special history ambassadors across the mountains,” says PR Manager, Tucker Vest Burton. “A large number are retired locals who want an opportunity to share their love of Aspen and the mountains.”

Regular jobs include answering questions and giving directions on the mountains in all weather, serving free coffee and hot cider in the mornings by the lift station, guiding around the slopes on regularly scheduled tours, and accompanying Ski School on First Tracks programs. Now over 28 years old, the premise of this popular program has always been to get members of the community more involved with guests by sharing knowledge of the mountains as well as the culture, dining, arts, music, events and alluring après of Aspen.

Since the ascent of social media, the digital development of this type of Ski Host is the ‘Influencer’, often also called – somewhat confusingly – an ‘Ambassador’. “SkiBig3 is pleased to work with a talented group of skiers and riders from the Banff and Lake Louise area who are part of the SkiBig3 Ambassador Team,” says Media & Marketing Manager Sarah Pearson. “These local riders are out on the mountain each and every day taking photos, videos and consistently enjoying and experiencing the best of the resorts on their own time and from their own perspective.”

Living in the area all season, Ski Ambassadors are able to provide current imagery and live footage from a very personal perspective, across a wide variety of terrain, weather, and conditions. And they post about these experiences daily from the SkiBig3 ski resorts of Lake Louise, Sunshine Village and Mt Norquay as well as the surrounding area.

“These Ambassador stories tell the ‘live story’ about what’s happening in Banff and Lake Louise in real time,” Pearson explains. “By sharing these stories, images and videos on their own social channels, and allowing SkiBig3 to tap into these stories, we are able to showcase this destination to skiers interested in visiting Banff National Park in winter. Giving visitors the chance to see what’s really happening in Banff and to inspire travel to this area of Canada.”

This growing group of Ambassador/Influencers is helping marketing and PR departments do their job and diminishing the need for more traditional forms of advertising through TV, newspapers and magazines. Of course, happy-snapping holidaymakers are unofficially doing the same thing.

“Everyone is an influencer within their own personal circle of friends,” says Pearson. “We encourage everyone – visitors, athletes, locals, ‘celebrities’, journalist etc to #SkiBig3 and tag @SkiBig3 to share their experiences publicly. Word of mouth descriptions showcasing authentic experience, whether it is on social media or just chatting with their friends back home, are always the very best form of marketing.’

Gone are the days of pulpy press releases – SkiBig3 now shares ‘content’ (ie anything published in blogs, YouTube, articles etc) with industry partners who, in turn, disperse it via their own content streams. “Our content updates include items that are generated by ourselves, by our Ambassador Team, by visiting bloggers, journalists and other content creators,” Pearson explains. “Many partners are looking for interesting articles and/or information to share, content that might resonate with their own audiences. These content updates are industry-related – and don’t get sent out to visitors or customers directly.”

One of SkiBig3 Ambassador Team is Will Lambert, a keen skier and photographer. “I left my home of Sheffield, England back in 2015, planning on one winter ski season in the French Alps,” says Lambert. “I fell in love with the snow and since then I’ve been lucky enough to travel all over Europe and now over to North America. I invested in my first Nikon DSLR in September 2016 and enjoy pursuing my passion for photography and the outdoors through a lens.” While living in Banff, he’s worked at the Fairmont Banff Springs as a server in the Rundle Lounge and Grapes Wine Bar – #1 on Trip Advisor for Banff, he points out – and is hoping to get permanent residency.

“It’s a job that keeps me on my feet and active, as well as meeting members of the public from all over the world. The flexibility of schedule allows me to get maximum riding time,” says Lambert. As well as reporting on his SkiBig3 experiences through “visual storytelling”, he is occasionally asked to guide special guests around the mountains. His recompense: “A great crew to go riding with, motivation to hit the hill as much as possible, and a SkiBig3 pass to boot!”

Wannabee ambassadors go through an application process each summer. “I heard about it through a previous Ambassador with whom I share the passion of photography,” says Lambert. “It involves an established social media feed with the ability to capture moments and present them in an immersive style to gain following and interaction with a worldwide audience.” The savvy seasonnaire is also an ambassador for North45 merino face wear: “We collaborate with a lot of talented athletes and coaches in order to promote their skills and in turn receive products through them. I am currently using Ocean Goggles which were gifted to me through a local coach on their ambassador team.”

The SkiBig3 Ambassadors all have their own social specialty – Lambert engages 4,416 Instagram followers with his fabulous photos but only 2,414 on Facebook. Whereas fellow SkiBig3 Ambassador, Sue Shih has 2,415 Facebook friends and 1,825 on Instagram. From Taiwan, Shih now lives in Banff and is an ardent snowboarder: “The mountains are the canvas where we can make beautiful lines, our boards and skis are the paintbrush, and we leave our own signature,” she declares on the Ambassador website.

The President for Steamboat Springs Over the Hill Gang unofficially promoted Steamboat Resort with poignant pictures posted daily on social media when she first moved to the area. Cindy Kinnear, a recent relocating retiree, joined the SSOTHG on arriving at the Colorado resort in 2017 in order to enjoy outdoor sports and recreation to the full.

“ I have posted a picture a day on Instagram and Facebook since we moved here,” says 60-year-old Kinnear. “It makes me aware of my surroundings and my friends can see what I am seeing and doing.” Kinnear and a group of ‘youngsters’ (ie 62 and younger) were recently recruited to revitalize the club and one of their first changes was to initiate a new website and Facebook page: “Because 50-65 year olds use social media and the internet more than some of our older members,” Kinnear explains. Her posts are palpably authentic and all the more powerfully persuasive because of that.

Whatever their demographic, wintersports influencers are generating substantial social media traffic, subtly inspiring our choice of vacation destination, what we do when we get there, and how much we explore and enjoy the area. Subsequently, we, in turn, rave about our experiences and the locations on our own social media. It’s all in keeping with a tourism trend in local authenticity, locally-produced beverages, locavore eating, and local recommendations leading to a mountain marketing mantra espoused by many ski areas: ‘Eat like a local, drink like a local, and ski like a local’.