The Beginning
It was the summer of 2019, my friend Chris Dunavent and I were vacationing in Myrtle Beach, SC with a group of ski friends from Snowshoe. At the time, I owned 2 condos in Snowshoe Mountain Lodge. Chris owned one but managed over 20 others via his rental business www.mountaintopcondos.com. I was responsible for maintaining the Snowshoe Mountain Lodge website as well as my personal site here.
Both of us were fairly versed in online marketing and website development for our rental properties. We both follow a few SEO bloggers online. While on the beach having a few beers I asked him, Did your read Neil Patel’s blog post about Facebook groups?” He had not. For those who do not know, Neil Patel is an extremely successful online marketer and search engine optimization expert. The blog post discussed the benefits of Facebook groups by creating communities that share a common goal or interest. That post really resonated with me.
I said we should start a Facebook group for Snowshoe Mountain Lodge. We could engage with potential guests and address the negative stereotype of Mountain Lodge. His reply, “I’m too busy getting my real estate license, you do it”. Then we both laughed. We already had a private group for Mountain Lodge homeowners only that he and I were managing. Mountain Lodge was embarking on a new reservation system and the conversations within the group were not always pleasant.
After stewing on the idea, I decided what heck, it’s free, it will take me 30 minutes to create and if no one joins who cares. So, on September 19, 2019, the group was formed – with a naming issue. I intended to name the group We Love Snowshoe Mountain Lodge. In all hustle and bustle, I forgot to type Lodge in the naming area. After publishing the group, I invited all the people who followed the Go2Snowshoe Facebook page, the Mountain Lodge Facebook page and all the members of our Mountain Lodge Homeowners group.
Once I realized I forgot the word Lodge, it was too late, Facebook does not allow you to change a group name for 30 days and I just invited 500+ people to the group. That may have been a blessing in disguise. People joined very quickly, posted pics and videos . It was very interesting to see how fast the group was growing and how many members were actually engaging.
2019 Sept – 2020 Nov
Now for the first negative, it was a private group but there were no filters on posting. Spammers came in and spewed their venom. It was a nightmare trying to keep up and delete their nonsense. That’s when I learned about post approval. I turned on post approval which meant I had to review every post and manually approve it. Mind you, the group only had about 1,000 members but ski season was fast approaching and the group was growing quickly.
With the volume of posts, I realized I was in too deep and recruited Jim Arehart and Mike Wassem to help me manage this beast. They were fellow homeowners in Mountain Lodge that I knew and trusted. The three of us were flying by the seat of our pants that first year.
Lucky for us things slowed down in the summer. Except for that one guy that went a little wild, posted a shirtless photo and subsequent video raging incoherently. I’m sure some of you long time members of the group remember that. I was like, holy $#!%, what is going on here, and how do we handle this level of anarchy?
We managed to get through the 19 – 20 season. We had no direction and no real future plans. Some people were rude, some were nasty and some were just downright mean. I could not believe some of the comments. I was not sure if we were having fun or in shock.
2020 Nov – 2021 Oct
The 20 – 21 season was upon us. I felt we needed to clarify the rules on the tone and content within the group. That proved to be a new challenge as the culture seemed to be a free for all in the prior year.
We started seeing employees and management arguing with each other. People were trying to resolve their personal disputes regarding rentals and damages. Members lecturing other members on Covid protocols and mask guidance. Homeowners lamenting their increases in HOA dues. Others disparaging certain complexes within the village. The 3 of us have (had) substantial personal investments in Mountain Lodge and it was tough seeing some of the derogatory comments. It was sort of ugly at times.
One good thing from the 20 -21 season – we began to see opportunity. Guests were looking for information. People were asking for rentals, advice, recommendations, tips and tricks. I thought to myself, this group is a gold mine of information. Give people want they are looking for and hand it to them on a silver platter. What we did not want was the continual sparring and jousting among members. I did not want the group to turn into a Judge Judy episode. I wanted our group to be helpful and friendly. That’s not too much to ask and that ultimately lead to some big changes in 2021.
The Big Change
The big change came at the end of the 2021 winter season. I paused the group at the end of March for almost 2 weeks. I consulted with Jim and Mike on the future of the group. We agreed that we did not want to babysit. We wanted to provide a valuable portal where guests, owners and businesses could interact with one another in a civil forum. We adopted a new set of rules, most of which are still in place. We redefined the group mission to a vision of connecting owners, guests and local businesses. We enacted a zero tolerance policy. If one cannot be friendly and helpful, we do not need you in the group. Look, we understand people have differing views, but agree to disagree and move along. No one needs to act like a 3rd grader at recess arguing over bubble gum.
The truth hurts sometimes and the truth is, I’m a failure at naming this FB group. There is no way to say it nicely. When I restarted the group on April 3, 2021, I changed the name to Snowshoe Mountain Vistors. If you look closely, I forgot the “i” between the s and the t. What a moron. Some folks had a good ole time making fun of my blunder. I wore my scarlet letter in shame for 30 days before I fixed the name. I did get it right the 3rd time and checked it 50 times before hitting save.
Some members hated that we went in this direction and lashed out at each of us directly via private messages. Others posted vile comments. Some just left the group. That was a long couple of days but that needed to happen. I know I sound like a broken record but we want friendly and helpful people in our group.
Once again the summer season began. We started seeing a lot more mountain biking activity within the group posts. There were many questions regarding lake hours, summer events and general things to do in the summer.
2021 Nov to 2022 Mar
So now we fast forward to the end of another winter season. The group has doubled in size to almost 15,000 members. There was a time this past winter when we were adding 100 new members each day. During the month of January 2022, there were over 1,500 posts and countless comments.
New members continue to seek information and advice. Seasoned members are able to share their advice with those new to Snowshoe Mountain.
99.99% of the members of this group are good, decent people. As with everything, there are always a few knuckleheads that wish to stir the pot and create drama. Jim, Mike and I will do our best to keep things friendly and helpful. We do not wish to be censors. After years of minding this group, we know what type of posts will spiral into arguments and controversy.
If you made it this far, we’d like to thank you for being part of our group.
We can assure you that next year the roads will be fine, the snow report will be updated around 7 AM and no one will read their arrival information and ask ……. where do I check in?