Influencer Marketing in the Hospitality Industry

Influencer Collaborations for Authentic Guest Recommendations

The hospitality industry is thriving as more people utilize perks such as being able to work remotely to indulge their desire to travel around the world. Seeing a big boom in people searching for places to stay during their trips is exciting, but you’ll also want to make a few changes to your marketing plan to accommodate for the growing influence of user-generated content (UGC). Considering that 87% of Millennials report using Facebook to inspire their booking, prioritizing hospitality influencer marketing strategies is essential for pushing your business to the top of everyone’s must-visit list.

Exploring Why Influencer Marketing Matters for Hospitality

When it comes to building strong hospitality brand awareness, social media platforms are where you want to invest some time. Social media provides all of the elements you need to focus on building trust in hospitality. People often view videos and images of places they’d like to visit as they scroll through social media, and travel influencer marketing is all about increasing trust through authentic guest recommendations. Tapping into the preference of viewers for UGC in hospitality helps your company demonstrate its commitment to meeting the target audience’s needs.

Finding the Right Influencers

Studies show that 63% of consumers trust influencer marketing strategies over typical advertisements. But, your company will want to focus on cultivating travel social media partnerships that uphold the brand’s values and support the overall mission. Finding the right influencers for user-generated content campaigns first involves understanding the different types that are being showcased on social media.

When you plan travel blogger collaborations, you’ll want to take a look at a prospective influencer’s current demographics and follower count to determine their reach. For instance, micro-influencers in hospitality typically have anywhere from 1,000 to 100,000 followers. Meanwhile, nano-influencers for hotels have fewer than 1,000 followers, but the smaller following can be a good thing when the target audience is looking for authentic experiences. This is especially true when your hotel operates within a niche industry that caters to a very specific type of guest.

Cultivating Authentic Hotel Marketing Collaborations

Leveraging UGC to drive hotel bookings works best when your company develops long-term collaborations with influencers that resonate with your target audience. You’ll also want to make sure that your team understands important ethical considerations in hospitality influencer marketing. For instance, building trust begins with choosing influencers who have a genuine interest in your hotel or restaurant. Ethical influencer marketing practices often involve inviting a collaborative partner to visit the hotel and generate authentic content that represents their experience.

Knowing how to find the right influencers for your hotel should also involve choosing ones that make the content you need and that work within specific social media platforms. Instagram marketing for hotels may include still photo images along with videos to provide people with a wide range of different types of content.

Creating Content That Converts

Influencer content creation that aligns with TikTok travel trends and other popular topics is more likely to lead to conversions. Building authentic partnerships with travel bloggers makes it easier to generate content that inspires action. For instance, using Instagram reels for hotel marketing is more effective when you work with influencers who know what the target demographic wants.

Influencer-driven tours and activities are more likely to resonate with the target audience by using language and imagery that strikes their interest. For example, influencers are great at creating TikTok challenges to attract young travelers. Meanwhile, UGC campaigns for restaurants can be tailored to fit the needs of highly specific members of a target audience, such as parents with young children or professionals seeking locations for catering to clients.

While organic influencer collaborations are undoubtedly powerful, consider the potential of PPC ads to supercharge your strategy. Imagine seamlessly blending sponsored influencer TikToks showcasing a stunning beach resort with strategically placed geo-targeted PPC ads appearing on nearby users’ feeds right when they’re planning their vacation. It’s a synergy that can drive incredible conversion rates.

Remember, a multi-pronged approach that combines organic influencer partnerships with strategic PPC tactics can be the winning formula for your travel marketing endeavors. So, while authentic influencer collaborations are key to creating inspiring content, don’t forget to explore the additional reach and conversion potential that PPC ads can offer. By weaving both strategies together, you can create a truly unstoppable travel marketing campaign that drives engagement and bookings like never before.

Tracking Success and Refining Your Strategy

Creating engaging influencer content for hospitality is also only one part of the equation. You’ll also want to focus on measuring the impact of influencer marketing on guest experience. Ideally, every guest should have an equal or better experience than the influencers your company includes in its campaigns. Measuring influencer marketing ROI should also include analyzing KPIs such as engagement metrics and booking conversations to demonstrate the effects of influencer-led travel packages and experiences.

Embracing influencer while maintaining an intense focus on authenticity, collaboration and the creation of engaging content makes it possible to unlock new audiences and build trust that leads to higher booking rates. To get started, try searching for industry-specific hashtags such as #wanderlust and #hotellife to see what influencers are already putting on social media. Then, let our team at Semgeeks know about your interest in updating your marketing approach to include more collaborative UGC, and we’ll help you with optimizing your website for influencer partnerships.

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Erin McDonald

Business Development Strategist

Erin McDonald is a Business Development Strategist with a degree in Communications from Rutgers University. Fostering effective teamwork to drive results, she is able to solve tough problems and implement solutions that require strong intellectual abilities and rigor. In her free time, you can find her spending time with friends and family or at the gym.