In today’s digitally-driven world, the influence of social media has become paramount. People seek authentic experiences and turn to influencers for inspiration and recommendations. For the hospitality industry and hotels, this presents a tremendous opportunity to tap into the power of influencer marketing. Leveraging the reach and credibility of influencers can help hotels increase brand awareness, attract new guests, and drive bookings.
What is Influencer Marketing?
Influencer marketing refers to social media marketing wherein collaboration occurs with individuals with a substantial social media following, aiming to endorse your hotel or brand. By partnering with influencers, you can expand your reach to a fresh set of potential customers and enhance lead generation.
Influencers employ various platforms to cultivate their audiences. Some leverage blogs or YouTube to host their content, while others utilize popular social media platforms like Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and TikTok.
Why use influencers for marketing your hotel?
Integrating influencer marketing into hospitality PR strategies can yield numerous benefits for brands.
- Firstly, partnering with influencers allows brands to tap into the influencer’s established credibility and trust with their audience. As influencers have built a genuine relationship with their followers, their recommendations and endorsements carry significant weight, resulting in higher engagement and conversion rates.
- Secondly, influencers can create authentic and captivating content that resonates with their followers. By showcasing their experiences with hospitality brands, influencers can offer a more genuine and relatable connection, which fosters trust and loyalty among their audience.
- Lastly, a proper influencer marketing strategy can enhance brand visibility and expand the reach of hospitality businesses to new and diverse audiences. Influencers have a unique follower base, often spanning various demographics and geographic locations. Collaborating with influencers enables brands to tap into these new markets and increase brand awareness globally.
How to find the ideal influencers for your hotel?
The initial step in identifying suitable influencers for your hotel involves determining the specific type of influencer you seek. Are you seeking someone to market your hotel on social media to potential customers properly? Or do you need an influential person with a sizable fan base to draw customers to your website? You can start your search after you are clear on the kind of influencer you require.
Discovering potential influencers for your hotel can be accomplished through various methods. An excellent approach is utilizing social media monitoring tools such as Hootsuite Insights or Mention. These tools enable you to identify individuals discussing your hotel and assess their level of influence. Another option is leveraging BuzzSumo, which facilitates influencer discovery based on specific topics or keywords. Additionally, conducting Google searches can help you find relevant bloggers and social media users with substantial followings.
Here are five categories of influencers to consider:
- Mega-influencers: Those with over 1 million followers (often celebrities).
- Macro-influencers: Individuals with followers ranging from 500,000 to 1 million.
- Mid-tier influencers: Those with follower counts between 50,000 and 500,000.
- Micro-influencers: Individuals with followers ranging from 10,000 to 50,000.
- Nano-influencers: Those with follower counts between 1,000 and 10,000.
While researching potential influencers, it’s crucial to bear in mind the budget allocated for your campaign. Influencers with highly engaged audiences or larger followings generally charge higher fees. However, don’t let a limited budget discourage you from reaching out, as many influencers are open to adjusting their rates based on the specific deliverables you require. Providing them with perks like a complimentary stay at your accommodation can also be negotiated.
It’s worth noting that multiple micro-influencers can benefit your business more than a single mid-tier or macro-influencer at a fraction of the cost. This choice depends on your vetting process, so conducting thorough research beforehand is essential to avoid disappointment later.
When researching potential influencers, be sure to consider the following factors:
- Engaged followers: The level of engagement among an influencer’s followers is crucial. Find accounts with high levels of engagement, such as a high ratio of likes, comments, and shares to followers overall. Websites like SocialBlade offer free tools to assess this metric.
- Relevant topic: Ensure the influencers you collaborate with are relevant to your hotel or brand. Targeting the travel niche is particularly effective for hotels.
- Similar audience: The influencer’s followers should closely align with your target audience regarding location and age demographics.
How can you advertise your hotel by working with influencers?
Working with influencers to promote your hotel involves a strategic approach and effective collaboration. Here are some steps to guide you:
- Define your goals: Determine the objectives you wish to achieve through influencer marketing. It could be increasing brand awareness, driving bookings, showcasing unique experiences, or reaching a new target audience.
- Reach out to influencers: Once you have identified your prospective influencers, reach out to them with a personalized message. Express your interest in collaborating and highlight why they would be a good fit for promoting your hotel. Clearly outline your expectations, deliverables, and any compensation you can offer.
- Negotiate terms: Discuss and negotiate the terms of the collaboration, including the scope of work, content creation, posting schedules, and usage rights. Be open to adjusting the terms based on the influencer’s requirements and suggestions.
- Provide creative guidance: Share your brand guidelines, key messaging points, and any specific content requests you have. However, allow influencers creative freedom to maintain authenticity and ensure their content resonates with their audience.
- Track and measure results: Set up tracking mechanisms to monitor the performance of the influencer campaign. Track metrics such as engagement, reach, website traffic, and bookings generated. This data will help you evaluate the effectiveness of the collaboration and make informed decisions for future campaigns.
- Foster long-term relationships: Building lasting relationships with influencers can be valuable for sustained promotional efforts. Nurture these relationships by maintaining regular communication, offering exclusive experiences or discounts, and showing appreciation for their contributions.
- Encourage user-generated content: Encourage influencers and their followers to generate user-generated content related to your hotel. This can include reviews, photos, videos, and social media posts that showcase their experiences. User-generated content adds authenticity and acts as social proof, attracting more potential guests.
- Leverage diverse platforms: Utilize various social media platforms and content formats to maximize the impact of influencer marketing. This can include Instagram posts, stories, YouTube videos, blog features, and live streams. Adapt the content to suit each platform and the preferences of the influencer’s audience.
Remember, transparency and authenticity are vital in influencer collaborations. Ensure that influencers disclose their partnership with your hotel as applicable regulations and guidelines require. By collaborating directly with influencers, you may develop effective campaigns that engage audiences, encourage reservations, and improve your hotel’s reputation.
What types of influencer collaborations are good for hotels?
Online Reviews
Influencer collaborations can involve bloggers posting about their hotel stay, sharing photos, and providing a review. This personalized content gives potential customers an inside look at the property while allowing influencers to showcase their creativity and produce high-quality content. These collaborations work well with established blogs in the hospitality and travel niche. Additionally, it’s recommended to ask influencers to leave a review on platforms like Google or TripAdvisor after their stay.
If you have a larger budget or prefer working with fewer influencers, collaborating with YouTubers for video reviews is a good option. Video content provides a more realistic experience and attracts a more engaged and loyal following. YouTubers in the lifestyle niche can also be suitable for video collaborations. However, it’s important to note that their rates may be higher and provide less content for repurposing.
Instagram Stories
As influencers build their social media following, leveraging Instagram Stories offers unique opportunities to drive bookings measurably. Ask influencers to share stories about their hotel experience and include a link directing viewers to your bookings page. Use UTM tags to track the value of their content and measure how many bookings originate directly from their posts. This streamlined approach allows customers to book without leaving their devices, capitalizing on the freshness of the content.
Unique Discount Codes
Give influencers unique discount codes for their followers at checkout. This strategy encourages bookings even after the social media link has expired, as viewers often save the codes for future use or share them with friends. Adding a time and usage limit creates a sense of urgency. By assigning unique codes to each campaign, you can easily track the impact of influencers on bookings. Promote these codes across social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok.
Competitions and Giveaways
Hosting a competition with a social media influencer generates buzz for your hotel. Giveaways, such as a free night’s accommodation, capture people’s attention and incentivize participation. Typically, participants are asked to share photos of their property, follow your account, and tag a friend they would bring along if they won. These giveaways can attract many entries, even when collaborating with micro-influencers, making it a cost-effective way to reach broader audiences. This approach benefits the hotel and the influencer by fostering mutual growth in followings, explaining its popularity as a collaboration method.
Conclusion
Influencer marketing has become integral to hospitality PR strategies, offering a powerful means to reach and engage with target audiences. Hotels can leverage their credibility, creativity, and extensive social media reach by effectively collaborating with influencers to promote their properties and offerings. The personalized content, authentic storytelling, and social proof generated through influencer collaborations can significantly impact brand awareness and customer engagement and drive bookings.
R. Couri Hay, a renowned PR agency specializing in the hospitality industry, understands the immense value of influencer marketing and actively utilizes various methods to help their clients achieve their goals. With a thorough understanding of the dynamics of influencer collaborations, R. Couri Hay identifies and partners with influencers whose values, audience demographics, and content align with their client’s target audience.
Through their expertise, R. Couri Hay assists clients in building authentic relationships with influencers, fostering mutual trust, and facilitating the creation of compelling and high-quality content. They guide their clients in setting clear goals, identifying suitable influencers, and negotiating terms to ensure successful collaborations aligning with their client’s objectives.
R. Couri Hay recognizes the diverse platforms and formats for influencer marketing, including blog posts, video reviews, Instagram stories, and unique discount codes. They help their hospitality industry clients leverage these methods strategically, maximizing the impact and return on investment for their influencer campaigns.
Furthermore, R. Couri Hay understands the significance of user-generated content and its role in influencing potential guests. They encourage influencers and followers to generate content showcasing unique experiences at their clients’ hotels, amplifying their offerings’ social proof and authenticity.
In summary, R. Couri Hay excels in leveraging influencer marketing as a vital component of hospitality PR strategies. By harnessing the power of influencer collaborations, they assist their clients in achieving their desired outcomes, whether it’s increasing brand awareness, driving bookings, or enhancing their overall reputation in the industry. With their expertise and strategic approach, R. Couri Hay helps hospitality industry clients effectively navigate the world of influencer marketing, delivering impactful results and driving success in the highly competitive landscape of the hospitality industry.