Influencer Marketing for the Hotel Industry

Influencer Marketing

for the Hotel Industry

National Hotel Marketing Conference 2016

• What is influencer marketing?

• Why influencer marketing?

• A blogger, vlogger or an Iger?

• Influencer best practice

• What should my objectives be?

• Case studies

Overview

• 10 years’ experience in social media

• Connect our clients with their most

valuable audiences

• Services centre around acquiring

targeted, quality and convertible

digital visitors

• Broad experience across many

verticals

About Digital Visitor

What is Influencer

Marketing?

• Influencer marketing is a form of

marketing, focused on

broadcasting your brand and

business messages to specific and

key individuals, rather than the

target market as a whole

• To ultimately engage the target

market, in a deeper, more

immersive and trustworthy way

Influencer Marketing

• Anyone and everyone?

• For the sake of this presentation – consider vloggers,

bloggers and Igers – why?

• More tangible output

• More professional

• Work on their influence

• Strong social and digital presence they need to work to maintain

• Networks that can be accessed, communities of bloggers,

vloggers, Igers etc…

• Genuinely more influential

Who Are Influencers?

Bloggers

• What’s a blogger?

• Someone who shares content on an online

journal which is updated regularly and allows for

reader engagement

• Typical blog topics include lifestyle, travel,

beauty and fashion

Vloggers

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• What’s a Vlogger?

• A vlogger (video blogger) is a person who

regularly posts videos on the internet about

various aspects of their lives

• 70% of marketing professionals report that video

converts better than any other medium

• 85% of adults consider themselves to be regular

YouTube viewers

Igers

• What’s an Iger?

• Someone who has built up an engaged

following by sharing content on Instagram

• Includes professional and non-professional

photographers who have embraced Instagram

and how it displays images and video.

• Like vloggers and bloggers, Igers usually theme

their content - travel, beauty, fitness, food etc..

Why Influencer

Marketing?

Why work with influencers?

Let’s take a step back and quickly answer:

1. What influences leisure travel decisions?

2. How do people research online?

3. What are the most effective advertising

formats?

Why Work With Influencers?

What Inspires Leisure Travel Decisions?

What inspires leisure travel decision?

• Today social interactions inspire and

influence travel decisions the most.

• The internet is the most influential channel

• Traditional media is dominated by costly

TV advertising

• Digital is the key medium – affordable,

measurable, highly targeted

Secondly, how people research online:

• Over 80% of people use social networks

and content sharing sites for leisure and

travel inspiration

• Search engines are also a popular

method of research

How Do People Research Online?

What Advertising is Most Effective?

Finally, we needed to understand what

media would be most effective.

• We have highlighted the 6 areas that

social media operates within

• Of these areas, you can see the top two

perfectly fit within influencer marketing

• Social content and interactions are a key

driver for people taking actions

• Trusted editorial content is acted upon

Social Content & Interactions

Social Advertising

What Advertising is Most Effective?

In 2016 ‘word of mouth marketing’ IS

‘influencer marketing’.

Influencers are the ‘recommendations from

people I know’ to their readers. With the

greatest reach.

And the consumer opinions posted online

with the greatest impact are those of

influencers.

Social Content & Interactions

Social Advertising

1. Lower cost – newer activity, lots of influencers,

relatively low cost vs ROI and coverage

2. It’s topical; everyone is talking about it

3. Prices are rising

4. Consumers are tired of paid advertising?

5. Native advertising – doesn’t disrupt the consumer

experience unlike traditional ads

6. Helps your SEO?

7. Targeted and trackable

7 More Reasons

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How Can You

Work With Them?

1) Decide on core objectives – working with Influencers

can deliver many results, focus activity on specific KPIs

• Reach

• Data

• Content Views

• Event Attendees

• Sales – affiliate networks?

2) Identify the right influencers for you

3) Build relationships with bloggers

4) Work ongoing – not just a burst of activity

How to Work With Influencers

Vloggers

• Vlogger collaborations – one of the ways to boost

your following and success as a vlogger is to

collaborate and make videos with other vloggers

• Invite pairs of vloggers who want to meet and film

a video together to film and stay in your hotel

• Work with the same group of vloggers on an

ongoing basis – you could set them challenges

and work with them to create a list of videos they

should create – a hotel hide & seek vlog etc…

Be the destination for your local bloggers, an ongoing relationship that

sees your hotel hosting a calendar of events for a group of bloggers.

• Summer blogger sleep over

• Bloggers market – invite bloggers to sell their wares

• Monthly ‘blog club’ – you’re the host for a monthly meet up where blogger

can learn from SEO, photography, web design etc…

• Christmas party

• Mother’s Day breakfast – develop strong blogger relationships by inviting

them and their mums for breakfast to celebrate mother’s day

Bloggers

Igers

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• Instawalk through the seasons – invite a group of local Igers

(or those that aren’t so local) to join you for an instameet

and walk each season

• Igers will take and share photos of your hotel and the

surrounding areas as they walk a specified route

• Activities or challenges with prizes along the walk will keep

them entertained

• Finish the day back at the hotel where refreshments should

be served and free access to Wi-Fi should be provided

What Are the

Likely Outcomes?

Results

Influencers can deliver the following for your brand depending on

what your focus is. Different tactics will be needed for different results:

• Reach

• Data

• Content views

• Event attendees

• Sales – affiliate networks?

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Case Studies

Celebrating the anniversary of the Channel Tunnel

• Igers from London and Paris

• Photo walks in each city

• Promoted #IHGselfie

Results

• 3,000,000 PR Reach

• 2,500 uploads

IHG

Minute Millionaire to promote its Rewards Club:

• Secured substantial coverage on 60 highly targeted blogs

• Content included – where they would go on their dream

holiday, how they would spend a million reward points

Results

• Mini activities run on specific blogs to give away points –

1500 entries alone

• Overall 1.6m content views, 3200 website visits, 1500 blog

comments

IHG

Ongoing work to secure blogger and influencer

coverage and link back to their website in

accordance with Google’s guidelines.

Results

• 67% increase in revenue from organic search

• 630% ROI in 3 months

• 52% increase in organic conversion rate

John Fowler Holidays

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Fantastic corporate event and wedding venue

• Invited businesses with blogs to attend event

• Archery - medieval themed

• Secured coverage with blogs – generated

awareness with the specific business on holding

an event there

• Wedding event

Walton Castle

Summary

Questions?

Anthony Rawlins

anthony@digitalvisitor.com

Thank you for your time. If you

have any questions please

don't hesitate to contact me.

www.digitalvisitor.com