Carl Michel, Executive Chairman, Generator Hostels Emerce eTravel, Amsterdam, June 11th 2015

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*based on responses in nine developed countries

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84% of Millennials are influenced by user generated content – if you lack the UGC you can also ‘curate’ it via bloggers/tastemakers. Creating communities – e.g. social feed at events with ‘leader boards’ and influencers competing to be at the top 4 in 10 people retweet photo or video content – very visual content is the catalyst that powers the consumer journey and creates a community Typically multiple sources to form an opinion and make a purchase – 32% of Millennials would not book accommodation without UGC Telling a story helps connect at a deeper level – simply talking about your product is too crude. Use of lifestyle imagery to inspire.

As most blogs tend to grow organically, they develop an element of trust with their readership. Establishing relationships with key bloggers is essential to tapping into the right audience

Bloggers are valuable brands or “wrappers” for content and they need to be nurtured: build a blogger strategy to support the content that you curate/create and to let stuff go viral. Blogs are twice as likely as magazines to have inspired a product purchase over the last 6 months Expanding reach – e.g. Snap Traveller, a platform for bringing 150+ hotels to over 3k influencers

According to The Millennial Impact, 65% of Millennials claimed that finding missing or hidden information was the largest nuisance for them. Millennials demand easy-to-find information - and a lot of it - before they are comfortable to make a purchase decision. Relevant content is essential to Millennials. Many (46% in US /35% in UK) are willing to provide more data to businesses if it means that they won’t have to waste time with irrelevant offers. Generator make sure social media accounts not only entertain but showcase properties.

“62% of Millennial shoppers already know what they want to buy through prior online research.”

Generator’s Millennial audience expect a two-way, mutual relationship via social media – ‘the reciprocity principle’

97% of Millennials post on social networks and share experiences with friends while traveling, and three in four do so as often as once a day.

Generator’s most engaged single post – a shareable quote photo: Total reach of 63,776 people 2,571 Likes 8 comments 31 shares

Important to have strategies also for Pinterest, Instagram, You Tube (and others, depending on market). Think visual, viral, two way engagement

Content needs to have emotional relevancy to stand out from the noise and seek to create a “conversation”

Fast response (“I didn’t know they cared”)

‘Wow’ factor (“My friends will love to see this”)

Important to have your local team working on this as part of their day job – via regular live twitter/Instagram feeds

Photo-booth

We have photo-booths in most our properties to support our ethos of Generator as a

social brand.

The booth is a part of the experience…

Makes user generate some content

Easy to share on social (Facebook and Twitter) using #hashtags

We leveraged this content to communicate in different ways to our audience:

Screenings in hostel to bring guests together

Instagram content (short form video) and journals

Series of interviews with “This is out Here” team – to introduce the emerging creative talent behind the publication.

Use influencers to spread the word

Look to get others involved in creating video journals (via competitions)

Content needs to be culturally relevant, authentic and consistent if it is to resonate well with youth consumers….so we commissioned our own city guide series

Amsterdam Generator opening in Oosterpark in early 2016