In today’s digital world, advocates and influencers represent a cost-effective and powerful way to spread the word about your hotel, hotel group and brand. In this most recent blog post, we’ll focus on influencers – who they are, where to find them and how to mobilize them to promote your hotel brand.
Influencers are people who post content online that influences the impressions, decisions and behavior of a large number of people. Content can be negative, positive or a mix of both types.
Typically, influencers are not connected to the products they endorse or particularly loyal to them; the relationship is short-term and transactional. They are often paid or incentivized for promoting a certain brand and because of this, trust in their recommendations is only moderate, but their audience size and influence is high.
Finding influencers is more challenging, because you probably don’t have a relationship with them yet. Influencers include journalists, photographers, bloggers, vloggers, social media influencers, celebrities and other high profile people who have large followings.
You can find influencers on travel websites and blogs, on special-interest websites and blogs such as those related to lifestyle, fashion and luxury, on media sites and on social media channels like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Pinterest.
Hotels can choose from a variety of campaigns to mobilize influencers. These include:
• Influencer outreach. Contact photographers, bloggers, media and other influencers and invite them to stay at your hotel or join you for drinks or a hosted meal in return for writing and posting about their experiences.
