Travel Brands Leverage Benefits of Influencers in a Story-Sharing World
Skift Take
Influencers only influence if they mean something to an audience. Travel brands have to consider this when they're at the juncture of deciding whether reach or engagement is the goal of a social media campaign.
"Story-sharing" is the catchy lingo with many travel brands rather than storytelling, an evolution that grew out of travelers' tendencies to visualize their own takes on a hotel or destination with their social audiences.
Brands may bring on some of the world's most recognizable faces to their Instagram or Twitter accounts to tout a city's neighborhoods or a hotel's unique selling points. That bears no substance, however, unless a brand's target audience can identify with these celebrities or influencers and relate to their backgrounds.
NYC & Company CEO Fred Dixon, speaking at Skift Global Forum last month, told attendees that destination marketers need to let go of their brand image and voice in today’s connected world because they can't control their brand messaging anymore and trying to do so is a disservice to the community. Every brand planning their social media marketing campaigns considers reach versus engagement when deciding if partnering with an influencer or relying mainly on travelers' photos works best, and there's no catch-all playbook for which strategy prevails.
"An influencer with a smaller audience can be just as powerful as someone with a bigger audience," said Susannah Costello, VP o
