Influencer marketing is not new. What has changed with Social Media is the amplification of the luxury experience.
Visiting a Luxury Hotel and Resort is a culmination of dreams and travel.
Luxury Hotels and Resorts has years been among the pioneers in collaborating with luxury travel influencers that embrace the surprise and delight that is delivered.
The art of Influencer Marketing still must be carefully conducted by implementing long-term strategies that add real value for all parties involved.
User Generated Content a disruptive shift
Over the years many brands have been able to craft strategies that take advantage of user-generated content. And it has been proven that user-generated content influence booking decisions and drives higher engagement.
As a result, Luxury Hotels and Resorts are increasing investments in user-generated content.
By leveraging user-generated content, Luxury Hotel and resort brands can cost-effectively fuel their content engines with guest-generated imagery that is both on-brand and authentic, resonating strongly with prospective guests.
In 2016 L2 – a New York-based consulting firm launched a report “Luxury Hotels 2016”. This report shows that to be a savvy Luxury Hotels and Resort you need content that adds that add alternative values and optimizes the Luxury Hotels and Resorts presence.
This alternative value comes not only from a Social Media presence but also includes mobile, SEO, and e-commerce.
L2 reports that Luxury Hotels and resorts that feature user-generated content on Instagram see six times more interaction per post than a brand that doesn’t do it.
Influencer marketing has impacted the methods and sources consumers now use to vet products and services online.
Tips on getting the best results with Influencer Marketing;
1. Implement and follow FTC Guidelines
Federal Trade Commission guidelines require sponsored posts to be tagged as ads, meaning Luxury Hotels and Resorts brands will have to be increasingly vigilant when influencers post on their behalf.
2. Do your groundwork
Working with celebrities can be a pricey challenge for many Luxury Hotels and Resorts brands. And brands are starting to experience that consumers relate more to influencers that they are familiar with in their Social Community.
Identifying the most valuable influencer for your brand will require some research.
Be smart when looking for the most valuable influencers that you look working with to amplify your Luxury Hotels and Resorts message.
Look for an influencer that is engaging with their audiences, is authentic and has a personal brand, has credibility in their category, and has a loyal following.
A good influencer will drive action.
3. Returning favors
Reciprocity is representing the expectation that people will respond favorably to each other by returning benefits for benefits and responding with either indifference or hostility to harm.
This principle stems from gratitude something that is built into the backbone of true hospitality servants.
An underlying norm of reciprocity is by itself a powerful engine for motivating, creating, sustaining, and regulating the cooperative behavior required for self-sustaining Social Communities, controlling the damage done by the unscrupulous, and contributing to the stability of the Social Communities
Apply strategies where you enforce your team of giving your influencers valuable service offers that are above and beyond their expectations.
“If you want to have a productive Luxury Hotel and Resort, if you want to be a productive hotelier and work with productive influencers, work on the happiness factors.
Happy people show up more, they work longer hours to represent your brand favorably, they work joyfully, and they’re happier with every aspect of their productive lives. Happiness is the secret to success.”
4. Commitment and Consistency
Psychologists have indicated consistency in human behavior. People are driven to be consistent in all areas of life — in their words, deeds, attitudes, opinions, beliefs, values, habits, and promises.
Life is too complicated to carefully evaluate every element of every situation, so consumers will take shortcuts to help them make reasonable and reliable decisions.
And commitment is what triggers consistency. Once influencers trigger a commitment within their Social Community they will encounter personal and interpersonal pressure to behave consistently with that commitment.
This is one of the key reasons why is so important to identify valuable influencers that are trusted by the Social Communities.
5. Social Proof
For Luxury Hotels and resorts, the most important social proof often has come through ratings and reviews.
One of the common behaviors today with Social Media is that all of us look to others to help us decide how to act, to guide our behavior, and to determine whether something is right or wrong. The more people doing it, the more correct it seems.
Influencers that become associated with a product or service will make others want to be associated with the influencer’s positive traits and then will utilize the same product or service.
Social Media Influencers can assist their Social Community in resolving concerns, mistakes, or errors. Often, we see people that have put out negative ratings and reviews either have not got a proper response to an unfamiliar situation or they don’t have the right framework for how to deal with the situation.
In a decision-making process, social proof comes into play as often one will assume that a popular decision is popular for a reason, and must be correct.
Social proof can be utilized by an Influencer by feeding the target segment information on what you want them to believe is socially acceptable. The influencer can use this to convince them what path he/she desires the target to take.
6. Liking
People will do business with people they like, know and trust.
One of the unique traits that stand out with a real influencer is that people in their community genuinely like this person.
So, it is important that when you research influencers that have similar interests as your target market.
Some traits to look for within influencers:
- Is warm and personable
- Give people things they want
- Is polite
- Is funny
7. Authority
The most direct measure of authority is the number of people who will take the preferred action based on an authority’s endorsement.
Networking with influencers is also a fast way to grow your Social Media audience as well as recurring traffic to your Luxury Hotel and Resorts website.
Work with influencers that will embrace authoritative content that links back to your Luxury Hotel and Resorts website.
8. Scarcity
People are highly motivated by the thought that they might lose out on something.
Work with influencers on some highly valuable Social Media campaigns with a special service package that is provided for a limited time.
Most consumers today enjoy the feeling that comes when they got a bargain that only is available for a limited period.
Melia Hotels International Closes The Gap Between Content, Loyalty, and Sales with Influencer Marketing
Source: Meliá Hotels International
Through Traackr, Melia Hotels International launched an entirely new approach to hospitality marketing. The group will revamp and restructure its social media efforts and investment around a sophisticated multi-layered global influencer marketing program, with content ‘co-creation’ central to its marketing strategy going forward.
The influencer program will deliver distinct communications and brand deliverables tailored to its brands including ME, Paradisus, Gran Melia, Meliá Hotels and Resorts, Innside, and Sol.
In line with what it calls ‘The Age of Total Interaction’ between brand and consumer, Melia Hotels International will engage the most appropriate social voices with whom to partner, co-create, measure, and fine-tune brand content supported by Traackr’s leading identification, management, and ‘I3’ measurement capability. The aim is to achieve and build relevance, resonance, and authenticity for its brands through user-generated content that communicates ‘personal experience’ as a priority.
Working hand in hand with its influencer network Melia Hotels International will open the doors of its Hotels, granting total access and freedom to its influence partners. By enabling live video posts and reporting, photography, filming, reviews, interviews, and the communication of personal experiences across the influencer’s social channels.
Over to you
The hotel industry is always changing, especially during a time of crisis. Make sure to future-proof your business and continue attracting new guests by investing in these solutions.
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Related article: 5 Cost-effective Steps to Start a New Innovative Digital Transformation Shift for Hotels
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