Inspiring Travel Industry Influencer Campaigns

With so many people glued to their screens engaging on social media daily, it was only a matter of time before influencer marketing became one of the top-performing marketing trends in travel and tourism.

As popular social media users, travel influencers offer travel and tourism brands exposure to an already established audience. These influencer campaigns also offer affordable online marketing with a high return on investment (ROI) and build travel brand awareness among newer audiences.

Influencer marketing has revolutionized the travel and tourism industry in very different ways, as you’ll see from these 4 inspiring influencer marketing campaigns.

4 Inspiring Influencer Marketing Campaigns

Canadian Brand Sun Peaks Tell Their Stories Through Adventure Photography On Social Media

Effective storytelling with compelling narratives establishes the connection between your brand and your audience. Influencer stories and images help to engage your target audience, and increase your brand’s visibility and reach among newer audiences.

Callum Snape was already known for having partnered with several Canadian brands when he caught the attention of the Sun Peaks Ski Resort in British Columbia. The brand recognized the opportunity to enhance its marketing storytelling with superb photography and social media influence.

They asked Callum to market their brand and their popularity increased dramatically, thanks to his Instagram Stories and Facebook posts. These social media accounts were the perfect platforms for giving new audiences photographic glimpses into the different Sun Peaks experiences.

The brand benefitted from this adventure photographer’s skill at capturing breathtaking images that told their story. His photographs showcased the beauty of the scenery at the resort and demonstrated what guests could look forward to.

Airbnb Hosts Expand Their Audiences With The Help Of Celebrity Status

Leveraging influencers is essential to creating a strong PR strategy in the travel sector.

Airbnb knows how much power celebrities and social media influencers wield over their fans’ opinions. They have realized that by harnessing a celebrity’s or influencer’s popularity, they can promote listings and highlight their brand. Their collaboration with popular songstress Mariah Carey is a good example.

In 2015, Ms Carey rented a luxurious Malibu mansion through Airbnb. This was a momentous occasion, the first time a celebrity used their platform and a marketing win. Her sponsored Instagram post and photo attracted much attention to the accommodation brand.

Airbnb has selectively collaborated with celebrities like Mariah, K-Pop artists, and other celebrities and social media influencers ever since.

Moxy Hotels Introduce A Playful Element To Their Marketing With A YouTube Influencer’s Video “Interviews”

Hotel groups are also jumping on the influencer marketing bandwagon. When Moxy Hotels, Marriott Group’s fun hotel brand, was looking for a way to engage more millennials, they partnered with Youtube influencer Taryn Southern.

Taryn’s funny “Do Not Disturb” YouTube video series featured Taryn’s tongue-in-cheek interviews with other YouTube personalities and influencers on the Moxy Hotels YouTube channel. This video series was set in a room that was designed to represent the rooms in a Moxy hotel.

These short but hilarious interview videos, aimed at attracting young and fun-loving audiences, were a huge success. Their unique marketing angle and social media personality guests attracted thousands of views, and one of them had over half a million views.

A Carlsbad Flower Fields Mention Kickstarts Interest Across Media Platforms With The Right Words

When using social media content to engage your target audience, it’s important to talk to your audience and not at them. This is where influencer marketing is most effective, and the right choice of wording is so important. This can be clearly seen in the case of The Carlsbad Flower Fields.

The LA Times described the Carlsbad Flower Fields as ‘Instagram ready” in an article in February 2022. Did that word choice plant a seed in their readers’ minds that going to see the flowers would provide them with Instagram-worthy moments? If so, that small seed is still paying huge dividends

Carlsbad Flower Fields certainly enjoyed the benefit of an influencer series when cheerful travel influencer Marissa put the spotlight on them in her Alphabet series on Affordable Luxury Travel, on Instagram.

Her enthusiastic video and description encouraged many of her IG followers to leave very positive comments about what they saw.

Whether this influencer and others like her were directly asked to promote the flower fields or not, is unclear. But it cannot be denied that the people behind these fields of beautiful blooms are still considered “Instagram-ready” two years after that newspaper article was published.

Final Thoughts

Travel industry influencer campaigns are successful not only because of the influencers chosen but also because of the ripple effect caused by their online mentions. An eloquent blog post, colorful photos, a fun video clip or one powerful word may be all it takes to introduce your brand to a wider audience.

Are you looking for more strategic insights into marketing and communications for your industry? The Hoyt Organization has helped start-ups, public and private companies, and non-profit organizations across the globe create impressive influencer campaigns . Let us do the same for you. Connect with us today.

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Leeza Hoyt

Founder and President at The Hoyt Organization

With over 25 years of experience, Leeza’s campaigns have garnered over 150 awards from top public relations organizations nationwide. Additionally, THO serves as the Los Angeles area partner of the Public Relations Global Network, granting clients access to over 50 global markets. The agency was also named to one of the top 200 firms in the country by Forbes magazine in 2021, and she has been named by Globest.com as a Woman of Influence and a Woman to Watch, among other designations.