This document discusses influencer marketing for the hotel industry. It defines influencer marketing as focusing on broadcasting brand messages to key individuals who can engage target markets in a trusted way. It recommends working with bloggers, vloggers, and Instagrammers ("Igers") who have strong online presences and communities. The benefits of influencer marketing include lower costs than traditional advertising, targeting niche audiences, and gaining trust through native content. Case studies show influencer marketing can increase revenue, return on investment, and conversion rates for hotels. The document provides best practices for identifying influencers, setting objectives, and ongoing collaboration.

1. Influencer Marketing
for the Hotel Industry
National Hotel Marketing Conference 2016

2. • What is influencer marketing?
• Why influencer marketing?
• A blogger, vlogger or an Iger?
• Influencer best practice
• What should my objectives be?
• Case studies
Overview

3. • 10 years’ experience in social media
• Connect our clients with their most
valuable audiences
• Services centre around acquiring
targeted, quality and convertible
digital visitors
• Broad experience across many
verticals
About Digital Visitor

4. What is Influencer
Marketing?

5. • Influencer marketing is a form of
marketing, focused on
broadcasting your brand and
business messages to specific and
key individuals, rather than the
target market as a whole
• To ultimately engage the target
market, in a deeper, more
immersive and trustworthy way
Influencer Marketing

6. • Anyone and everyone?
• For the sake of this presentation – consider vloggers,
bloggers and Igers – why?
• More tangible output
• More professional
• Work on their influence
• Strong social and digital presence they need to work to maintain
• Networks that can be accessed, communities of bloggers,
vloggers, Igers etc…
• Genuinely more influential
Who Are Influencers?

7. Bloggers
• What’s a blogger?
• Someone who shares content on an online
journal which is updated regularly and allows for
reader engagement
• Typical blog topics include lifestyle, travel,
beauty and fashion

8. Vloggers
8
• What’s a Vlogger?
• A vlogger (video blogger) is a person who
regularly posts videos on the internet about
various aspects of their lives
• 70% of marketing professionals report that video
converts better than any other medium
• 85% of adults consider themselves to be regular
YouTube viewers

9. Igers
• What’s an Iger?
• Someone who has built up an engaged
following by sharing content on Instagram
• Includes professional and non-professional
photographers who have embraced Instagram
and how it displays images and video.
• Like vloggers and bloggers, Igers usually theme
their content - travel, beauty, fitness, food etc..

10. Why Influencer
Marketing?

11. Why work with influencers?
Let’s take a step back and quickly answer:
1. What influences leisure travel decisions?
2. How do people research online?
3. What are the most effective advertising
formats?
Why Work With Influencers?

12. What Inspires Leisure Travel Decisions?
What inspires leisure travel decision?
• Today social interactions inspire and
influence travel decisions the most.
• The internet is the most influential channel
• Traditional media is dominated by costly
TV advertising
• Digital is the key medium – affordable,
measurable, highly targeted

13. Secondly, how people research online:
• Over 80% of people use social networks
and content sharing sites for leisure and
travel inspiration
• Search engines are also a popular
method of research
How Do People Research Online?

14. What Advertising is Most Effective?
Finally, we needed to understand what
media would be most effective.
• We have highlighted the 6 areas that
social media operates within
• Of these areas, you can see the top two
perfectly fit within influencer marketing
• Social content and interactions are a key
driver for people taking actions
• Trusted editorial content is acted upon
Social Content &
Interactions
Social
Advertising

15. What Advertising is Most Effective?
In 2016 ‘word of mouth marketing’ IS
‘influencer marketing’.
Influencers are the ‘recommendations from
people I know’ to their readers. With the
greatest reach.
And the consumer opinions posted online
with the greatest impact are those of
influencers.
Social Content
& Interactions
Social
Advertising

16. 1. Lower cost – newer activity, lots of influencers,
relatively low cost vs ROI and coverage
2. It’s topical; everyone is talking about it
3. Prices are rising
4. Consumers are tired of paid advertising?
5. Native advertising – doesn’t disrupt the consumer
experience unlike traditional ads
6. Helps your SEO?
7. Targeted and trackable
7 More Reasons
16

17. How Can You
Work With Them?

18. 1) Decide on core objectives – working with Influencers
can deliver many results, focus activity on specific KPIs
• Reach
• Data
• Content Views
• Event Attendees
• Sales – affiliate networks?
2) Identify the right influencers for you
3) Build relationships with bloggers
4) Work ongoing – not just a burst of activity
How to Work With Influencers

19. Vloggers
• Vlogger collaborations – one of the ways to boost
your following and success as a vlogger is to
collaborate and make videos with other vloggers
• Invite pairs of vloggers who want to meet and film
a video together to film and stay in your hotel
• Work with the same group of vloggers on an
ongoing basis – you could set them challenges
and work with them to create a list of videos they
should create – a hotel hide & seek vlog etc…

20. Be the destination for your local bloggers, an ongoing relationship that
sees your hotel hosting a calendar of events for a group of bloggers.
• Summer blogger sleep over
• Bloggers market – invite bloggers to sell their wares
• Monthly ‘blog club’ – you’re the host for a monthly meet up where blogger
can learn from SEO, photography, web design etc…
• Christmas party
• Mother’s Day breakfast – develop strong blogger relationships by inviting
them and their mums for breakfast to celebrate mother’s day
Bloggers

21. Igers
21
• Instawalk through the seasons – invite a group of local Igers
(or those that aren’t so local) to join you for an instameet
and walk each season
• Igers will take and share photos of your hotel and the
surrounding areas as they walk a specified route
• Activities or challenges with prizes along the walk will keep
them entertained
• Finish the day back at the hotel where refreshments should
be served and free access to Wi-Fi should be provided

22. What Are the
Likely Outcomes?

23. Results
Influencers can deliver the following for your brand depending on
what your focus is. Different tactics will be needed for different results:
• Reach
• Data
• Content views
• Event attendees
• Sales – affiliate networks?
23

24. Case Studies

25. Celebrating the anniversary of the Channel Tunnel
• Igers from London and Paris
• Photo walks in each city
• Promoted #IHGselfie
Results
• 3,000,000 PR Reach
• 2,500 uploads
IHG

26. Minute Millionaire to promote its Rewards Club:
• Secured substantial coverage on 60 highly targeted blogs
• Content included – where they would go on their dream
holiday, how they would spend a million reward points
Results
• Mini activities run on specific blogs to give away points –
1500 entries alone
• Overall 1.6m content views, 3200 website visits, 1500 blog
comments
IHG

27. Ongoing work to secure blogger and influencer
coverage and link back to their website in
accordance with Google’s guidelines.
Results
• 67% increase in revenue from organic search
• 630% ROI in 3 months
• 52% increase in organic conversion rate
John Fowler Holidays
27

28. Fantastic corporate event and wedding venue
• Invited businesses with blogs to attend event
• Archery - medieval themed
• Secured coverage with blogs – generated
awareness with the specific business on holding
an event there
• Wedding event
Walton Castle

29. Summary

30. Questions?

31. Anthony Rawlins
anthony@digitalvisitor.com
Thank you for your time. If you
have any questions please
don't hesitate to contact me.
www.digitalvisitor.com