TBDI 2014: how travel bloggers are shaping destination marketing Keith Jenkins (@velvetescape) and Melvin Böcher (@traveldudes)

1. 1
How travel bloggers
are shaping
destination marketing
Melvin Böcher: traveldudes.org
& Keith Jenkins: iambassador.net
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2. 2
Let's..
have a conversation
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3. Traditional advertising
One way conversation
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4. 4
Where is the audience today?
Media Time spend per day
Source: Edelman as cited by eMarketer
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5. The internet is the leading source for
travel planning info
5
Source: UKOM Netview
% of travellers who use this source for planning travel
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6. How are bloggers contributing to destination
marketing
- content
- social media
- interaction
- community building
- new marketing concepts
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6

7. 7
Travel bloggers
deliver both
immediate and long term value
Bloggers publish their itinerary and invite
their followers to follow them on their trip.
Bloggers share their experiences via their
social channels; the perfect opportunity for a
real-time social media campaign.
Bloggers publish their blog posts, ending up
to several months after the trip, ensuring
prolonged exposure.
1
2
3
Pre-trip
During the trip
Post-trip
Post-trip campaign
4 Bloggers collaborate a few months later to
organise a social media campaign. The
campaign leverages their content and social
networks to showcase the destination as
well as the sponsors.
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8. 8
Simple comparison...
822,826
142,370
10,647,387
- Condé Nast total circulation
- one full page advert in $USD
- total exposure of 50 top bloggers
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9. Social Media turns it into a two way conversation
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9

10. Reach 46,352
Likes 1161
Shares 44
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11. Searchable content
85% of travelers reported having used the Internet to research a trip.
11
Source: Google (March 2012)
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12. 12
Influence decision-making
52% of travelers change their travel plans after reading blog and
checking social media.
Source: 2012 State of Inbound Marketing; Mindjumpers, funsherpa, Four Pillars
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13. 13
Real-time marketing
Direct conversions
2,250 views
4 bookings
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14. See online video http://vimeo.com/99019625
or http://youtu.be/JoI0ra_dWAM
14
#LoveWinter in Quebec
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15. 15
3 years of Blog Ville (12 months total)
- 150 bloggers invited
- 750 blogposts
- 7000 photos/videos shared
- 1,000,000 visitors to the different posts
- Publication of 2 BlogVille eBooks; +16,000 downloads
- Twitter: 8,000,000 people reached
- over 205,000,000 OTS (Opportunities-To-See) with #BlogVille
- estimated AVE: 3,260,000 EUR
(measured with BrandsEye)
#TBDI2014

16. Must Love Festivals
- 40 of Europe’s coolest and quirkiest festivals
- In partnership with Expedia
- 17 bloggers
- Working with 9 tourism boards
(Austria, Germany, Hague, Rotterdam, Finland, Slovenia, Ireland, Puglia, Malta
+ Meininger Hotels & Generator Hostels)
#TBDI2014

17. 17
#WeAreInPuglia
- 11 bloggers
- promotion of the road show
- live Google Hangouts
- Twitter: 4,600,000 people reached
- over 121,000,000 OTS (Opportunities-To-See)
- 36,500 Instagram photos up to date
- estimated AVE: 1,923,000 EUR
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18. 18
Blog Island Malta
#MaltaIsMore
- 72 bloggers
- Twitter: 6,500,000 people reached
- 10,700 tweets from 3,100 contributors
- over 255,470,000 OTS (Opportunities-To-See)
- estimated AVE: 4,060,708 EUR
(measured with BrandsEye)
- 2,338 Likes
- 146 Shares
- seen by 63,500
- in 18 hours!
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19. 19
”It's Complicated”
The New York Times July 2013
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20. 20
Well, it is... and it isn't!
Developments in the travel blogging
landscape
- Growing number of professional travel bloggers
- Travel blogger conferences
- Blogger associations, networks & initiatives
- The rise of niche/local language blogging
- Product development
- Innovative forms of collaboration
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21. I LOVE SOCIAL MEDIA
WE LOVE SOCIAL MEDIA
But do you understand the
development of
#hashtags?
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22. Free exposure
Title
http://www.URL.com
#travel
#Berlin
#food (category or niche)
Top quality content in a prime position
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23. More to come...
Let's talk!
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