Collaboration with influencers to promote your hotel offers many advantages, from increasing direct bookings and visibility, to realizing a significant return on investment. When selecting creators to work with, be sure they fit with your brand values and possess an engaged following.
Give influencers access to the property’s standout features – like rooftop bars or modern fitness equipment – so their audience will take note.
1. Identify the Right Influencers
Influencer marketing provides hotels with multiple advantages, including greater reach and exposure to new audiences, authentic and relatable content creation by influencers, cost effectiveness and low maintenance requirements. However, when selecting influencers as potential partners it is crucial to carefully consider each influencer to ensure the content they create reflects positively upon your hotel and promotes it effectively – this requires having an in-depth knowledge of both audiences for which each influencer caters as well as an eye-catching pitch to set your hotel apart from potential partners.
When selecting influencers for your hotel’s niche, look for those with many engaged followers and who are active participants in its niche. Also ensure the audience of any influential figure matches up well with what your hotel offers in terms of amenities and services. Another method for finding relevant influencers would be using free websites like SocialBlade to analyze follower counts and engagement rates – providing more data that could lead you in the direction of selecting suitable influencers.
Once you have identified suitable influencers, it’s time to plan the campaign. Determine your goals for this partnership – such as increasing bookings or brand awareness or reaching a new audience – this will determine how much budget to allocate and the type of content to create. It is also essential that before working with influencers that their message and tone match your hotel values as well as complying with FTC disclosure regulations for influencers.
2. Create a Media Kit
After selecting an influencer to work with, it’s time to create your media kit. A media kit provides key details about an influencer and their brand such as audience demographics, engagement rates, content branding and past collaborations and partnerships.
An effective media kit can make or break a hotel’s decision to collaborate with you. It should be clear, informative, and give them all of the data they require in order to make their choice.
Your media kit should contain essential details, such as these:
Social Media Reach – To demonstrate your reach on social media platforms like Instagram, X (formerly Twitter), Facebook and other services you use such as Google Analytics to provide more details of your reach online. Providing stats from websites using these platforms also gives hotels an idea of the reach you have online.
Highlight Previous Collaborations – If you have collaborated with other hotels to produce content projects, showcase this in your media kit as proof that you possess both experience and the skills to produce high-quality material. This can demonstrate that you possess all of the required expertise for producing exceptional material.
Have a portfolio of past posts that showcase your photography and writing? Include these in your media kit as they may prove extremely useful when pitching yourself as a freelancer to hotels that may never have had an opportunity to work with you before, showing examples of what they can expect when working together in future.
3. Send a Pitch
When sending out pitches, it’s essential to consider their perspective. Think about how long readers will spend reading your email and whether it will leave them wanting more. Short and sweet emails tend to receive the highest response rates, while personalizing pitches by including addresses of those receiving them and tailoring content so it shows that you did your research.
Establishing high-quality photos and videos are another fantastic way to draw potential guests to your hotel. These can be posted to websites, social media channels and emails as well as used for contests and giveaways to further promote it.
Partnership with local businesses can also help your hotel stand out, from social media collaborations and joint events, to choosing an ideal partner who shares similar target audiences – this will ensure your message reaches those that matter.
Final tip: make sure your marketing strategy varies with each season to generate maximum bookings at each point in time. For instance, during summer months you could focus on drawing in bookings from families seeking vacation spots; and in winter you could try and generate business travel bookings instead.
4. Schedule a Face-to-Face Meeting
Hotel influencers entering into a collaborative partnership must establish a mutually beneficial agreement that clearly details all terms of their partnership, such as what type and quantity of content will be produced during their stay, what form of compensation may be offered, and how the hotel plans on promoting said content.
As it’s essential for both parties to feel satisfied with the arrangement, including a contract can provide both parties with protection from future disputes or disagreements.
Keep in mind that not every influencer boasts a massive Instagram following or website traffic numbers; what hotels care more about is what skillset you bring: loyal audiences, unique photography skills, creative storytelling abilities, strong social media knowledge or some other special set.
Once you’ve identified your ideal collaborators, arrange a face-to-face meeting to discuss collaboration plans. This will establish a connection and will set you apart from other influencers pitching them; additionally it gives them an opportunity to become better acquainted with you and learn what your hotel has to offer – such as behind-the-scenes tours of the kitchen or rooftop areas, access to special amenities like infinity pools or state-of-the-art fitness equipment or even receiving a personalized thank you note as they leave.
5. Offer a Free Stay
Influencer marketing can be an extremely useful strategy for hotels to incorporate in their marketing plan, helping them connect with a highly engaged target audience while remaining cost-efficient when compared with traditional forms of advertising.
Influencers can provide their followers with a sense of authenticity that builds trust. However, it’s important to keep in mind that influencers are still businesspeople who will require some degree of editorial independence when working for pay. Therefore, setting clear goals and expectations before beginning collaboration with an influencer is also critical for successful results.
Example: you could encourage guests to post about the new artwork in your hotel lobby or cutting-edge fitness equipment, while at the same time encouraging them to incorporate local culture and attractions of their destination into their content, thus adding charm to their posts and increasing engagement.
Make them excited to share their experiences by providing access to your property’s distinctive features like the rooftop bar or private lounge, such as your rooftop bar. Offer them exclusive access and show your gratitude by offering them complimentary meals or other perks as a token of our appreciation – their hard work has paid off, so allow them to monetize it!
6. Encourage Engagement
Influencer marketing campaigns can significantly bolster a hotel’s image among travelers and planners alike. The key is encouraging influencers to visit your property, experience its offerings first-hand and share their stories with their followers – some brands may ask influencers specifically mention the artwork or fitness equipment available there, but most prefer writing their experience in their own voice.
Encourage creators to take high-quality photos and videos of your property and amenities, ensuring they are properly framed to showcase it at its best. Give influencers access to special facilities like rooftop bars or private lounges if possible; give them access to cobbled streets, flower shops or beaches which they can post their photos with hashtags that you specify for use on their social media accounts.
Ask influencers about their past partnerships with hotels and hospitality brands, their audience demographics, engagement rates on posts, as well as any other important details. In addition, ensure the scope of work is established before beginning work on it – this will avoid miscommunication while helping create campaigns that align with your goals for a more productive relationship with influencers.