How To Use Influencer Marketing for Hotels
You just can't ignore the impact and importance of influencer marketing anymore! And before you ask, no, it's not limited to e-commerce brands
Allow us to be the first to tell you that you can—and should—use influencer marketing for hotels.
Getting the most out of your influencer partnerships for your hotel has a secret sauce, especially when you're launching a new location. So let's dig in.
How Influencer Marketing For Hotels Works
The process differs only slightly from influencer campaigns with e-commerce brands.
Once you find an influencer match <hyperlink article: Where To Find Influencers For You Brand>, they stay at your hotel, capture content during their stay, and share it after checking out.
Plenty of details are discussed and confirmed in that process, but that’s our baseline for hotel partnerships with influencers.
Why It Works
A hot take? Influencer marketing is almost more important for hotels than for e-commerce brands.
Don’t get us wrong, it’s crucial for nearly every brand, but even more so for hotels. Working with influencers for your hotel:
Does wonders for brand awareness–we’re talking tens of thousands of new people discovering your hotel.
Attracts reservations in off-peak seasons.
Secures bookings for special events
Drives traffic to your website
Boosts brand credibility
And, if you’re launching a new location, helps to grow your social following and presence
In the summer of 2023, we achieved incredible results for Americana Motor Hotel's launch campaign through our influencer marketing efforts.
Through strategic outreach and coordination, we were able to secure influencers for their launch weekend event. With just seven influencers, Americana’s following more than doubled. In the couple weeks following the launch, impressions soared to over 20,000 and they saw over 400 link clicks.
Harnessing Influencer Marketing For Hotels
Now that we know there’s power in influencer partnerships, it’s time you learned how we use influencer marketing for hotels!
Research Before Outreach
Before reaching out to influencers, it's crucial to do your homework. Homework can be boring, but we promise, this isn’t.
Research is how you land partnerships that make sense for your hotel and for the audiences you’re trying to reach. This looks like deciding what niche you’re targeting, follower count, and content quality. Identify influencers whose audience aligns with your target demographic.
Oh, and don’t forget about location. Are they local? Would they need travel accommodations?
For Americana Motor Hotel, we looked for travel enthusiasts, foodies, and other local influencers to ensure a diverse group. We also made sure we cast a wide net, within those parameters, to secure the amount needed for the campaign.
Consider Planning a Launch Event
Are you already hosting a launch event on-site? If not, this is your sign to put it on the launch to-do list!
Inviting influencers and press to a weekend launch event offers a curated experience and compelling content opportunities.
In our case, we worked alongside the Americana Motor Hotel team on a weekend-long event. It also created a chance to personalize each influencer’s stay and leave a lasting impression.
Having a launch event where influencers were sharing stories and posts during their stay helped create online buzz. A buzz that lasted well after the event.
Automate Where You Can
Managing and coordinating influencers is where many brands, especially hotels, can get tripped up.
Our advice? Automate where you can. Here are a few of the tools we utilized for managing the influx of influencers.
These tools streamline guest information collection and makes it easier to keep track of every little detail.
Don’t Sleep On Hosted Giveaways
Hosted giveaways are an underutilized way to use influencer marketing for hotels and engage with both creators and their followers.
It not only boosts engagement but also introduces your hotel to a wider audience.
Below are the results from an in-kind partnership (hello ROI) secured for Americana’s launch event, that included a hosted giveaway. This influencer alone increased the hotel’s following by over 600 and brought the brand in front of 47K new eyes.
This is just a glimpse of what you can achieve using influencer marketing for hotels. Teaming up with the right influencer for the right campaign is a key formula for growing your hotel on social media.
Utilize Follower Discount Codes
To attract bookings from influencers' followers, offer exclusive discount codes. It’s really a win-win when you break it down.
When your influencer shares a specific discount code to their followers, it:
Encourages them to book
Allows you to track the bookings that influencer brings in
It's also an excellent tool for measuring the effectiveness of your influencer campaign <hyperlink to article: How To measure influencer marketing success> and informing your decisions for future partnerships.
P.S. You can also offer a percentage of booking sales through the code to the influencer as part of the collaboration. It’ll sweeten the pot if you don’t have a budget dedicated to partnerships.
Keep the Door Open
Influencer marketing isn't just a one-and-done deal. Especially influencer marketing for hotels.
And especially for collaborations with influencers that are a great fit and bring an even greater ROI. Maintain the connection with your influencers and follow up after the initial collaboration.
Invite them to upcoming events or offer collaborations for future campaigns. Building long-term relationships can lead to repeat business and additional marketing opportunities down the line.
Are you ready to scale up your online presence?
In the world of hospitality, influencer marketing is a game-changer. And if you're ready to supercharge your hotel's influencer marketing strategy, we’re the team for you.
Scott Social is a boutique social media and influencer marketing agency based in Phoenix, Arizona. We specialize in elevating and streamlining the social media process for small businesses, from creating stunning content to managing vibrant online communities.
Let's collaborate to take your hotel’s social game to the next level!