Social media is a powerful marketing tool for brands, especially travel and destination businesses, to increase engagement and generate conversions.
For travel brands, social media adds value when promoting travel content because social platforms provide consumers with visually appealing content. According to market research, 75% of travelers were influenced to travel by social media—making it the most influential source for travel destination choices.
Travel brands can use social media to upload destination images, short—and long-form videos, and user-generated content, all of which help build brand awareness and consumer loyalty. In this post, travel marketers will find social media strategies to implement into their next marketing campaign.
1. Plan posts for each step of the buyer’s journey.
The customer journey is critical to executing a successful social media strategy for travel companies. Travel marketers must understand and know their audiences to target them with the right content.
The buyer’s journey in travel and destination marketing has five stages: awareness, interest, consideration, conversion, and loyalty/advocacy. Of course, the length of each stage differs depending on the price point of each destination or item.
For more luxurious travel and destination brands, the customer journey tends to be longer than usual, so investing in a long-term social media strategy can significantly increase traveler intent.
Travel marketers should create social content for every step of the customer buying journey, especially as some content can enhance audience engagement and improve retargeting methods. As marketers know, retargeting consumers with the appropriate content can significantly keep consumers interested and increase booking intent.
Once consumers book their travels and return from their vacations, your marketing job is still ongoing. Travel marketers should continue to engage with post-travelers, asking for reviews or sending them promotional updates.
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2. Develop specific content to target different generations.
Nowadays, brands must develop generational marketing strategies when targeting various generations because each generation has different interests and does not consume content the same way.
Social media marketing is an excellent strategy for targeting younger generations—Millennials and Generation Z. These two young, diverse generations are beginning to have more spending power, so travel marketers should invest time in creating content that targets them.
According to a study by travel booking site Expedia Group, 50% of consumers under 40 say they use social media as a source of travel inspiration. For Gen Z, social media is the most popular source of travel inspiration, with 53% saying they turn to it for inspiration.
Millennials and Gen Z prefer social media content because it is visually appealing and informative, and promotional deals offered on these platforms are more attractive. Although producing images and videos may seem daunting, your brand’s investment will be worth it.
To supplement costs, travel marketers can include user-generated content from customers to post on their social media accounts. Showcasing customers’ photos helps create brand trust, credibility, and consumer loyalty.
3. Develop a community management plan to respond to travelers.
Travel businesses must develop a successful customer service strategy that includes reputation management. Combining marketing and customer service helps increase customer satisfaction and loyalty.
When implementing a community management plan into your social media marketing strategy, travel brands must go beyond responding to negative reviews or comments.
According to a study by Harvard Business Review conducted with TripAdvisor, hotels that responded to comments on average saw a decrease in negative customer reviews. The study also found that about one-third of the hotels studied increased their rounded rating by half a star or more within six months of their first management response.
Aside from building an excellent brand reputation and fostering deeper customer relationships, a separate study from TripAdvisor saw that 81% of respondents frequently rely on reviews before booking a hotel.
In the travel industry, reviews are essential to the customer journey because consumers invest time and money and build expectations for a wonderful travel experience. For this reason, travel businesses must invest time engaging and responding to consumers’ questions, needs, and comments on your brand’s social media accounts.
Partner with Skyline Studio to develop engaging social media ad campaigns.
The travel industry is massive and highly competitive. Still, when companies invest in a social media marketing strategy to target the right audience and engage with them, your travel brand will increase engagement and conversions.
Partnering with Skyline Studio will help your brand stand out against the competition. Our highly skilled videographers, content strategists, and marketers will develop innovative social media ad campaigns and implement retargeting strategies using consumer data for a successful ROI.