1. LET THEM BE THE HOST
Having an influencer join the team for a once-off special event, a set period of time or long-term arrangement is a great idea if your brand is a travel experience, service or location. You could use an influencer that you already have a good partnership with, someone you have worked with previously or someone you believe could be a really good fit for your brand. There are endless possibilities of what you could do however here are some ideas:
- Tour company: engage a influencer to host a 10 day trip around a particular region and promote their travels on their social media platforms. This works on two levels: 1. The influencer being the host of the tour is a great incentive for people to join the tour. 2. The collaboration ensures that the brand will receive promotion across the influencer's social media platforms.
- Tourism board: engage a influencer to do city themed tours, sightseeing tours or regular food tours depending on their interest and expertise. To ensure you are receiving the best results this collaboration should occur during peak tourist seasons and the influencer should have a good following of the target audience you want to attract.
2. SEND THEM ON A FAMIL TRIP
You may be wondering.. What's a famil trip? It's the industry term for an all expenses paid media trip in exchange for promotion. It was originally reserved for traditional media and travel journalism however it is increasingly popular for social media influencers. A famil trip could be anywhere from a complimentary hotel stay and travel expenses covered to a complete multi-day itinerary that is packed with "the best" of a particular region, city or location.
It's a good way to promote a travel brand to a brand new audience or re-engage with an old one. It will help increase brand awareness and potentially increase your end goal whether it be ticket sales, international visitors or revenue.
You can tailor a famil trip to your marketing budget and goals. Whether you want to just offer complimentary meals with overnight stays or go large with a big itinerary complete with flights, sightseeing trips and more.
You may be wondering.. What's a famil trip? It's the industry term for an all expenses paid media trip in exchange for promotion. It was originally reserved for traditional media and travel journalism however it is increasingly popular for social media influencers. A famil trip could be anywhere from a complimentary hotel stay and travel expenses covered to a complete multi-day itinerary that is packed with "the best" of a particular region, city or location.
It's a good way to promote a travel brand to a brand new audience or re-engage with an old one. It will help increase brand awareness and potentially increase your end goal whether it be ticket sales, international visitors or revenue.
You can tailor a famil trip to your marketing budget and goals. Whether you want to just offer complimentary meals with overnight stays or go large with a big itinerary complete with flights, sightseeing trips and more.
3. CONTENT CREATION
Since influencers are expert content creators if you need content created about your brand using an influencer is a great way to get it done. Instead of hiring a freelance photographer or outsourcing writing you should work with an influencer to create the content you need for your brand whether it's new images for a new product, catalogue or service or even an e-product to share with your community.
Since influencers are expert content creators if you need content created about your brand using an influencer is a great way to get it done. Instead of hiring a freelance photographer or outsourcing writing you should work with an influencer to create the content you need for your brand whether it's new images for a new product, catalogue or service or even an e-product to share with your community.
In addition to them creating the content you need you can discuss having them promote the content through their social media platforms so you can gain exposure to their audience.
4. CREATE A BESPOKE PRODUCT OR SERVICE
By offering a bespoke product or service designed by an influencer you can grow your brand. Whilst this sort of collaboration is mainly seen in the fashion industry where influencers are approached to design a capsule collection or even work with the design team in some capacity to develop products. This can be done in the travel industry as more of a long term collaboration process however it does have the potential to drive big results.
Some ideas of what to do include:
4. CREATE A BESPOKE PRODUCT OR SERVICE
By offering a bespoke product or service designed by an influencer you can grow your brand. Whilst this sort of collaboration is mainly seen in the fashion industry where influencers are approached to design a capsule collection or even work with the design team in some capacity to develop products. This can be done in the travel industry as more of a long term collaboration process however it does have the potential to drive big results.
Some ideas of what to do include:
- Luggage brand: engage with an influencer to design a new range of luggage and travel accessories. Whether the influencer is fashion orientated it could be a stylish new collection or if they are more eco-friendly then that could be reflected in the products. The closer the product aligns with the influencer the better the collaboration will turn out.
- Tour company: engage with an influencer to put together a travel itinerary that becomes one of the brand's regular offerings.
- Tourism board: engage with an influencer to make a new unique travel experience for tourists visiting the location.
5. PRODUCE VIDEO CONTENT OR OTHER PROMOTION
Businesses can work with influencers to product their own media. They could use the influencer as an actor in a commercial, model in upcoming campaign images, host of a webinar series or for content creation on their social media channels. This idea is perfect for tourism board and big brands that have a large budget and resources to create multiple projects at once.
6. MAKE THEM A PART OF YOUR TEAM
Instead of just working with an influencer as a third party why not bring them into your team as an advisor and draw on their experience?
A perfect example of this is Nicole Warne who has been appointed as the Digital Consultant for Qantas. Nicole Warne also known as Gary Pepper Girl has experience in a number of digital areas and since 2015 has used this wealth of knowledge for Qantas to provide creative and strategic expertise in the digital space and mould their future innovative digital campaigns.
7. OLD SCHOOL PROMOTIONAL ACTIVITIES
Travel brands can approach influencers about sharing content about a particular destination to recommend a brand, product, service or experience to their followers. Keep in mind that consumers can tell when collaborations and promotional activities are not genuine and are blatantly pushing a sales agenda without any creativity or authenticity. The most successful posts are genuine and reflect the brand of an influencer so it connects with their followers.
Traditional promotional activities include a sponsored blog or social media post or coverage that is secured via a press release with a newsworthy angle. This campaign strategy is relatively easy to implement when working with a small budget or limited resources and can be great brand awareness and exposure, especially for a new brand.
8. GET THEM TO REVIEW YOU
A humble product review is another good way to collaborate with a influencer on a small scale which is great for small budgets. You can provide them with a sample of your product or service offering to an influencer in exchange for a review on their platform/s. You will receive invaluable customer feedback and have an honest review shared with consumers that align with your brand. A content development fee may be required in addition to the product sample in some cases, product reviews are still a cost-effective way of collaborating with an influencer and they can start a conversation about your brand on social media in a positive way.
9. LET THEM TAKE OVER
A creative and fun way to work with influencers is to have them 'take over' one or all of your social media platforms for a period of time such as an Instagram or Snapchat takeover. This strategy is great as it builds hype and engagement, increases followers and gives your brand content that can be shared across other platforms. There is no need to give the influencer complete access to the accounts. They could simply just submit a image with a caption twice a day over the 'take over' period or you could put an arrangement in place to have all the content approved prior to it being published. You would need to figure out the logistics to ensure the collaboration suits both you and the influencer.
10. RECRUIT THEM AS AN AMBASSADOR
By recruiting an influencer to be an ambassador or spokesperson for the brand you can get great brand awareness and exposure. It's almost like a celebrity endorsement of traditional media where a brand uses a high-profile public figure to gain traction and credibility.
Businesses can work with influencers to product their own media. They could use the influencer as an actor in a commercial, model in upcoming campaign images, host of a webinar series or for content creation on their social media channels. This idea is perfect for tourism board and big brands that have a large budget and resources to create multiple projects at once.
6. MAKE THEM A PART OF YOUR TEAM
Instead of just working with an influencer as a third party why not bring them into your team as an advisor and draw on their experience?
A perfect example of this is Nicole Warne who has been appointed as the Digital Consultant for Qantas. Nicole Warne also known as Gary Pepper Girl has experience in a number of digital areas and since 2015 has used this wealth of knowledge for Qantas to provide creative and strategic expertise in the digital space and mould their future innovative digital campaigns.
7. OLD SCHOOL PROMOTIONAL ACTIVITIES
Travel brands can approach influencers about sharing content about a particular destination to recommend a brand, product, service or experience to their followers. Keep in mind that consumers can tell when collaborations and promotional activities are not genuine and are blatantly pushing a sales agenda without any creativity or authenticity. The most successful posts are genuine and reflect the brand of an influencer so it connects with their followers.
Traditional promotional activities include a sponsored blog or social media post or coverage that is secured via a press release with a newsworthy angle. This campaign strategy is relatively easy to implement when working with a small budget or limited resources and can be great brand awareness and exposure, especially for a new brand.
8. GET THEM TO REVIEW YOU
A humble product review is another good way to collaborate with a influencer on a small scale which is great for small budgets. You can provide them with a sample of your product or service offering to an influencer in exchange for a review on their platform/s. You will receive invaluable customer feedback and have an honest review shared with consumers that align with your brand. A content development fee may be required in addition to the product sample in some cases, product reviews are still a cost-effective way of collaborating with an influencer and they can start a conversation about your brand on social media in a positive way.
9. LET THEM TAKE OVER
A creative and fun way to work with influencers is to have them 'take over' one or all of your social media platforms for a period of time such as an Instagram or Snapchat takeover. This strategy is great as it builds hype and engagement, increases followers and gives your brand content that can be shared across other platforms. There is no need to give the influencer complete access to the accounts. They could simply just submit a image with a caption twice a day over the 'take over' period or you could put an arrangement in place to have all the content approved prior to it being published. You would need to figure out the logistics to ensure the collaboration suits both you and the influencer.
10. RECRUIT THEM AS AN AMBASSADOR
By recruiting an influencer to be an ambassador or spokesperson for the brand you can get great brand awareness and exposure. It's almost like a celebrity endorsement of traditional media where a brand uses a high-profile public figure to gain traction and credibility.
A perfect example of this is when tourism boards work with an influencer as the official ambassador of a location such as Chris Hemsworth who is an Australian actor who collaborated with Tourism Australia.
