If you still think that social influencers are shallow and superficial people then you need to change your mind.

“Social media celebrities” are actually really smart and creative people. They have this unique magical way to connect with their audience.

Social influencers have a large number of followers on their social media accounts (FB, INSTAGRAM…) who love them and support them. People consider them a “more credible celebrity version”, they trust them. So when a social influencer posts his vacation picture somewhere in a hotel or resort, the chances that his followers consider visiting this place are actually really high.

Is it worth it?

As mentioned before, consumers are tired of perfect commercials, they are seeking for something real. Collaborating with an influencer can also contribute to your inbound marketing strategy. You don’t have to chase consumers anymore, they will naturally come to you. Furthermore, this marketing action always generates a high ROI.

Now you may be wondering which social influencer to choose for your Hotel or resort.

It’s true that lately there has been a large supply of marketing influencers, you might get confused.

Here are some tips you need to follow to pick the right one:

1. Quality over quantity: Just because they have a huge number of followers doesn’t mean they are the right ones for you. You need to collaborate with someone whom followers are interested in traveling. You need an influencer who has the audience you want to target.
2. Values: Choose an influencer who shares the same values as you, this will give more authenticity and credibility to your hotel or resort.

3. Social proof: Visiting your hotel or resort is not enough; posting few pictures on their social media accounts is the goal. Make sure they take pictures that showcase your particular design, food or pool with your branded hotel hashtag in the description. You can also ask them to make a live video chat, live videos get more views than pictures.

   Another common way of collaborating with influencers is inviting them to attend meetings or events in your hotel. Obviously, they should share it on their social media accounts, this gives echo to your brand.

   Consider as well collaborating with a blogger and asking him to subliminally highlight the benefits of direct booking based on his experience on your hotel website. Why a blogger? Because he can post long content which will allow him to flatter your services.

4. Engagement: Choose an influencer who’s passionate about his job. Someone who will make advertising your hotel the goal of his stay. The influencer should interact with his audience and give them all the answers they’re looking for.

5. Safe plan: As the saying says “Respect is better than attention”. Choose someone who’s a safe plan as he represents your brand. You don’t want to end up with a troublemaker who posts controversial content every now and then.

   Once the collaboration is successfully achieved, send them a thank you email. This will give a good impression of your hotel or resort.

   Finally, we recommend you to create a landing page on your website to share all content coming from your influencers. This will impact your brand and your SEO.