I can't open Facebook these days without seeing photographs of beachgoers, hikers, and explorers of all stripes. My social media feeds are constantly buzzing with travel talk, and I'm always left pondering one big question after I log off: Why aren't travel brands taking advantage of this? ​

For the travel industry, this is like having cash lying all over the ground and then shrugging your shoulders because you can't afford to pay the bills. Travel brands — hotel industry leaders included — should harness the "pics or it didn't happen" culture to market themselves to aspiring travelers.

The New Travel Marketers: Your Friends

Brand ambassadors are some of the most trusted marketing vehicles, especially in the travel and entertainment industries. Whether they're officially designated as such or not, ambassadors share their thoughts and opinions about brands they interact with daily to an audience that listens to and trusts them. This existing influential space is low-hanging fruit for hotels and travel companies.

These influencers just need a camera, and — presto — they're walking, talking proof of brands' offerings. Especially among socially inclined Millennials, sharing is an important ritual. For an experience to truly be legitimate, it has to be shared.

Hotels can use this growing trend to their advantage. Travelers who feel compelled to post on social media about their vacations, especially with photos, are natural brand ambassadors. They'll do it without a thought to the brand equity they're providing; rather, they'll do it just to show their friends and families what a great time they had and to legitimize their trip.

From #TBTs to ROI

It's important to build a social following for your brand that's fostered by ambassadors' posts, hashtags, and brand mentions. But to get the full value of this approach, you must leverage the organic equity in a way that builds brand perception with current and potential customers. Here's how:

  1. Home in on your audience - Take note of your audience's values, demographics, personality traits, and interests. If you're rebranding, ask yourself where you would most like to see changes in whom you're targeting. If your brand excels at reaching an older, wealthier demographic but lacks the power to engage younger, more hip individuals, perhaps Instagram is the perfect place to debut your brand's ambassador program. Match your forum to your audience.
  2. Identify influencers - Discover the people on social media who can impact that specific target market. For instance, if you'd like to specifically target a cost-conscious audience, you might seek out microinfluencers in the family traveler space. A simple search will serve up an abundance of blogs and Pinterest pins centered on penny-pinching methods. You might offer microinfluencers a couple of free nights at a hotel, for example, to write an honest review of their experience with your organization. Find out which have the broadest reach and the highest engagement with your target audience, then reach out to them to see whether they're interested in becoming ambassadors.
  3. Get your own feet wet - Make the first move with these influencers by engaging via retweets, comments, mentions, or likes. If they've never heard of you or your brand, they probably aren't about to jump at an ambassador offer. Make it clear that you're interested in what they have to say by showing that you follow their content, and the chances that they'll agree to be an ambassador for your brand will go up drastically. Getting your entire team on board (the CEO included) with your social media strategy is also important. Even if your execs are approving agency-generated posts to help them stay on message, the important thing is that they have a presence. Each account provides more social reach, more trust, and more avenues to build connections and relationships with potential brand ambassadors.
  4. Build your battalion - Once you've built strong relationships with a targeted group of influencers, you're ready to start a brand ambassador campaign. Offer toolkits to empower ambassadors to post with suggested content and pre-designed collateral, such as Instagram photos, branded memes, or suggested Facebook posts. Be sure to include a copy of your social media guidelines to ensure they're conscious of your brand requirements and any legal designations they should include on social posts (e.g., #sponsored). Offer rewards for influencers who promote your brand as you see fit and as your legal counsel advises. For example, when Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants implemented Kimpton Karma Rewards last year, it used social media to get the word out. Some influencers received free stays at the chain's hotels in exchange for endorsements of Karma Rewards on their blogs or via sites like Facebook and Twitter.
  5. Grow your program in stages - Use a handful of targeted influencers to help promote your brand or program at first, then open it up to the common traveler who could potentially become a brand ambassador. Mosaic House in Prague, for example, has an open invitation for those who wish to become brand ambassadors on their website.
     

Implementing an ambassador program on the brand side can be complicated, but it's worth your time to reach travel junkies and social media-addicted consumers who are more than happy to post about their stay in your hotel (and probably would have anyway). That's about the most organic and authentic — not to mention the cheapest — advertising you can get.

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