A strong travel social media strategy can have a huge impact on your brand. Studies show that social media has a powerful influence on our holiday destination choices, with 75 percent of travellers looking to social media platforms for inspiration.
And we love to share our experience with others – 60 percent of us share holiday photos, while the hashtag #travel has over 700 million posts on Instagram.
Imaginative travel social media posts have the potential to amaze and inspire like nothing else, opening up a whole world of possibilities. Travel brands have the opportunity to captivate their audience with incredible sights, immerse them in unknown cultures and enrapture them with the idea of adventure.
All with a simple social media post, whether made by the brand or posted by the users themselves.
Which social media channels work well?
Each social media platform reaches different kinds of audiences and can be used in different ways.
The perfect platform for sharing inspirational content, from evocative videos of dream destinations to captivating stories. Filters and editing tools allow you to get creative, while Instagram’s influencer culture enables increased impact, particularly with younger audiences. Around 60 per cent of Instagram users are between the ages of 18 and 35, and research shows that 50 per cent of them put their trust in influencer recommendations.
TikTok
Like Instagram, TikTok is highly effective for visual travel social media posts and is especially effective with a younger crowd. It’s a great medium for fun, spontaneous, and less-polished content, and also for sharing travel hacks and insider tips. It’s also great for users influencing each other, with 70 per cent of users more likely to be influenced by creator content than brand content.
Facebook has one of the widest demographics of all platforms, with a good mix of users between the ages of 18 to 54, as well as a highly sophisticated advertising algorithm that enables targeted campaigns. It’s great for sharing photos and videos, but also useful for promoting in-house travel content writing, such as blog posts.
X (formerly Twitter)
Research shows that 41 per cent of travel conversations on X revolve around upcoming holidays. A platform that rewards concise, creative content, X is useful for engaging directly with your audience. Keeping in touch with current trends and becoming part of the conversation help you improve brand awareness. And when it comes to customer services, the real-time aspect of X means you can respond quickly to queries and complaints. McKinsey research shows customers spend 20-40 per cent more with brands that respond to customer service requests.
A platform designed for visual discovery, Pinterest has more than 70 million users worldwide and is one of the most effective tools when it comes to travel social media content. Posts, or ‘pins’, last longer than posts on other platforms, and Pinterest is particularly effective when engaging with your audience through beautiful imagery and links to informative content.
The brands getting it right
We've collated five successful travel brands, each of which uses travel content writing and social media posting to great effect. So, let’s get inspired...
Expedia
One of the world’s most successful travel brands, Expedia is the expert in visual social media posts, particularly when creating evocative Instagram Reels that give their audience a taste of the kind of experiences they could be having.
Whether enticing its audience with beautiful autumn hues in Japan or posting POV shots of travellers sipping martinis from panoramic sky bars, the brand engages on an emotional level. It even uses drones to capture awe-inspiring footage unique to the brand.
Expedia also uses TikTok to great effect, posting videos on everything from city break guides and social media and travel hacks to inspiring holiday footage.
Lonely Planet is one of the biggest travel content producers in the world. Founded in Australia in 1973, the successful travel guidebook publisher has printed over 150 million books. Now, it's producing next-level social media content.
With a huge Instagram following of over three million followers, Lonely Planet has a global reach. And it’s not just quantity – the brand gets creative with social media posts that inspire travellers to take part. With questions like “What’s the best sunset you ever saw?” Lonely Planet reels you in, increasing engagement and reaching a wider audience.
It is the company that rewrote the book on travel accommodation. Since launching in 2008, Airbnb has changed how we travel, and the company doesn’t hold back on the characteristically innovative style when creating compelling social media content across TikTok, Instagram, and others.
Airbnb uses its social media and travel content to go behind the scenes, featuring videos that delve into the details of the unique homes and hosts on the platform. It even posts informative guides on how to turn your home into the perfect Airbnb stay.
When it comes to using travel social media to build trust among its audience, Airbnb does it better than almost any other travel company. Connecting people from all over the world and convincing them to let strangers stay in their homes? That’s no easy task.
One of the fastest growing airlines in the world, Emirates uses a range of social media platforms for a highly effective all-round marketing strategy.
It recently used employee-generated content (EGC) to significant effect with the multi-platform campaign #BeThere, inviting employees to post inspirational videos and photos to inspire travellers.
The brand also uses great Instagram imagery, focusing on usual destinations to intrigue the audience, while also connecting with its more mature audience through ad campaigns and engaging travel social media posts on Facebook.
One of the world’s leading tourism groups, TUI uses a mix of social media marketing methods to capture a wide audience. The brand is particularly active on TikTok, inspiring awe and building bucket list destinations for the next generation of travellers, especially when promoting its Amazon Prime series, The World Cook.
TUI also demonstrates the importance of knowing when to revamp a brand. The company used adversity to spark creativity during the pandemic, producing a whole new social media and travel brand strategy aimed at resonating with travellers on a more emotional level. The company’s new strategy is centred around the slogan ‘Live Happy’, focusing on positive energy and a more creative, playful approach, aimed at captivating a younger and more digital-savvy audience.
It also has specific Instagram accounts for different countries, which allows TUI to adapt its messages to target specific audiences.
The takeaway
For today’s travel brands, social media is an invaluable tool. Whether sparking travel wanderlust with breathtaking video clips, conjuring magical experiences with evocative travel content writing, or encouraging customers to share their own travel stories, there are so many ways to engage and connect through travel social media.
At Peregryn Agency, we work with travel brands on everything from brand messaging through to creative content across websites and social media, helping inspire and inform today’s travellers. We’re a creative content agency with the imagination, knowledge, and expertise to take brands to the next level.
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