What's New In Travel Social Media Marketing?

Travel social media marketing is an ever-changing landscape. As a travel brand, it’s important to stay up to date with the latest trends and developments in order to reach and engage with your audience. This can be tricky when there’s so much happening and changing on social media.

Your travel business needs to be making the most out of social media if you want to stay ahead of the competition. The good news is that there are loads of opportunities to make this happen.

In this guide, we’ll cover what’s new in travel social media marketing, and how your travel brand can use these trends to your advantage.

The Role Of Travel Social Media Marketing

It’s so important for travel businesses to have a marketing strategy for social media.

As a travel business, social media marketing presents two major opportunities.

First, travel social media marketing is used to attract new customers and inspire them to take a trip with your business.

Second, social media is used as an important customer relations tool. The stats paint the picture:

• 36.5% of people use social media websites to find inspiration
• 52% of Facebook users say their friend's photos inspire their travel plans
• According to Statista, 18 to 29-year-olds are most active when it comes to using social media as a research tool
• 60% of millennials agreed that social media is an acceptable way to contact travel businesses

This presents a lot of opportunities for travel businesses to market on social media.

There are loads of different strategies that you can use for effective social media marketing.
Whatever channels you choose, and whatever audience you’re targeting, a few essential components should always apply to your social media strategy:

• Post attractive content to inspire new customers to travel
• Engage with your audience and use social media as a platform to give your brand a voice
• Build a unique community of interested travelers through your social media channels
• Social media is not just for your travel business to post content, but it’s also a place for your customers to post and engage with your brand.
• You can create surveys and obtain valuable feedback from your customers

Four Major Trends in Travel Social Media Marketing

Social media is a fast-paced space, with new trends and developments taking place all the time. Here are some of the biggest things to consider in the travel social media marketing space right now.

1. A Rise In Short Form Video Content

One of the biggest trends in social media right now is short-form video content. It started with TikTok, then Instagram introduced Reels, and even YouTube got involved with shorts.

Video is the most engaging form of content, and these short video clips take engagement to a whole new level. Not only are TikTok videos and Reels completely addictive to watch, but they also offer brands far greater reach on social media.

Thanks to unique algorithms, these videos offer the best way to go viral. Post the right kind of video content, and you could get thousands of views. This makes short-form video a great way to get new customers to discover your travel business.

So, what does short-form video content mean for travel? You can use platforms like TikTok to create fun and simple videos about the destinations you visit, your tours, or whatever else you offer. Jump onto trending hashtags, join viral challenges, and create travel-related video content to trending audio. This is one of the most important developments in travel social media marketing right now.

2. Travel Influencers Are Increasing The Visibility Of Travel Brands

Influencers are huge, and using them for your business can generate an impressive ROI. This is because influencers can help get your brand in front of a larger, highly engaged audience.

An example of this is Airbnb’s collaboration with Lady Gaga; a single post garnered over 500,000 likes and 4,000 comments.

The best part is that there are tonnes of travel influencers for all kinds of brands to work with. This includes micro-influencers, who are generally the best choice for smaller travel businesses. This is because they appeal to a relevant niche audience.

If you want to use influencer marketing for your travel social media strategy, look for influencers who share the same target audience as you, and align with your business values. This will help you tap into a large new base of potential customers.

3. Paid Ads Are On The Up Again

When COVID-19 hit, most travel businesses understandably dialed down paid advertising. Now that the travel industry is opening up again, many are activating paid campaigns once more.

When it comes to your travel social media marketing strategy, running paid ads can be an excellent way to increase your reach and send more traffic to your business’s website quickly.

All social media platforms offer different forms of paid advertising. This can help you reach a wider audience.

The upside of advertising your travel business on social media is that you can access advanced targeting options. This means you can be incredibly specific about who sees your ad, making sure that ads are only shown to your relevant target audience This helps you achieve a great ROI.

Facebook is generally the best place for travel businesses to advertise, although you can also get creative with ads on platforms like Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and more.

4. User-Generated Content Earns Trust With Travelers

Authenticity is important if you want to get more people to trust your brand. This is especially true when it comes to travel marketing, as you want to tell real stories that users can trust and gain inspiration from.
The best way to achieve this is through user-generated content (UGC).

User-generated content is when other social media users post about your brand. This form of social proof is a lot more convincing than a brand pushing marketing messages.

We’ve already established using influencers who can help generate UGC for your brand. You can also get your audience to post about your travel brand through campaigns like branded #hashtags or social giveaways.

The more user-generated content you can gather across social media, the more credibility your travel business can achieve. Running viral UGC campaigns (like a trending hashtag) can also increase your reach immensely.

Summary

Social media is an essential marketing tool for any travel brand. It can help you reach new customers, build a strong digital presence, develop relationships, share engaging marketing content, and ultimately increase sales. Luckily, travel social media marketing today offers many opportunities.

Whatever kind of travel business you operate, acting on the four trends above will help take your social media marketing efforts to the next level.