By opting for influence marketing, it becomes possible to exploit social media to promote areas of activity such as tourism. Why do we prefer this marketing approach rather than modern advertising? What social media are conducive to this type of action and what is their ability to influence the general public?
Social media is the set of social platforms
Often confused with social networks, social media refers to all social platforms involving the use of technology, social interaction and content creation. Social networks are part of these platforms used by social media. Social media, for example, deals with blogs, forums, photo or video sharing sites, podcasts, and so on.
The first social media appeared around the 1970s. The computerized Bulletin Board System was created by two computer scientists in 1978, in order to allow Internet users to exchange information. Then there was the first Mosaic browser created by students from Illinois.
Currently, social media most used by Internet users are Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Snapchat, Instagram, Pinterest, and YouTube. In general, there are many others that fall into four categories:
- Social media publishing (blogs, wikis, etc.)
- Social media sharing (YouTube, Instagram, Dailymotion, etc.)
- Social media networking (LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, etc.)
- Social media chat (Snapchat, Skype, etc.)
Social media, therefore, has the virtues that businesses, as well as local communities, can use to exploit to their advantage. First, they can use social media publishing to make themselves known and to allow their customers/visitors to give their opinions, etc. Then, they also have the privilege of getting closer to their target through social networking networks. With the latter, the brand can obtain more precise information about each of its targets and thus adjust its marketing approach.
Moreover, thanks to social media sharing like YouTube or Instagram, any company can support with photographs and videos the information that it wants to share. The platforms used by social media are widely diversified, which multiplies both its chances of being popular.
Transforming Internet users into consumers
Influence marketing is defined as an approach to gaining the confidence of a well-defined public through the collaboration of influencers. Even if it aims to convince the public to consume a product, influence marketing does not make direct sales. Influencers use different techniques to conquer the hearts of their fans by giving a good image of the partner brands. They give favorable opinions on the brand and this is how they get the opportunity to get new customers.
Recommendations are more persuasive than traditional advertising
The target audience of a product or brand prefers the human approach of influence marketing to advertisements that inundate the sites. Indeed, these potential customers of the company want to be considered as individuals and not as robots that must block the incessant advertisements they receive as soon as they browse the web. It is easier for the public to switch to purchasing when influencers have a favorable opinion of the brand or product because they unconsciously build a positive image. Moreover, in this way, the public considers the benefits provided by the product to be more authentic. Thus, it can be said that the recommendations from friends and influencers are the main factors of decision of purchase of a target. Furthermore, over the last ten years, only 12 percent of consumers are convinced by traditional advertising.
Social media influencers have four distinct goals
Regardless of the social platforms they use, influencers must meet the four objectives of influential marketing, namely:
- Improve brand recommendation
- Increase awareness of the brand
- Expand target audience
- And increase market share
In order to achieve this, influencers must highlight the credibility and positive image of the brand in their content. Influencers are the popular individuals on social media, those who receive the maximum commitment (like, mention, comment …). They can be bloggers, YouTubers, stars, etc.
Companies have begun to adopt influence marketing since traditional commercials are losing interest among Internet users. Depending on the brand’s objectives, you can choose from the following influencing marketing techniques: buzzkit, product placement, takeover, content sponsorship, blog travel, event invitations, Others.
The buzzkit
This technique consists in having the product or the brand tested by an influencer so that the latter shares his opinion with his community.
Product placement
The product is placed by the influencer subtly or not in his online videos. This technique is used on YouTube. The influencer must be specialised in a theme related to the product to bring more reliability to the marketing action.
The Takeover
The influencer takes charge of the management of a company account or a brand in order to attract the attention of the target public on what the latter offers: goods, services, events, promotions, etc.
Sponsorship of content
In order to optimize its visibility, the brand sponsors a quality blog article or a publication on social networks.
Travel Blog
The company, including a travel agency, offers an influencer a free trip to a tourist spot.
In return, the influencer will go with a camera to bring back the most beautiful shots of the places and publish them on sites sharing images like Instagram.
The use of social media can promote the tourism sector
Travel agencies and all tourist destination cities can take advantage of the power of social media to succeed in their business.
Using social networks like Instagram, Facebook or YouTube is an interesting idea to attract the attention of tourists. Through quality images and videos, users can get an idea of their future destination.
For example, the city of St. Petersburg exploits the power of social media to attract as many tourists as possible. In this sense, it implements influence marketing in order to quickly increase its reputation. To that end, it has prepared a budget of $ 92,000 for influencers. For the city, this investment is justified, as it plans to receive 12 times more in economic terms after the campaign. The influencers used their travel blog, Facebook page, Instagram or their YouTube account to share the videos and photos during their trip offered by the city of St. Petersburg. This technique allows subscribers of the influencers to discover all the beauty of the city and, why not, also try the journey as their “star”.
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