Multigenerational Influencer Tips & How Wealth Gap Affects Summer Travel
Welcome to this week's edition of Smart Hotel Marketing. Dive into the latest trends and insights that can help elevate your hotel's marketing strategy and stay ahead in the competitive hospitality landscape.
In today's newsletter:
- 🎯 Generational Influencer Strategies
- 📉 Wealth Gap Affects Travel
- 📊 Social Media Usage Shifts
- 📤 Instagram's 'Send' Feature
- #️⃣ Hashtag Tips from Instagram
- ✨ TIP: Behind-the-Scenes Series
- 🔥 TRENDING - "Common Sense" Sound
📊 STAT OF THE WEEK
🎯 Tailoring Influencer Marketing for Different Generations: Key Strategies for Hotels
In the ever-evolving world of influencer marketing, tailoring your approach to different generations is crucial for success. A recent article from eMarketer highlights the importance of customizing strategies for Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X, and Baby Boomers to maximize engagement and impact.
Gen Z is drawn to authenticity and social causes. Partnering with micro-influencers who emphasize these values can significantly boost your hotel's appeal to this younger audience. They appreciate genuine and relatable influencers.
Millennials seek practical and relatable content. Influencers who can share useful tips, travel hacks, and real-life experiences that resonate with their lifestyle are most effective. This generation values transparency and practicality, making them more likely to engage with content that offers real value.
Gen X and Baby Boomers trust expert opinions and detailed information. Collaborating with influencers who are seen as experts in their field can help build trust and credibility. These generations prefer informative and well-researched content, which gives them the confidence to make informed decisions.
Key Strategies for Hotels:
- Gen Z: Partner with micro-influencers who emphasize authenticity and social responsibility.
- Millennials: Use influencers who share practical tips and relatable experiences.
- Gen X and Baby Boomers: Collaborate with experts who provide detailed, trustworthy content.
By customizing influencer strategies, hotels can engage different age groups effectively, enhancing their marketing impact and driving more bookings. This tailored approach ensures your message resonates with each generation, leading to more meaningful and lasting connections with your audience.
🧐 STAY INFORMED
Wealth Gap Influences Summer Travel Patterns
- Disparity in Travel: The wealth gap has led to different travel experiences, with affluent travelers opting for international trips and luxury accommodations, while lower-income individuals stay closer to home or forgo travel.
- Travel Preferences: Wealthy travelers are increasingly interested in unique, high-end experiences, while budget-conscious travelers focus on cost-saving measures and accessible destinations.
Impact on Hotels and Resorts — Hotels and resorts should tailor their marketing strategies to address these disparities. Luxury hotels can capitalize on the demand for unique, high-end experiences, while budget-friendly hotels should highlight affordable packages and local attractions to attract budget-conscious travelers. Diversifying offerings can help cater to both ends of the economic spectrum, ensuring broader market appeal.
Shifts in Social Media Usage (New Data)
- Platform Popularity: While Facebook has always been the 800-pound gorilla, the data confirms users are moving away from the platform and spending more time on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube.
- Content Preferences: Short-form video content is gaining popularity, driving more engagement and user interaction.
- Demographic Changes: Different age groups are gravitating towards specific platforms, influencing marketing strategies.
Impact on Hotels and Resorts — While Facebook and Instagram have been staple platforms for most hotels over the years, moving into 2025, hotels and resorts should consider expanding their social media strategies to include platforms like TikTok and YouTube. To effectively engage users, short-form video content should be emphasized. Tailoring content to suit the preferences of different age groups will maximize reach and engagement.
Instagram Prioritizes 'Send' Feature to Boost User Interaction
- New Priority: In a recent Instagram video, Adam Mosseri, Head of Instagram, emphasizes the 'Send' feature and advises creators to create shareable content.
- Ranking Signals: Sending content to friends is a key signal Instagram uses to rank posts, helping increase reach over time.
- Content Strategy: Focus on creating natural, shareable content that encourages users to engage through direct messages.
Impact on Hotels and Resorts — Hotels and resorts should create engaging, shareable content that guests would want to send to friends. Utilizing the 'Send' feature can enhance reach and engagement, building a more connected audience.
Instagram Shares Key Hashtag Tips
- Myth Busting: Avoid adding numerous hashtags just to boost reach.
- Quality Matters: Focus on using a handful of highly relevant hashtags instead of many generic ones. Instagram recommends five versus twenty.
- Intentional Usage: Be deliberate with your hashtags to improve content performance and avoid spammy practices.
- Engagement Focus: Instagram prioritizes content based on user engagement, not the number of hashtags.
Impact on Hotels and Resorts — Hotels and resorts should refine their hashtag strategy by using specific, relevant hashtags that align with their content, destination, and, of course, the property. That's it.
🔥 TRENDING NOW - "That's Common Sense, I Fear" Sound
This week, we’re spotlighting a hilarious TikTok trend that revolves around a trending sound clip in which someone asks a silly question about marathons being different lengths, and the other person responds, "No, all marathons are the same length. That's common sense, I fear." This sound has gone viral as a funny way for creators to incorporate their own niche, using it to respond to a "silly" question with a common-sense answer. Check out an example here: TikTok Video.
What's the Trend?
Creators use this sound to showcase scenarios where someone asks a question with an obvious answer, providing a humorous twist. The silly question and the matter-of-fact response make this trend engaging and highly shareable.
How Can Hotels + Resorts Leverage This?
For hotel brands, this trend presents a unique opportunity to engage with your audience in a fun and relatable way. Here’s how you can incorporate this trending sound into your content:
- Showcase Your Amenities:
- Create a short video where an employee humorously asks if they can take a pool break just because they work at a hotel.
- Another option is to have a guest not understand that room service can be easily delivered straight to your door, and another guest responds “that is common sense, I fear,” all while showcasing the room service offerings.
- Highlight Unique Features:
- Use the trend to emphasize unique aspects of your hotel. For instance, an employee might ask if the hotel’s rooftop bar has to be on the roof, followed by the “common sense” response.
By tapping into this viral sound, you can create lighthearted and engaging content that resonates with your audience, showcases your hotel’s amenities, and keeps your brand at the forefront of social media trends. Don’t miss out on this opportunity to infuse some humor into your content strategy and connect with your audience on a personal level.
💡 TIP OF THE WEEK: Create a Behind-the-Scenes Series
Start a "Behind-the-Scenes" series on your social media channels. Show your followers what goes into making their stay memorable. Highlight different aspects of your hotel, such as the kitchen preparing meals, housekeeping maintaining rooms, or staff setting up events.
This content humanizes your hotel, builds a deeper connection with your audience, and provides an inside look at your hotel’s operations. It can also increase engagement and attract potential guests by showcasing the effort and care your team puts into their experience.
🔎 WHAT'S HAPPENING AT CASUAL FRIDAYS
- We value fitness and a healthy lifestyle at Casual Fridays, so we held a walking challenge in June. Our team crushed it, but the winner was Mack, who averaged an impressive 15,462 steps per day throughout the month! 🏆🚶♂️
- I recently visited Broken Bow, Oklahoma—a town thriving on AirBnBs! While Casual Fridays supports hotels & resorts, my goal was to explore what AirBnBs are doing that can inspire innovative ideas for enhancing the hotel experience.
