Part 1 – Targeting Travel Influencers Segment: Habits, Interests, and Conversation
With summer just around the corner, Americans are ready and planning their summer vacations. According to a survey conducted by Forbes Advisory, an astounding 49% of Americans plan to travel more in 2023. Now is a prime time for travel marketers to find ways to engage consumers and get their brands and destinations to the forefront of their minds.
According to research from the International Trade Administration, the U.S. travel and tourism industry generated $1.9 trillion in economic output. As travel restrictions ease, consumers are increasingly embracing the chance to reconnect with distant family and friends by ramping up their travel plans.
This begs the question: how do you get the most mileage out of your marketing? For one, reaching the right audience is key.
According to Engagement Labs research, the average adult engages in 3 travel-oriented brand conversations each week. This figure grows 50% higher when you isolate affluent adults – a common targeting criteria for travel marketers. What if we go a step further and isolate those everyday influencers who are fully engaged in the travel industry and sought out by others for their advice? These everyday travel influencers report engaging in 9 travel brand-related conversations each week – triple the average adult!
Due to our partnership with Dstillery, marketers can directly target these travel influencers and many other influencer/advocate segments. But we can offer more than just targeting these segments, there is a lot more to explore about these powerful audiences.
Leveraging the latest TotalSocial Profiler data, we can start to build out an image of travel influencers. While they generally align with the general population in terms of age and gender, they are more educated. Travel influencers are also extremely heavy media users. For instance, travel influencers are avid audiobook/podcast listeners with Audible usage being 2.8x higher than the average adult. This segment also frequents music platforms such as Apple Music (2.2x), Sirius XM (1.9x), Amazon Music (1.8x), and iHeart Radio (1.7x).
Marketers understand that access to audience segments with data about issues, demographic and behavior that matter most to travel influencers can help their campaign goals. Exploration of the most impactful conversations among travel influencers show us that in addition to travel/vacations, the economy and inflation are also at the forefront in their daily lives. Our data reveals that travel influencers are 64% more likely than the average adult to engage in daily conversations about the overall state of the economy. This is important to keep in mind when designing messaging to reach travel influencers.
Most Impactful Daily Conversation Among Travel Influencers
Marketers can leverage Dstillery, our digital activation partner, to reach powerful audience segments and make media buying more efficient and impactful. Additionally, Engagement Labs offers influencer segments, including Travel Influencers, that can be accessed through Dstillery and major platforms such as LiveRamp and Adobe Audience Manager.
Tips for Travel Marketing Success
Here are five tips to help you elevate your travel marketing game and make your brand stand out in a crowded space.
- Target travel influencers: Identifying and targeting travel influencers, who engage in 9 travel brand-related conversations each week, can help travel marketers reach an influential audience and increase brand awareness.
- Consider media consumption habits: Travel influencers are heavy media users, with podcast and music streaming services being popular among them. Travel marketers can create more effective campaigns by considering these media consumption habits.
- Focus on economic topics: In addition to travel and vacations, the economy and inflation are important topics for travel influencers. Travel marketers should consider these topics when designing messaging to reach this influential audience.
- Tap into digital word-of-mouth audiences at scale: Digital activation data segments such as the TotalSocial Profiler data, can help travel marketers directly target influential travel segments, including travel influencers. This can make media buying more efficient and impactful.
- Leverage influencer and brand advocate segments: Engagement Labs offers a variety of influencer and brand advocate segments that travel marketers can leverage to increase brand awareness and engagement.
In conclusion, targeting travel influencers can be a powerful strategy for travel marketers looking to increase brand awareness and engagement. By leveraging data on their habits, interests, and conversations, marketers can design more effective campaigns that resonate with this influential audience. With the help of digital activation partners like Dstillery and influencer segments from Engagement Labs, travel marketers can reach these powerful audience segments and make their media buying more efficient and impactful.
We invite you to contact Engagement Labs to learn more about our many influencer and brand advocate segments as well as our partnership with Dstillery.
