Booking.com launched Influencer campaign to engage with customers and re-define #FutureOfTravel
Taking advantage of influencers as a listening tool for preparation of their next customers’ travel journey!
Undeniably, travel was one of the most adversely impacted industries by the Covid-19 pandemic. Many hotels and travel agencies need to put on their efforts and do everything they can to maximize their revenues, with the knowledge that the end of the pandemic could potentially be in sight.
Some decrease the accommodation price while some emphasize safety and cleanness to attract their customers. However, in this blog post, I will be telling an exciting case study of how Booking.com created a social media campaign to deal with this situation and advance its brand.
In April 2021, Booking.com launched an engagement campaign on social media through partnerships with influencers in India. The initiative was aimed at instilling faith when their influencers share their possible travel goals and understanding what travelers are looking forward to doing when the pandemic has been alleviated.
Why India?
India is the most digitally advanced traveler nation in terms of digital tools for planning, booking, and experiencing a journey. In addition, the Indian tourism and hospitality industry has emerged as one of the critical drivers of growth in India’s services sector. Tourism in India has significant potential considering the rich cultural and historical heritage and places of natural beauty spread across the country.
What Booking.com planned?
Booking.com planned to release an influencer campaign on Instagram to trigger conversations on the evolved travel behaviors. The goal was to create customer engagement, highlight the redefined meaning of travel in 2021 and, more importantly, emphasize the value of travel in people’s lives. With that in mind, the task at hand was to get people to talk about what their journeys in 2021 will be like — the ones that will inspire and the ones that will rediscover India.
Campaign execution?
Booking.com partnered with five influencers to post an image of themselves that closely resonated with their travel goal of planning to travel in 2021 using the hashtag #FutureOfTravel and tagging Booking.com on Instagram. Influencers who glanced back at the past to get audiences excited about the future. They showed how the pandemic changed our traveling habits and provided hope and inspiration to those who wished to experience the world again. These influencers included Rohit Saraf, Sanaya Irani, Ridhima Kapoor Sahani, and travel influencers Shramona Poddar and Ankita Kumar.
What do I think about this campaign?
From my point of view, this campaign was a good idea to not only promote its brand, spark travel inspiration but also see what their traveling goals were through influencers they are following. The company can take advantage of this campaign as a listening tool to see what their potential customers thinking about traveling. It also somehow urges the feeling of going on the next journey again during the pandemic.
