Scroll through your Facebook feed. What type of content do you typically see? For me, it’s a mix of political opinions (scroll), family or pet photos (like button, keep scrolling…) and pictures of friends on vacation (love button, look at my calendar and see if there are any travel deals I can book ASAP.)
In fact, just last night, a friend of mine Andrew Ly shared this photo he took in Lake Louise, and it stopped me mid-scroll.
That post is stunning! And the travel envy that ensued is so, so real.
Research confirms that what I experienced with Andrew’s photos is common. 52% of users surveyed said their friend’s photos inspired travel plans, and 76% post their vacation photos to social networks.
It’s no secret that travel-inspired content performs exceptionally well on social media, and tour operators have run some impressive campaigns based on this. But with dwindling organic reach, even the most beautiful content can struggle to reach audiences in the news feed.
I saw Andrew’s post because I’m connected to him, but if a travel brand shared this photo, I probably wouldn’t have seen it. There’s a huge opportunity for tour operators to use their biggest brand champions (employees) to increase visibility online. For many travel brands, the problem isn’t creating great content, it’s competing in a crowded news feed.
We know that messages shared by employees travel farther – up to 561% farther than brand channels, in fact. Why not take that eye-catching content and give your team the power to share it with their personal networks?
How Enabling Employees with Content Builds Your Brand
One PostBeyond customer did exactly that. They’re a global tour operator with 2,000 employees worldwide. Their employees are passionate about the company and the trips they provide, but they had no way to easily share content with their networks.
The PostBeyond platform provided a way for all employees – no matter where they are in the world – to share the awesome content that the brand is creating.
Over 12 months, their employees generated…
- 38,117 content shares
- 442,594 click-throughs to the brand’s website
- $983,214 in earned media value
Empowering employees to share content can be a complement to your existing paid campaign, or can boost your organic efforts. In an industry like travel, the content is already amazing – it’s gaining the visibility on social media that can be a challenge.
Have you considered enabling your employees or agents to share content? Let me know what you think about this idea in the comments.
