Small travel is beautiful

A lot can happen in a week, and so much more can happen in 12 months. Particularly when it comes to data, insights and the world of social media. So, one year on from our last travel report, there are some big changes you NEED to know about. Especially if you’re a travel brand who is struggling to deliver business impact through social.

Let’s get dark

One of the big changes this year is where people are going for information. Instead of just flexing on Facebook, or shouting out on tweets, people are using dark social (platforms such as Messenger or WhatsApp) and entering online forums to get their recommendations; address booking issues and gather as much information as possible. This shift is an indication that people are huddling into smaller communities as they feel safe, protected and can escape from the over-produced, fake and quite frankly, BORING content that most travel brands are pumping out. People want REAL snaps, honest reviews and a real connection to whoever is relaying the messages.

Not so fast! 

Before you throw yourself into these dark, difficult to monitor spaces, consider what your mission is. This isn’t just about engagement, it’s also about sharing cross-channel and tapping into dark social. Sorry, but your BAU (business as usual) content just doesn’t make waves anymore. If you want your content to take off and get tangible results, you need to have a purpose and stand for something. Chucking out over-edited blue skies, burnt orange sunsets and slo-mo’s of palm trees flapping in the wind gives your audience nothing to differentiate you from the mass of similar images.

What does this mean for brands?

Whether you like it or not, the number of people sharing content via dark social is on the rise. 43% of dark social users in the UK have shared travel-related information with their friends and family. And with 63% of leisure travelers using Facebook messenger for travel-related activities, it’s vital that travel brands make content shareable. This way it can be moved from feed to dark social platforms with ease.

Simple. Right? Well, hold on for one second. There’s a whole lot more to it than that. Luckily, we’ve put it all into one handy downloadable report so you can sky-rocket your content into orbit. Download it here!

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