Study analyzes the typical profile, expectations, and results driving social marketing success.
Jerne, a leading platform connecting travel creators and experience providers, announced the release of an industry-first study of the data driving social marketing success through gifted or hosted experiences for creators (social media influencers, content creators, bloggers, and others, including travel advisors). The exhaustive study analyzed 23,453 partnership applications between 4,723 creators (representing 84 countries) and 325 experience providers (representing 102 countries), over a 1-year period from September 2022 to October 2023.
“The creator economy is a billion-dollar industry with millions of people producing all types of marketing content for Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, blogs, and other platforms,” said Tim Morgan, CEO, Jerne. “And those marketing efforts with hotel, cruise, and tour companies are increasingly providing marketing cost savings and driving bookings to retail channels including travel advisors, OTAs, and direct sales.”
A recent study by Stelico Consulting Group found that 76% of luxury travelers selected their hotel brand, cruise line or airline based on social media, while 60% said they had purchased travel based on a social media post by a celebrity or influencer.
Key profile, expectation, and result findings of the 2023 Jerne Creator Study:
Creator Profile:
- Country of residence: USA (66%), UK (11%), or Canada (4%)
- Gender: Female (58%)
- Platforms: Instagram (98%), TikTok (19%), and YouTube (13%)
- Average age: 31 (25% over the age of 40)
- Average following: 234,879
“As arguably the ‘original’ travel influencers, 6% of creators in the study self-identified as travel advisors in addition to self-identifying as influencers or content creators,” said Morgan. “This is a trend that continues to increase as savvy travel advisors understand the importance of using social media to connect with suppliers, existing clients, and potential clients.”
Partnership Expectations:
The major experience provider categories of hotels, cruises, and tours offer the following, on average, as a hosted experience:
- Hotel: 2 nights of accommodation for 2 people, including breakfast, not including transportation
- Cruise: 7 nights of accommodation for 2 people including food and drink, not including airfare or pre- and post-transfers
- Tour: 7 days of accommodation for 1 person including food and drink, not including airfare or pre- and post-transfers
“While 98% of experience providers do not, under normal circumstances, offer monetary compensation to creators in addition to the value of the hosted experience, there is a growing movement by creators to be compensated according to tangible proof of their influence,” said Morgan. “We expect this conversation to continue and are working with our creator and experience provider partners on building out travel industry best practices in this area.”
The major experience provider categories of hotels, cruises, and tours expect the following deliverables, on average, in return for a hosted experience:
- Hotel: 4 social media story posts per day, 1 social media feed/blog post per partnership, and 5 high-resolution images or videos per day
- Cruise and Tour: 4 social media story posts per day, 1 social media feed/blog post per partnership, and 2 high-resolution images or videos per day
Partnership Results:
- Average content impressions per hosted experience: 170,944
- Average content “likes” per hosted experience: 16,921
- Average content “comments” per hosted experience: 913
- Average creator rating: 97% (as given by experience providers)
- Average experience provider rating: 99% (as given by creators)
In addition to the above partnership results, experience providers are using creators to decrease their own-channel content creation costs through re-usable libraries of their content being housed in Jerne.
“Quantifying and understanding the marketing impact of travel creators is key to the industry unlocking the full sales potential of this nascent channel,” explained Morgan.
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
