Welcome to Boostly Podcast Season 10 Episode 10. This is a recap of my Facebook live video where I talked about working with an influencer.
Here's the audio for this episode:
Here's the video for this episode:
Timestamp
02:00 A tactic that many people are sharing
04:30 What is an influencer?
06:00 What to do when an influencer stays at your property
08:50 What kind of influencer you are looking for?
10:20 How to treat the influencer?
12:30 What you can do when the influencer is already in your property
15:00 Final tip on dealing with influencers
17:20 How to find influencers you can work with
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Transcript from the Episode
Today, I want to share with you a tactic that normally people are talking about, but it's proven to be really successful, and something that you can do right now. I'm going to be talking about influencer marketing. And influencer marketing is it's something that so many people don't understand. Because they don't understand it.
I see so many people that have tried it and have tested it and people who have maybe not done so yet. But again, this is something that I want to talk to you about because it is really important and I think it's really important that so many of you are adopting this tactic in 2021 and beyond.
What is an influencer?
What I'm talking about here and I'm alluding to is what's known as a micro-influencer or nano influencer, somebody that maybe has between 1000-10000 followers, this is somebody that is going to be number one, easily attainable, so you can easily reach out to them and send a message to them and you know, and have a conversation with them quite easily without having to talk to maybe their agent or a manager, etc.
But it's also as well, somebody who's got an Uber engaged audience. So what that means is that when they put a post out and they do a recommendation, their audience are much more likely to act than if it is somebody that's got millions upon millions upon millions of followers.
What to do when an influencer stays at your property
You could be right now on Instagram, and you could be on Instagram on your phone and you could come across an account or somebody that's got between say 10,000 and 20,000 followers, who fits your ideal guest, so say that you are a family-friendly business you actively encourage families to come and stay with you this person you just think wow, this would be an ideal person to come out our property.
Now you would reach out to said influencer and you would have a conversation with him now you may already follow him you know you may have already liked and commented on a couple of our posts you may have even already messaged him in the past but now it's come to the stage where it's you want to have some form of work in agreement because this is what it is and you would reach out to them and you would say, hey, Becky you know I've been following you for a while now I think you've got a fantastic Instagram account you've got such lovely followers, I would love to have a conversation with you about you and your family coming to stay with us at a time that suits you and us.
Basically, the agreement would be that you would come and stay with us for free in exchange you would talk about us on social media you will do a blog post maybe, a YouTube video whatever that may be and you will come to that agreement.
Some agreements are just a couple of posts on Instagram. A couple of stories on Instagram some agreements may be that there's a blog post and a YouTube video as well it really does depend on the agreement that you and the influencer.
Now sometimes it may be free, sometimes you will offer to pay for them as well. It literally just depends on number one, how big their audience is. And number two, are they used to it. I always find that a good way to find out the barometer on if they are used to working with brands or not, is when you ask for a media pack or a media kit. If they say yes then this is something that they are used to the process and they may be looking for some form of a fee if they come back to you and say listen, I haven't got a media kit, then more often than not, then there will be no charge.
Now it doesn't matter if there's a charge or not you know to at the end of the day, you're still going to get quality work and you can tell if you're going to get quality work because you can just look at the feed and then at the end of the day if you've been following the influence of Becky for an extended period of time you will know how good their work is.
What kind of influencer you are looking for
You are looking for somebody that is number one engaged number two, somebody that interacts with the followers, those don't just post and ghost as we say you are looking for somebody that is creative. So you're looking at somebody that has good photography, maybe just good videos. As long as they haven't done anything shady as in buying followers, then that will mean that they are pretty good at what they do if they've done it all organically and done it all correctly, then that means that they're pretty good at what they do.
So if you decide to work with Becky and Becky's got 10 to 20,000 followers and save it you come to an agreement and save it you know you're going to offer them a two or three-night stay so they can come and her family can come and check out your place and check out the area and you know save it it's there's no charge so she doesn't charge you and you just do it basically a free stay for a shout out. Now, this is different This is the part of the relationship that can go over either way.
How to treat the influencer?
Hosts feel like they can communicate with the influencer beforehand. I totally disagree. What I will be doing, I will be getting their WhatsApp number, I'll be getting a text number and I will be just keeping in contact right up to this day. So I would be number one treat her just like any other guest. So, but I will be keeping in contact to say hey, so just let you know when you arrive, I'm going to be your point of contact Becky. Any questions, please let me know. And again, if you want to meet and greet at, you know when they arrive, perfect. If not, if you're just going to get send instructions via WhatsApp, that's absolutely fine as well.
But what I would be looking to do, I would be looking to take full advantage of having somebody with influence down on your property, I will be looking and I will be reaching out to your local network. So days out, restaurants, anything that you name it anything in your local area call in favours and whatnot, just explain that you've got somebody that is coming to conversate with you, somebody's got a big social media following, they're gonna come and talk about the area, it's a great chance to get this name on the map.
And what I will be looking to do, I would be looking to plan out for the four hours, things to do for Becky and for Becky's family. So again, if you've got a days out that you can send them to fantastic, I'd be putting an agenda because at the end of the day, I find that when you do this, the influencer is really impressed like Becky will be super impressed. And again, the more that she can write about the more positive things that she can write about, about the area and about you, the better the end result will be.
So again, it's up to you on, on how you structure who's structured within and how you arrange the activities. But I would be definitely looking to do that at the end of the day. The more that you can have somebody doing on the property, the better.
And you know, I've obviously got a throw in the context. This is all after COVID and all of the restrictions and the lockdowns are over, I'd be looking to put this into practice now. So for when the lockdown is over, then you can be looking to take full advantage of this.
But if you are in lockdown right now, and if you can take guests right now this is the perfect time to start doing the research, you can literally start doing the research right now.
What you can do when the influencer is already in your property
I would be actively encouraging and asking for the influencer to be taking certain pictures or how give them certain hints and tips and encouragement of places to maybe post a story of or just give them if you've got a property for example, that's got a stunning view, just say, hey, just just to let you know, the sunset here is fantastic, or the sunrise here is fantastic. It'll make a great little Instagram story, give them hints and tips and advice because they need to know what to talk about. Leave them to their own devices, I don't micromanage them, leave them to their own devices, a certain amount of way. But also as well encourage and help and talk to them about things to take pictures of etc. And again, if you want to go and have a one on one, chat with them, to get some ideas, etc. That's everything that I did when we had influences coming to us.
Number one, it was really useful for them to find out more about us. But also as well, it's really helpful for me to help to understand more about their background about how they grew their social, social media to be so big and how they did all the things.
What to do after the influencer leaves
After they've left and they've gone back, I would 100% keep in touch, I'd you know if they've agreed to do a blog post, for example. So they'll have to go away. But after editing the pictures, they'll have to put together you know, put the copy together and post it I'd be keeping in touch, ask him if they need anything, etc. And this is the final thing.
Once the influencer has left, put the post up, they've done the stories, as well done a YouTube video after they've stayed and they've been I would definitely keep in touch. I always end on a little text message. So I'd say hey, Becky, thank you so much for your visit. It was great to get to know you and your family a little bit better. If you know anybody else who would fit our audience that would be able to have some form of similar agreement, please, you know, set up a group chat, send me their details. I'd love to chat because again, if you can find out more people to work with that are more in your demographic, your ideal customer avatar, they have, you know, 10 20,30, 40,000 followers plus, and again, when it comes to it at the end of the day in all the other forms of marketing that There are from Facebook ads to social media to email marketing and whatnot.
This is one of the most easiest, most cost effective ways to get in front of a really engaged audience. It's It's so different to say maybe a magazine advertisement. So it's probably the most closest to it, I think the other closest to it will be a journalism commenter to stay at your property. But if you think about it, with a magazine ad, you might be paid 500 pounds to be put in front of a real niche group of audience that will be put in front of with this, it's similar, but every single one of the people reading it, every single one of the people engaging in it is super engaged like a mini community.
So when the person at the top recommend something recommends a stay, but they've never heard of, then they are more entitled, they are more likely to get in contact with you than any other time in the past.
Final tip on dealing with influencers
When you work with an influencer, come up with a special offer. So you'll have a trackable code, you'll have a trackable link in your booking engine that they could put in that when that trackable link gets typed in that code, the coupon code the voucher code or whatever, the very audience will get like a 5% discount, 10% discount, but it's able for you to track the return on the influencer, the ROI, let's call it or the return on the influencer.
Because it's really useful for you then to be able to look at your stats and go Okay, so we worked with in 2021, or 2022, we worked with 10 influencers, and it brought in X amount of revenue in bookings. But also as well, we're able to grow our followers, and it'll be amazing, you'll be amazed at how many people when you start doing this will say uncommon book review and go oh, I've discovered you because of x because of Becky.
How to find influencers you can work with
I would always start my search on Instagram is the best place that I would potentially find somebody to work with. All you need to do open up the Instagram app. All you need to do is in the bottom, you'll see that there is the home symbol, you've got the magnifying glass, so type in the magnifying glass, and all that you would start to do in the search bar, you've got the little arrows, you've got the person and you've got the hashtag, I would start using the hashtag, to work in and around some of your niches, your areas, your locations, you know if you are looking for family-friendly, so maybe do family vlogs family vlogs, family, Instagram, etc.
So if I was to type in hashtag right now, so hashtag, family, family time or family goals, for example, you will see that there are 8.4 million posts, and I will just simply start going through each one. And I will just maybe try and say okay, so who's try and local to me, maybe who is in the same country to me and you just keep going through that. And I would maybe make a list of 10 to 20 different hashtags. And this is the sort of hashtags that maybe you want to appear for, influencers in and around your niche, influencers in around maybe your area in you know, you can maybe sort of look between one to three hours away from where you live, and again, because you'll be able to attract not only that, that area, but also the staycation market which is still really really big and really popular right now.
It's a fantastic way and at the end of the day, you're making good relationships and good contacts with people that are very good at social media. And at the end of the day, that is not a bad thing.
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