How to enhance the use of Influencer Marketing for luxury hotels & PR companies?

Abstract

During my internship and after literature review and brainstorming some problems concerning influencer marketing were detected. A recent study from Hilker consulting (2019) suggests that influencer marketing is becoming constantly more important for companies. Each year advertisers are allocating more money for social media advertisement, this is a sign that they are noticing better return on investments in that sector (Emarketer.com, 2015). Compared to other forms of classic marketing, a cooperative research study found that influencer marketing has the ability to bring about 11 times more return on investment (Rusu, 2016).

Bakshy et al. (2011) mentioned that influencers display a certain composition of desirable characteristics that give them the chance to influence a disproportionately wide range of other people . According to Tuten & Solomon (2013) influencers are opinion leaders whose advices are being taken seriously. They have the power to influence consumers attitudes, behaviors and opinions.

For the hospitality Industry influencer marketing is relatively new, compared to the fashion and cosmetic industry. However, there is a huge potential for them to do influencer marketing, as this industry is all about triggering emotions and creating desires of beautiful and interesting places. This is exactly where influencers are best at. They create engagement and trust with a company and they know how to address their audience. If this audience is the target group of the hotel, influencer marketing could be the most efficient way of creating awareness

Nevertheless, from the use of influencer marketing certain issues arise. Especially for luxury hotels the target group is difficult to align with most of the influencers. Other ongoing problems for influencer marketing is how to check their reliability as well as measuring their value. Some studies already picked up these topics but it seems one of the most difficult problems to solve. Anyhow, these problems will be part of this study, especially focusing the side of the luxury hospitality sector.

On the other hand Luxury hotels must try to be attractive places in order to attract the influencers and convince them to tell their stories. Tourism destinations as well as hotels need media images, according to Jenkins (1999). Especially when the reader has never been in contact with the destination, media representation and the so called “story telling” is highly important (Jenkins, 1999).

Last but not least, this paper addresses the issue of sustainability. Sustainability can bring influencer marketing to another level by making it a meaningful tool that changes the world in a better way. Perhaps influencer marketing could be used to enhance sustainable values. According to Haaren et al. (2005) social media and other web tools could encourage social education by promoting a new way of awareness creation through interacting with users and passing on information in a greater social context. It could be the future of influencer marketing and it will be interesting to hear expert opinions about this topic and other future trends of influencer marketing.

Regarding the importance and actuality of this topic for the hospitality industry, as well as for PR agencies and regarding the detected issues, the research question will be: How to enhance the use of Influencer Marketing for luxury hotels & PR companies?