By Khushnooma Kapadia
Senior Area Director of Marketing – South Asia, Marriott International
INFLUENCER MARKETING IS 100% EFFECTIVE IF YOUR BRAND FITS IN THEIR WORLD
When you are in the hospitality business, your offerings and services must be evocative and need to resonate with a memory. Here is where influencer marketing comes into play. The story that influencers spin with their creative content and amazing social media moments helps create visual experiences of our business thereby making it very relatable for our guests. The important aspect of influencer marketing is that the brand or its offerings must fit into the influencer’s world – rather than the other way around, which means trying to possibly fit the influencer into the brand. Today’s consumer is very smart, and she/he can easily spot a sponsored post. Asking an influencer to just post doesn’t really help drive the task at hand. The right kind of engagement with their followers can be achieved only if you seamlessly fit your brand or service into their life.
Most of our influencer marketing is executed on an experiential basis; be it a staycation, dine-in or simply hampers, so the content and messaging that is created from that kind of partnership is a lot more organic. These experientials are usually exclusive offerings for our guests, if they visit any of our hotels. The hospitality landscape has been predominantly traditional but with this paradigm shift, the optimal use of social media is the defining factor for any brand.
