Travel influencers are making an incredible mark on hospitality and travel industries. From Hong Kong to Paris, travel social media influencers from all over the world are publishing incredible content, and are building a large following along the way. And as the value of influencers continue to grow and evolve, so are the ways in which travel brands can partner with influencers to plug their products and services. 

Leveraging partnerships with travel influencers can help travel brands reach a much wider audience than they previously had access to, and boost their engagement and bookings while showcasing their brand in an organic and authentic way. The influencers ideally play a vital role in the distribution of user-generated content, which they can share with hundreds of thousands (sometimes even millions) of engaged followers. 

However, there’s a big problem; too many travel brands are getting into the influencer marketing trend without first understanding how it’s done. Even worse, some don’t know how to tell if their campaigns were successful or not. This post will share the essential things you need to know about travel influencers.

How to Find the Best Travel Influencers

The best way to define an influencer is a person with the ability to influence others to take some action. This action, whether an ebook download, website visit, social media follow, or even travelling to a destination; varies depending on your campaign and its objectives. 

For this reason, the popularity and potential reach of the influencer should largely be a secondary consideration when working with an influencer. In fact, an influencer who can get 100 followers to see the value in what you offer and take some action is a lot more valuable compared to a “celebrity influencer” who displays your message or destination in the eyes of a million users that are unengaged and uninterested. 

What you want therefore the perfect influencer for your brand, not just someone who posts travel pics and has a huge following. You want a true influencer for your brand, one who matches your brand’s mission organically. 

Relevance is a lot more important than reach: Pairing your brand with the wrong audience means even the best content or offer will be scrolled past or clicked off fast without a second’s hesitation. The key here is to find the most relevant influencer for your brand with a relevant following. Their audience should ideally be people interested in the kind of things your brand has to offer. 

Find the perfect middle ground: For some brands, relevant influencers with a small but loyal following are perfect for their campaigns. For many brands though, such a small audience isn’t a worthwhile investment for their large campaign goals.

Plus, in general the larger the audience of an influencer, the less precise the campaigns are. As such, it’s important to define your goals first before choosing an influencer. 

So, where do you even start? Well, here are a few popular travel influencers to help inspire your search.

Murad Osmann: Murad travels with his wife, Nataly, all around the world, and has developed such a powerful reputation in the travel industry. His content has become more of a phenomenon – a woman pulling his hand towards a striking destination. He’s popular for his stunning images shot from all around the world.

Nomadic Matt: Matt is a well-known social media influencer. His audience is made up of over 213k Facebook followers, 82k Instagram followers, and 115k followers on Twitter. He has built a reputation in the budget travel niche and authored “How to Travel the World on $50 a Day”, a New York Times bestseller. 

Jetset Christina: Christina appeals to those after a luxury while on the go. She offers tips on the best places to shop, stay, eat, and more. Her content is popular across multiple channels, and followers can shop her own style as seen on Instagram through her blog. Her Instagram account has over 32k smitten followers.