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Luxury hotels are being inundated with requests from self-described influencers

theatlantic.com

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Re: Luxury hotels are being inundated with requests from self-described influencers

#271

Post by grecy »

fabatka wrote: post #96
grecy wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> living out of a Jeep Hey, that's me! 2+ years, 80,000+ miles and 35+ countries in Africa living out of my Jeep. I've just passed the half-way point and am really looking forward to the Cape to Cairo run North. http://instagram.com/theroadchoseme/ http://theroadchoseme.com

Wow, so well documented trips! I really like how you could turn your life around and show others how this can be achieved. Definitely the most inspiring thing I started reading this year, kudos!

Cheers! Let me know if you have any questions about what I'm doing / how I did it / etc. I'm very happy to help in any way I can !

Re: Luxury hotels are being inundated with requests from self-described influencers

#272

Post by jexah »

prawn wrote: post #177
FireBeyond wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Or someone you know online Following someone, and knowing them are different things. > like their work Which often is "selfies in different places" > and recommend only a few places? That they convinced to let them stay, visit, or eat for free...

All of those things are really subjective. A selfie is just a photo of the subject in situ, and it's often more genuine than stock/provided shots used in travel marketing. Consider also that the alternatives are heeding the hotel itself or a booking engine or a travel agent. As was said, if you're going to be influenced by someone, why wouldn't it be someone whose veneer of life you'd at least tangentially followed,…

Why not look at an aggregation of tens of thousands of reviews? Much less likely to be bought. In the world of bots and influencers, reviews that cite the hotels weaknesses are the most valuable.

Re: Luxury hotels are being inundated with requests from self-described influencers

#273

Post by intrasight »

Lazare wrote: post #183
intrasight wrote: post #154

I use Instagram and other social media. But I just don't get how this works. Perhaps someone can give me and others an overview. I only see the posts from my friends, so how would posts from these "influencers" influence me or other's like me? Why would I follow some random person I don't even know? Really, I'm looking for some enlightenment here. I assume that I'm not the only one.

> I only see the posts from my friends, so how would posts from these "influencers" influence me or other's like me? Why would I follow some random person I don't even know? Everyone else is busy following other people that they don't know. Why? I dunno, ask them. But keep in mind, other words for "influencer" would be "blogger", "streamer", "content producer". Have you never found a cool channel on Youtube that has…

>Have you never found a cool channel on Youtube that has enjoyable content?

I subscribe to a dozen Youtube channels - mostly educational - not just "cool". My question/point was about Instagram. Not much educational value from a photo of a girl in a bikini at a pool ;)

Re: Luxury hotels are being inundated with requests from self-described influencers

#275

Post by Lazare »

intrasight wrote: post #273
Lazare wrote: post #183

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I only see the posts from my friends, so how would posts from these "influencers" influence me or other's like me? Why would I follow some random person I don't even know? Everyone else is busy following other people that they don't know. Why? I dunno, ask them. But keep in mind, other words for "influencer" would be "blogger", "streamer", "content producer". Have you never found a cool channel on Youtube that has…

>Have you never found a cool channel on Youtube that has enjoyable content? I subscribe to a dozen Youtube channels - mostly educational - not just "cool". My question/point was about Instagram. Not much educational value from a photo of a girl in a bikini at a pool ;)

> I subscribe to a dozen Youtube channels - mostly educational

Alright, but obviously the most popular channels on Youtube are entertainment not educational, so you understand that most people are using these mediums in a way that's quite different to you, right?

Any even those "educational" channels are being run by what a marketing exec would think of as an influencer. Just because you're watching some guy build a coffee table out of reclaimed lumber (or whatever) doesn't mean someone isn't willing to pay money to make sure it's being done with a specific brand of power tools, in case you decide to buy one just like you saw in the video.

> Not much educational value from a photo of a girl in a bikini at a pool

My partner follows a number of Instagram accounts devoted to specific hobbies she has, such as soapmaking, or animal rescue/wildlife rehabilitation. Instagram is about way, way more than just "girls in bikinis". But again! Many of the people looking at girls in bikinis on Instagram are women wishing they looked like that; if the model posts about how some (probably fraudulent) supplement helped her, you don't think that'll cause a direct boost in sales?

Anything with eyeballs looking at it is worth slapping an ad on. And given how many people are looking at Instagram every moment of every day, obviously it qualifies. If it's not a great platform for you, that's fine (I don't even have the app installed, so I'm totally in agreement), but given Instagram is apparently well over 500m MAUs, that says more about us than Instagram. :)

Re: Luxury hotels are being inundated with requests from self-described influencers

#276

Post by intrasight »

Lazare wrote: post #275
intrasight wrote: post #273

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Have you never found a cool channel on Youtube that has enjoyable content? I subscribe to a dozen Youtube channels - mostly educational - not just "cool". My question/point was about Instagram. Not much educational value from a photo of a girl in a bikini at a pool ;)

> I subscribe to a dozen Youtube channels - mostly educational Alright, but obviously the most popular channels on Youtube are entertainment not educational, so you understand that most people are using these mediums in a way that's quite different to you, right? Any even those "educational" channels are being run by what a marketing exec would think of as an influencer. Just because you're watching some guy build a…

I understand all that. I'm still missing the part about how this random stranger would get on my feed.

Re: Luxury hotels are being inundated with requests from self-described influencers

#277

Post by Lazare »

intrasight wrote: post #276
Lazare wrote: post #275

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I subscribe to a dozen Youtube channels - mostly educational Alright, but obviously the most popular channels on Youtube are entertainment not educational, so you understand that most people are using these mediums in a way that's quite different to you, right? Any even those "educational" channels are being run by what a marketing exec would think of as an influencer. Just because you're watching some guy build a…

I understand all that. I'm still missing the part about how this random stranger would get on my feed.

Because they're not a "random stranger", they're a content producer you chose to follow because you enjoy the content. It may not be the kind of content you personally like, but so what?

You've already said you follow some content creators, so you're familiar with the mechanism. What's left to understand?

Re: Luxury hotels are being inundated with requests from self-described influencers

#278

Post by chrissnell »

orbitingpluto wrote: post #31
CamTin wrote: post #5

I wonder why the strategy of these "brand personalities" has to be limited to "luxury" type branding. For example, could you build a following traveling the country by interstate in a Fiesta, staying at Motel 6 and eating at Waffle House? It wouldn't cost Motel 6 and Waffle House almost anything to comp a few waffles and otherwise-unoccupied rooms as an experiment, if they aren't doing similar things already.

Pot bellied middle-aged bald white man drives to his Motel 6 in his Ford Fiesta, crosses the street to a Waffle House, gorges himself on waffles and syrup, and returns to his hotel room to cry and wonder where it all went wrong? Sounds great.

Bill Bryson wrote a hilarious--but acerbic--book about exactly this: The Lost Continent .

http://a.co/121JpWz

He was in a Chevette, not a Fiesta, and the hotels were off-brand but it's the same idea. A typical passage:

    Afterwards I retired with a six-pack to my motel,
    where I discovered that the bed, judging by its
    fragrance and shape, had only recently been vacated by a    
    horse. It had a sag in it so severe that I could only 
    see the TV at its foot by splaying my legs to their 
    widest extremity. It was like lying in a wheel-barrow.
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