Social Media Engagement for Travel Brands

In 2017, we sent over 5 million cold emails, bought Instagram accounts with 700K followers, and partnered with hundreds of influencers—all to answer one question: Can we build an email list of 500,000 subscribers in less than a year? The answer: Yes. Here’s what worked, what didn’t, and the unconventional strategies that helped us scale: 1. BE STRATEGIC WITH YOUR COLD EMAIL: We didn’t blast random people. Instead, we used data from Instagram to target the right audience. → Hashtags like travel and wanderlust. → Geotags from Bali to Iceland. → Accounts they followed, like National Geographic. This allowed us to write hyper-personalized emails that felt authentic. Best subject lines: - “Your hashtag photo” - “Came across your Instagram” The result? - 200K subscribers. - 45-50% open rates. - 10-15% click-through rates. Big lesson: Cold email isn’t spam when it’s done right. Personalization is everything. --- 2. TURN GIVEAWAYS INTO A GROWTH ENGINE: We gave away what our audience loved most: free travel (flights and hotels, paid for with rewards miles). Every giveaway included a viral referral system: - Participants got bonus entries for sharing with friends. The results? → 5K-15K new subscribers per giveaway. Tools we used: Gleam, ViralLoops, and DojoMojo for co-branded efforts. Big lesson: People don’t just want free stuff—they want relevant free stuff. --- 3. BUY YOUR WAY INTO ORGANIC SOCIAL: Instead of building from scratch, we bought Instagram accounts in the travel niche for $10K. We rebranded the accounts and created a network of pages tailored to different travel styles: - Van life. - Luxury travel. - Budget backpacking. This grew into 2.2M followers, sending consistent traffic to our landing pages and giveaways. Big lesson: Sometimes, the fastest way to scale is to skip the hard part. --- 4. SCALE WITH COMMUNITY: We launched an ambassador program with hundreds of micro-influencers, giving them points for every email they helped us collect. Some earned free flights and hotels. Most didn’t—but they still added thousands of subscribers. Big lesson: People love rewards, but they also love being part of something bigger. --- Here’s the truth about growth: It’s not about being conventional—it’s about being creative. - Use data to find your audience. - Automate the parts that don’t scale. - Build a system that feeds itself. In the end, your email list is the one asset you own. Treat it like gold.

How to Leverage User-Generated Content (UGC) Introduction: User-generated content (UGC) helps brands connect authentically with audiences, as people trust peer recommendations over ads. Showcasing real user experiences builds credibility, strengthens community bonds, and turns customers into advocates, driving organic growth and engagement. Key Concepts -Social Proof: UGC demonstrates trust and recommendations, often more effective than ads. -Authenticity: Real customer content fosters trust as genuine endorsements. -Community Engagement: UGC encourages customer connection and sharing. -Content Variety: UGC provides diverse, reusable content for multiple channels. Challenges in Implementing UGC -Quality Control: Curating UGC for brand alignment can be challenging. -Permissions: Obtain creator permission to avoid legal issues. -Negative Feedback: Be prepared to manage unfavorable UGC without harming your reputation. -Incentivizing Participation: Encourage customers to share experiences through incentives. Strategies & Solutions To gather and utilize user-generated content (UGC), brands can create hashtag campaigns, run contests for product photos, and showcase testimonials on social media for credibility. Highlighting curated UGC demonstrates real product use, while repurposing it in emails and ads maximizes reach. Engaging with creators by tagging and sharing their posts strengthens connections and encourages more sharing. Benefits of Leveraging UGC User-generated content (UGC) enhances credibility and trust by showcasing authentic customer experiences, leading to higher conversion rates. It fosters brand engagement and loyalty while being cost-effective, filling content calendars without high expenses. UGC also improves SEO by generating relevant content that boosts discoverability through branded hashtags and reviews. Insights for Effective UGC Campaigns To maximize user-generated content (UGC), prioritize authenticity by encouraging customers to share genuine experiences instead of scripted or promotional ones. Monitor UGC performance by tracking metrics like engagement and conversions to understand what resonates with your audience. Additionally, create a streamlined content submission process with direct upload links or clear instructions to make it easy for users to share their content. Conclusion: User-generated content (UGC) builds social proof, fosters trust, and engages communities. By incorporating UGC into your marketing strategy, you transform customers into brand advocates, enhancing reach and connections. Utilizing hashtag campaigns, reviews, contests, and social media features encourages sharing experiences and cultivates a loyal community that spreads your brand's message organically. #UGCmarketing #brandUGC #contentstrategy #digitalmarketing #usergeneratedcontent #UGCstrategy #brandengagement #socialmediastrategy #contentcreation #UGCcommunity

Most Brands Get ‘Community’ Wrong—Here’s Why “Build a community.” That’s the advice every brand gets. And 99% of them do it completely wrong. They think community means engagement metrics. They think it means a Discord, a Slack group, or replying to comments. They think it means “involving the customer in the conversation.” And then they wonder why no one cares. The truth? People don’t want to join your brand. They want to join a world that makes them feel something. That’s what separates a brand with an audience from a cult brand that people would die for. The Problem With the ‘Community’ Playbook Most brands follow the same tired strategy: ✅ Start a social media page ✅ Create “engaging content” (whatever that means) ✅ Launch a Discord or Facebook group ✅ Hope people show up and talk about the brand And guess what? Most of these communities turn into a ghost town. They have zero identity, zero mystique, and zero sense of belonging. People don’t want another boring brand forum where they talk about products all day. They want a movement, a belief system, a new way of thinking. And that’s why the most powerful brands don’t build communities—they build worlds. The Cult Brand Playbook: Build a World, Not a Community Let’s look at brands that actually get it right. 🔥 Harley-Davidson: You don’t just buy a motorcycle. You join an outlaw brotherhood. 🔥 Liquid Death: It’s not about drinking water it’s about murdering thirst. 🔥 Apple (under Jobs): Not a tech company—an anti-establishment revolution. None of these brands talk about “engagement” or “building a customer community.” They create a lifestyle, mythology, and set of beliefs that make people feel like they belong to something bigger than themselves. And that’s the secret: Cult brands don’t chase customers. Customers chase them. How to Stop ‘Community-Building’ and Start World-Building If you want to build something people actually care about, stop focusing on engagement and start focusing on immersion. 🔑 Define a Belief System – What does your brand stand for? (And who’s the enemy?) 🔑 Create Rituals & Symbols – What actions and language make someone an insider? 🔑 Make It Exclusive – Can everyone join, or is it earned? 🔑 Give It a Mythology – What’s the origin story, the legend, the deeper meaning? If you build a world people want to live in, they’ll fight to get in. If you just build a community, they’ll leave the second something better comes along. Most brands are just a conversation. Cult brands are a religion. Your Turn Drop a comment: ⚡ What’s a brand that has built a real cult following? ⚡ Have you ever joined a brand not just because of the product—but because of the world they built? Let’s hear your take. 🚀 #Branding #CultBrands #WorldBuilding

The way I think about it: brand is your reputation. 
 Brand is not your logo. Not your website colors. Not the font that agency carefully selected. "Doing brand marketing" is not billboards. 
 "Doing brand marketing" does not mean just doing a bunch of stuff you can't measure. 
 Brand is about building your reputation. 
 And when you have a good one: 
 • Products sell faster • Partners want to work with you • Top candidates reach out first 
 I think "investing in brand” means actively shaping how people perceive and talk about you when you're not in the room. Here's how you can build brand: 
 1) Thought Leadership and Content 
 • Consistent, high-quality content: Articles, LinkedIn posts, podcasts, and videos that educate, challenge, and provide real insights. 
 • Founder-driven storytelling: People trust people, not faceless brands. Get your CEO and execs creating content that shares vision, expertise, and conviction. 
 • Deep, original research: Publish unique reports, data insights, or case studies that establish you as a category leader. 
 2) Customer Experience & Advocacy 
 • Deliver on promises: The best brand strategy is a great product and great support. Nothing destroys brand faster than failing customers. 
 • Turn customers into advocates: Case studies, testimonials, referrals. Make it easy (and rewarding) for customers to talk about you. 
 • Build community: Real engagement happens in communities, not just social media. Create a space where your customers connect, share, and get value. Or here on social, that can be community too. Doesn't have to be a walled community. 
 3) Brand Awareness & PR 
 • Earned media: Get written about in industry publications. Appear on podcasts. Get featured in newsletters. Or focus on social if (like most industries today) that is where the discussions are happening. 
 • Strategic partnerships: Partner with known, trusted brands and influencers to borrow their credibility. 
 • Memorable experiences: Events, webinars, and live activations that make an impression beyond just digital content. 
 *** 
 Take this definition and then think about what does it really mean when you say "We're investing in our brand this year" ?? 
 It doesn't mean just go do a bunch of marketing you can't measure...

The next billion-dollar brands won’t start with a product. They’ll start with content. They’ll build community, trust, and conversation before they ever build inventory. Because attention is the new supply chain. If you’ve got the trust, you can sell anything. This is not a theory. This is the reality of modern business, and if you’re in hospitality, tourism, or any experience-driven industry, it should be your obsession. So let’s talk about what that actually means for your brand today: 1. Build in public: Stop waiting until something is perfect to share it. Show your process. Let your audience see the behind-the-scenes, the people, the small wins, and even the missteps. You’re not just selling a hotel room or a destination. You’re selling a story people want to be part of. 2. Become the media company: You’re not a resort. You’re not a cruise line. You’re not a tourism board. You are a media company that happens to sell those things. That means you need to post every day like your survival depends on it, because it does. One video can change your quarter. One story can land a new partner. One post can fill rooms. This isn’t theory. I’ve seen it happen. 3. Educate or entertain. Every piece of content must do one or both: No one cares about your room upgrades or the plated dinner shot unless there’s a human hook behind it. Share staff stories. Show local culture. Tell me why your destination matters right now. Give me a reason to stop scrolling. If you don’t interrupt the pattern, you’ll never earn the attention. 4. Engage like a person, not a brand: Reply to every comment. Start conversations in the DMs. Reshare user content and tag them. The future belongs to brands that act like people. If you show up like a billboard, it will bury you. 5. Leverage borrowed trust: Partner with people who already have the audience you want. Influencers, creators, advisors, guests who love your brand. If they trust them, and they recommend you, you win. But don’t micromanage the message. Collaborate, don’t control. 6. Stop measuring vanity, start tracking velocity: Likes are not currency. But how fast your story spreads, how fast people comment, save, and share, that’s your new KPI. Speed is signal. If your content is good, it’ll move. If it’s not, it dies fast. 7. Start now. Not next month. Not next quarter: There will always be a reason to wait. But every day you’re silent, someone else is taking the attention you’re too slow to claim. And once someone else owns the conversation, it’s hard to get it back. Because again, and I’ll repeat it… The next billion-dollar brands, they won’t start with products. They’ll start with content. Audience first, physical products second. Because attention is the new supply chain. If you’ve got the trust, you can sell anything. So, are you building trust, or are you still just pushing product? The game has changed. And if you’re not adapting, you’re invisible.

People crave two things: belonging and significance. Give them both, and you’ll build a brand they never leave. The best way to do that? By mastering what psychologists call the Law of Uncommon Commonalities. What Is an Uncommon Commonality? It’s a shared trait, belief, or behavior that’s rare to outsiders but deeply meaningful to insiders. Uncommon commonalities give people two things tribes run on: belonging and significance. 1) A group to belong to → we’re the same 2) A reason to feel special inside that group → we’re not like everyone else When you build a brand around uncommon commonalities, your customers stop being customers — they become a community. How Peloton Used Uncommon Commonalities to Create Belonging and Significance Peloton didn’t just sell exercise bikes. They created belonging and significance through uncommon commonalities. Their riders share a unique bond: they train alone — yet never feel alone. They sweat, suffer, and show up together, even from their living rooms. They belong to a group that values consistency, discipline, and accountability. They celebrate each other through a screen. It’s not just about cycling. It’s about being the kind of person who does hard things — even when no one’s watching. That uncommon commonality fuels retention rates north of 90% — loyalty most brands would kill for. One of my clients, Matt’s Off-Road Recovery, shows this law in action. I helped with their product development and launches, and what I witnessed was a masterclass in community-building through uncommon commonalities. Matt and his crew rescue stranded off-roaders in the Utah desert. But their fans aren’t just off-roaders — they’re helpers. They love adventure, family, and country. They believe in lending a hand, working hard, and living with grit. Their uncommon commonality? → Humble heroism. Every hoodie, sticker, and strap isn’t just merch — it’s a badge of belonging that says: “We love adventure. We build. We help. We do hard things.” That’s belonging and significance in action — and that’s why their fans feel like family, not followers. → How to Apply the Law to Your Brand: If you want raving fans — not just repeat buyers — find your brand’s uncommon commonality. → Ask yourself: 1) What unites your audience that outsiders wouldn’t get? 2) What makes your customers proud to belong? 3) What small signal — a phrase, ritual, or symbol — makes them recognize each other instantly? When you discover that, build everything around it. Because people don’t just buy products. They buy belonging. ♻️ Repost if you believe great brands don’t attract customers — they build communities. 👋 Follow Janelle Page for weekly lessons on marketing, branding, and how to build Category-of-One brands.

If I were leading community at a brand today, I wouldn’t start by building one from scratch. ✨ I’d start by looking at the communities that already exist -- and ask how we could earn our way in. Community doesn’t have to mean ownership, sometimes the smartest move is partnership. ✨ I’d collaborate with brands whose audiences naturally overlap with ours in shared values, trust, and reach. Hot take: strong-arming people into your ecosystem when they’re already gathering elsewhere isn't the move. Go engage authentically first (hint: look outside your category) ✨ I’d treat influencers as community leads, not transactions. Influencer marketing isn’t going anywhere, but it is evolving. So invite creators deeper into the brand. When you invest in their audience, your dollar stretches further and your brand shows up with credibility: - Let them host IRL moments - Co-create content or moment with them, not just through them - Surprise and delight their community, not just your own ✨ I’d rethink IRL entirely -- Smaller. Bespoke. Repeatable. Often. Big, flashy experiential moments have their place (who doesn't love a well-crafted brand event?), but your most loyal customers don’t need branded cocktail napkins. They want connection and access. They want to know you, the people behind the brand, and the other humans who love it too. The breakthrough is in creating spaces where real relationships form. The takeaway? Community isn't a growth hack, it's an investment. Play the long game, create moments that YOU would want to join, and have fun. It's not a channel to be "figured out," it's connecting with humans, so just be human ☺️

If you think community building is this, you will never succeed in doing it: It's not social media followers. It's not social media impressions. It's not video views. And just because everyone is praising LinkedIn comments, I'll tell you, it's not that either. You are building community when people think about you outside of your content. You are building community when you initiate behavior in the real world. You are building community when your brand becomes associated with the community. And the ultimate level of community building is you are building community when people seek you out to be a part of this community, whether through live events or online. We could feel it with my last company. We created real world action. I had stacks of letters like this. These are just some of the ones I saved. People would also send in gifts to our team. I opened honey, homemade syrup, jerky, blueberries (delivered in person), a bow, duck calls, duck lanyards, and a giant handmade and woodburned sign from one of our community members that hung in our entryway until the day the company closed. We had a killer community. Unfortunately the business model just never worked, but we had thousands of people who believed in us. We did that, first and foremost, by standing for something. So many brands are afraid to have any backbone, but want to build up a community of advocates. Advocates for what? People don't get excited for middle of the road takes. They get excited when your brand aligns with their beliefs. And the best brands? They guide the community into new levels and layers of those beliefs. Shut. UP. with the internal discussions about engagement stats. Meme accounts can show the same. You know, the horrible accounts that show bum fights, car crashes? They have those stats. They're not building community. Go take a position, host conversations, participate in those conversations with a real stance and opinion, be ready to have haters, and go create action in the real world. Go build.

Who you are is what you build. (If you think community is a "marketing tactic", then perhaps need to dig a little deeper.) Every brand says they're "building community." If you look more closely, most are just building customer conversion programs with "community" language. But people are smarter than that. They know real connection when they see.. and feel it. The difference between community theater and actual community: ❌ Community Theater: "Join our community!" (it's a Facebook group with 10K lurkers) Rewards program disguised as belonging Asking for engagement before delivering value Measuring success by member count Creating spaces and narratives that don't allow for connection. Internal org cultures that advances "me" individuals vs "we" individuals. ✅ Actual Community: Members help each other without prompting Value creation happens peer-to-peer Business results follow relationships, not the other way around Success measured by member retention and mutual support Business models that promote connection Physical spaces and brand narrative that creates a sense of belonging. Internal organizations that reward "in-the-trenches" leadership. The framework that actually works: 1️⃣ Start with shared struggle, not aligned demographics. Create a shared solution for the struggle. Shared experience is more important that your data set. 2️⃣ Great brands are a platform for connection between humans. Your job is to enable those connections at every touchpoint. 3️⃣ Create authentic and meaningful connections between members The best communities work when members need each other, not just you. 4️⃣ Fitness is a hospitality business. The way your team shows up at POS is more important than your marketing campaign. Invest in making people feel welcome. Bottom line: Community isn't a marketing tactic. It is who you are -- your company culture, hiring priority, business model, 4-wall strategy, social philosophy, and core value. What's the best community you've ever been part of? Why was it differen from the generic "communities" most brands create? #CommunityStrategy #CustomerRetention #BusinessStrategy #CustomerExperience #SocialWellness #CompanyCulture www.the2percent.club

If Your Hotel Isn’t Instagrammable, You’re Missing the Modern Traveler. Today’s travelers are not just booking rooms or reserving tables, they’re looking for Instagrammable experiences. A breathtaking rooftop at sunset, a beautifully curated breakfast tray, a mural with a story, or a scenic corner designed with intention, these visuals drive decisions long before guests ever arrive. 📸 User-generated content has become the new word of mouth. When guests share pictures, they’re not just posting memories, they’re marketing for us, organically and globally. For hotels and restaurants, investing in high-impact visual spots isn’t just aesthetics, it’s strategy. ✨ Increase visibility ✨ Boost brand desirability ✨ Turn moments into marketing ✨ Let guests become ambassadors Creating spaces worth sharing is no longer optional; it’s part of the guest journey and a powerful revenue driver. In hospitality, we aren’t just serving food or offering rooms, we’re offering stories people want to tell.