What types of travel content do Millennials engage with the most? That’s a question many of us might find interesting and any hospitality brand should know the answer to. Luckily Newswhip (2017) did a research after almost exactly this. They were maybe not focused on specifically Millennials but since Millennials are the heaviest users of the platforms they looked at (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn and Pinterest) the results from this study are definitely relevant.
Facebook drives the most engagement
Newswhip says Facebook drives the most engagements for travel-focused web content. The topics that they found to work the best were philanthropic brand stories, especially if they include animals. “Viral sites also perform well, with animals, weird news, and human interest stories.”
Of the top 100 web articles related to travel content, 35% were related to current events like hurricanes or politics or such. 18% were human interest stories and 17% were brand-focused. Funny is to read that “on Pinterest the top stories were those that focused on the exotic — from recipes from certain locales, international decor, beautiful destinations from around the world, travel guides and more.” 8% goes to travel guides.
Want interaction? Use video.
Then Newswhip dives a little deeper into the core of the content. They tell us that “on average, video content drives the most engagements (and shares specifically), but external links are the most commonly posted formats.” The topics that performed the best were those featuring extraordinary subjects or events, things followers don’t see everyday.
Some definitely interesting numbers: 62 of the top 100 travel posts were video posts, 32 were photos, and six were links. The top 19 most shared posts were all video posts. “The top posts were most often focused on exotic destinations, especially mind-blowing or quirky sights that stand out in the news feed.” (Newswhip, 2017)
The top 10 travel pages
Newswhip also provides us with the top 10 travel pages (in the period of September through November). This is handy for us to look at for inspiration and to figure out what types of videos or content get more engagement than others. The top 10 is:
“Viral pages that have segmented into niches like UNILAD Adventure and INSIDER travel are top of our charts, along with National Geographic.”
What about Instagram?
Then, let’s head to Instagram. According to Newswhip (2017), “photos drive the highest average engagements per post” and “influencers make up the bulk of the top 100 travel-focused accounts.” Apparently giving a human element and context to the post works very well, since this is the tactic that NatGeo is executing and almost the entire top 100 travel posts on Instagram are theirs. The photos show things and events that followers don’t see in their everyday lives.
Four Seasons is doing it right: user-generated content
The study also looked at hotel brands and found that Four Seasons is by far the most successful brand on both Instagram and Facebook. Hyatt and Best Western are the number 2 and 3 but with far, far less engagement. “On both Instagram and Facebook, photo posts drive the highest average engagements per post across the hotel brands.” More interesting though is the fact that “Like National Geographic, Four Seasons’ top posts on Facebook and Instagram come from beautiful, tranquil, and whimsical photos that stir up inspiration. Also like National Geographic, the top Instagram posts often cite the photographer or another influencer in the caption.”
That gives us the information that user-generated content is highly valued by the followers of the hotel brand. This is likely because this information seems most trustable and authentic to the audience.
Conclusion
So, the sum it up, the top 6 popular travel content:
- Current events
- Philanthropic brand content
- Human / real stories
- Brand focused content
- Travel guides
- Inspirational posts
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