Last week I posted an article about the content consumption trends of Millennials. There is always lots happening in the world of content marketing and as a hotel, hostel or any hospitality related brand you simply can’t ignore this. Let’s look at the second part of this blog post about current trends that you might want or have to adapt to. 

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Another trend is happening in messaging platforms. An increasing amount of brands is getting active in this sphere. Messaging platforms are gaining popularity as tools to get and stay in touch with customers. A good example is the Dutch airline KLM: they make big use of WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger. You, as a customer, can ask any question you want through these apps. And if you don’t seek the interaction, they are still going to be around: they will send you updates about new deals, your flight status and so on. Other brands making big use of this innovation are Starbucks, H&M and Amazon. There’s one thing we need to take into consideration though: using a messaging platform means more work for customer service. It gives them another platform to put focus onto besides the ones already there, like e-mail, the telephone and social media.

The useful trend report of Edelman Digital

If you are interested in this subject, you might want to look at the trend report by Edelman Digital is maybe one of the most interesting ones to look at regarding media consumption expectations. I went ahead to see if they mentioned anything I didn’t mention yet. The report talks about trends in: e-commerce, data and analytics, artificial intelligence, conversational technologies, personalization, digital transformation, augmented reality, post cable networks and influencers. They tell us about the trend itself and how businesses should respond. There is a lot in this report to take into consideration.

The report also talks about AI. “AI is already a part of our everyday lives. Everything from Google search to Netflix to our Facebook Newsfeeds host recommendation engines powered by Machine Learning.” (Edelman Digital, 2017) This is something to take into consideration might we be able to set up a blog or own content platform. It’d be great if we can give people personalized recommendations through AI technology. If we know in which destination they are interested or in what types of activities we could give them an enhanced serie of recommendations about articles, videos and such to look at. Another thing they talk about it messaging, like I mentioned earlier. Not only brands making use of messaging platforms but also chatbots are a trend to watch.

They say we shouldn’t, however, be distracted by the hype. “It’s easy to get excited about the trends in AI, but true success is achieved by a deep understanding of objectives and desired achievement. AI is a solution to help you achieve your goals — not a goal in itself. Use the technology to tell your brand stories or shift audiences towards your products and services, rather than making the tech the only story.” (Edelman Digital, 2017) Also, regarding chatbots, Edelman Digital emphasizes the necessary level of customization and personalization of chatsbots. “A user should never have to suggest something twice and a chatbot should anticipate the user’s needs whenever necessary.”

These are all interesting insights but maybe not yet achievable for my own content strategy. However I thought it was important to look at them and mention them because they might become part of a bigger plan, or be in the content strategy for on the longer term.

Go Personal

The trend report goes on to talk about personalization. It tells us to narrow our focus on the customer journey. It mentions the creation of a “strategic, structured content journey that provides rich profiling opportunities such as using “capture content” types like quiz objects for more than just engagement.” It also learns us to dive deep into our customer’s behavior and maybe focus a little less on the standard persona. It then goes on to underline the importance of the customer journey experience. This, to me, is interesting. The content created for your brand should fit the customer journey of your target audience. From the start of the funnel towards the end.

Conclusion

Millennials are an interesting target audience. They are not growing up: they’ve grown up. Even the youngest of the group are now in the phase where they often need to work for their own living, where they make all their own decisions. In travel, they’re the most important generation right now. If you didn’t see part 1 of this post yet, then please read it. There are, in my opinion, more interesting trends in that one. If you want to stay updated on my articles about hospitality and marketing, I recommend you to become a member of the 100% free Tremento Tribe. Just click here. 

Did you enjoy this post? Then please let me know in the comments. Feel free to share your thoughts and if you come across any inspiring examples from hotels or hostels creating content, please do share.

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