What type of visual content resonates the most with travellers?

There’s no denying the power of visual content when it comes to travel and hotel marketing. Afterall, a major reason for travel is to see new and exciting locations in different parts of the world.

People don’t want to be inspired just reading about destinations – they want to see images and picture themselves in a destination; be that a hotel room, beach, or exotic landscape.

Before your guests book a trip it’s their imagination marketers need to prey upon, using visual content to tell stories, evoke wonder, and create interest in your hotel.

According to studies, visuals with colour increase a person’s willingness to read a piece of content by 80%.

But what exactly is the right way to promote visual content and what will travellers best respond to?

Here’s some advice on how you can attract guests to your hotel with engaging visuals.

Travellers trust their peers over any other source

While it may seem counter-intuitive, most consumers will trust information from a fellow customer over the advice of an expert simply because that expert is trying to convince them to spend money. It’s no different for travellers. While professional photos may seem like your best option, most travellers inherently trust images that come from ‘real’ people such as their friends and family.

This is reflected in the planning stage of a trip, with 84% of millennials likely to plan trips based on someone else’s vacation photos on social media.

You should keep this in mind when creating content for your hotel. Facebook posts with images see 2.3 times more engagement than those without images. Try offering incentives for your guests to share their travel photos on Facebook and Instagram and tag your business or use specific hashtags.

84% of millennials will plan trips based on someone else’s vacation photos via social media

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User-generated content is almost always imagery

An aggregated sample of travel brands showed that 91% of user-generated content was of images, and 7% was video. The most prominent channel for this type of content is Instagram. The real interest lies in what type of images people are sharing.

On average, the data showed 39% were of landscape scenery, 35% contained people, more than 9% showed wildlife, and 4% featured food. While this may seem typical, it gives a good indication of what you should be doing to increase engagement.

Constantly posting photos of your rooms or physical property won’t inspire people. Beautiful landscapes and guests having a great time is more likely to do the trick.

The high-quality visual content Instagram users are creating every day is a goldmine of free and impactful content. Start incorporating authentic guest Instagram images throughout your promotions.

What other content do travellers love?

It seems people never really leave the childhood phase of loving pretty pictures but visual content doesn’t have to be a standard photograph. Here are some other ideas you can use:

• Infographics

Infographics are liked and shared up to three times more than other visual content. They’re a great way of compressing a lot of information into a digestible chunk and making content more engaging. Businesses who use infographics report a 12% higher profit margin than those which don’t.

• Quotes

Large images of quotes are very popular on Facebook and Instagram to promote a short but powerful message. They’re simple and eye-catching, making them extremely shareable pieces of content.

• Branded images

Used sparingly, branded images can effectively remind people of your unique selling point. The most effective branded images should capture your business’s essence through imagery, color, composition, etc.

Try using different strategies for your visual content until you can establish what works best for your brand. You can read more about visual content here.