TikTok & Travel Influencers: A Winning Combo

TikTok has come a long way since the days it was primarily used for posting funny short-form videos for your circle of friends. Today, the platform has emerged as a destination for travel content, creating countless opportunities for travel influencers to partner with brands and destinations.

Gen Z, in particular, is flocking to TikTok for ideas and inspiration when planning their next trip. Both brands and influencers are now discovering new and exciting ways to harness opportunities to connect with audiences on TikTok.

Read along as we unpack:

• Why TikTok is ideal for travel influencers
• How to leverage the platform for success
• The benefits of making TikTok travel content
• How to make a travel TikTok video
• How working with an agency streamlines the process

Why TikTok Is Perfect for Travel Influencers

TechCrunch reported that 40% of young people prefer searching TikTok or Instagram for travel ideas instead of Google, making TikTok a powerful player in the global tourism industry.

It’s not just that TikTok’s focus on short-form video is a great way to share content and interact with users; TikTok is a perfect platform for travel influencers because it’s become the tool that young people use to discover new destinations and build their travel itineraries.

And while getting lost in a sea of online content can be easy, TikTok users are actively seeking out travel ideas. The company says that 67% of its users actively search for travel experiences on its platform. 

As an influencer, that means when you create engaging travel content, the likelihood of it being found is higher. TikTok’s algorithm also ensures that when users seek out a topic, related posts appear on their For You page. That means travel content is regularly being boosted.

Key takeaways:

• 40% of users aged 18-24 prefer searching for travel content on TikTok & Instagram
• TikTok is now used as a discovery engine (like Google)
• 67% of TikTok users actively search for travel experiences on the platform
• TikTok is boosting travel-related content.

Destinations Understand the Power of TikTok

Destinations are looking to partner with travel influencers to showcase what makes them unique on TikTok, too. When Marketing Greece wanted to promote Greece as a modern and exciting travel destination, it partnered with MODERNSPEAK to bring four talented content creators to the country.

With MODERNSPEAK handling contract negotiations and organizing logistics, the influencer campaign resulted in:

• 125 content pieces
• A reach of 311,000
• 245,000 likes and comments
• An earned media value of $630,000.

How Travel Influencers Can Leverage TikTok

While travel content on TikTok is a powerful tool for driving engagement, travel influencers can expand their reach in a few key ways.

• A personal touch: Videos of a beautiful beach or mountain vista may draw eyeballs, but users gravitate toward content that offers a personal touch. Content that takes TikTok users behind the scenes and shows both the joy and challenges that come with travelling to a destination is seen as relatable and authentic.
• Use hashtags and trends: Some immensely popular travel hashtags on Twitter include #TravelTok, #Wanderlust, #BucketList, and #TravelGuide. Using these hashtags is a great way of connecting with TikTok’s massive audience of nearly 2 billion. Paying attention to social media trends helps, too. If there’s a challenge going viral, take advantage and combine it with your travel content.
• Promote local experiences: More young people are using TikTok as a search tool for discovering new destinations, and they don’t just want to see that a destination is beautiful. They want to know what to do and where to stay and eat. 
• Share tips: Travel tips are a huge engagement driver on Tiktok, so travel influencers who share tips and tricks for travelling on a budget, what to pack, or advice on specific destinations often see great engagement.

How Brands & Destinations Can Benefit from Working with Influencers

Working with influencers provides an invaluable leg-up for brands and destinations looking to get in on the ever-growing power of travel TikTok. The travel industry is highly competitive, and it can sometimes be hard to gain attention, but working with influencers provides direct access to their already-engaged audience.

That provides visibility and raises brand awareness that drives interest in a product or destination.

Micro & Macro-Influencers

Brands and destinations often wrestle with whether they should collaborate with macro or micro-influencers. The good news is there are benefits to both. 

Working with macro influencers is a great way of connecting with a massive audience. When a macro influencer posts on TikTok, hundreds of thousands or even millions of followers may see the post. It’s a great way of increasing awareness and visibility about a travel destination, airline, hotel, or restaurant.

Micro-influencers, meanwhile, have smaller followings but are trusted deeply within their niche. Collaborating with micro-influencers is a great way to target specific groups who may be most interested or most likely to visit a destination, whether that’s young travellers or those more interested in luxury.

Increased Engagement

The people who follow influencers do it for a reason. They’re interested in what the influencers are doing while they travel and trust them with their recommendations. The content that travel influencers create gets shared, liked, and engaged with, which has tangible results.

When Travel Alberta and Banff and Lake Louise Tourism were looking to elevate their tourism destination’s social engagement, they partnered with our influencer agency to bring 27 talented content creators to their gorgeous mountain community.

With a Creator Headquarters serving as their home base, they had the freedom and flexibility to explore Banff and the surrounding area as they pleased. The results were stunning, and some videos went viral, including ice bubbles from Abraham Lake that were viewed by millions. 

These efforts resulted in dedicated tourism resources being added to the area around the lake.

How To Make a Travel TikTok Video

Making a TikTok video is pretty straightforward. All you have to do is point the camera on your phone, record it, and then upload it to the platform.

Making an effective travel TikTok video takes a lot more work, though. Let’s take a look at a few key tips that can help.

1. Have a Plan: What’s the purpose of your video? Is it a vlog that’s capturing the experience of travelling? Is it Tips & Hacks showing how to navigate a new city? Is it showcase highlighting the best parts of a destination? Having a plan beforehand will help you get the footage you need.
2. Capture Your Footage: Make sure you’re using a camera or smartphone that can take high-quality video. Using a tripod can help, too, as it will make your shots steadier and shooting in natural light will help highlight what makes a destination beautiful. 
3. Edit Your Video: The top-performing videos on TikTok are typically between 21 to 34 seconds. Make sure you trim any unnecessary footage and add music and captions to make your video more fun to watch. TikTok has lots of built-in transitions that will help your video flow seamlessly.
4. Optimize Your Video: Captions are a powerful tool on TikTok, so use popular travel-related hashtags to help users find your video. Asking questions in your caption can drive engagement, too, and encouraging users to tag a friend is a great way of increasing shareability.
5. Post at the Right Time: This can vary depending on your audience, but Sprout Social’s data suggests that mid-morning through late afternoon on weekdays are generally when users get the most engagement on their posts on TikTok.

Take the Stress Out of Travel Content

MODERNSPEAK takes the stress out of planning and coordinating complex influencer marketing campaigns. Our experience working with travel influencers can help your brands or destination tap into the power of influencer marketing on TikTok—and any other of your preferred platforms.

Our goal is to help the right brands and influencers connect, with the understanding that it’s not always the content creators with the most followers that get the best results.

We rigorously vet potential influencers, collaborate with them to ensure that the content they create is authentic to a brand’s vision, negotiate contracts, provide legal support, and provide real-time monitoring and analysis to ensure a campaign is maximizing its impact and meeting its goals.

TikTok presents incredible, powerful opportunities for travel brands and destinations to reach new customers and highlight what makes them special. MODERNSPEAK’s talented team helps harness that potential.

Get the Most from TikTok’s Rising Travel Influence

With TikTok becoming the go-to source for travel ideas and inspiration for many young people, it only makes sense for brands and destinations to work with travel influencers to expand their reach. MODERNSPEAK’s expertise in the travel industry and roster of travel influencers who have proven they can drive engagement and interest can help you take your marketing efforts to the next level.

Email hello@modernspeak.co to find out how we can help you make the most of everything TikTok offers.