Creators and conversion

Followers view creator accounts as one of the top categories for gathering travel advice. According to Phocuswright’s research report The Creator Effect: Harnessing the Power of Collaboration in Travel, sixty-seven percent of followers deem creators helpful for travel advice, ranking third behind the accounts of OTAs (70%) and friends and family (72%).

Moreover, "converters*" who made a recent booking or visitation decision due to social media are more likely to consult creators in their trip planning. Twenty-nine percent of them referenced creator content in planning, compared to 17% of non-converters.

Among converters who consulted creator accounts in their trip planning, the content was cited as among some of the most impactful. Seventy-two percent of these converters report that those posts affected the decisions they made on recent trips (see figure below). Converters who referenced creators were more likely to be "influenced" by the accounts than other popular account types considered helpful, such as friends and family (64%) or OTAs (67%).

Converters also acknowledge that paid content, whether influencer collaborations or more traditional advertisements, played a prominent role in their travel decisions. Forty three percent of converters recall an influencer or creator partnership or collaboration which influenced their trip choices (see figure below).

It's unclear whether collaborations and paid ads outperform organic content because they are genuinely more effective or for other reasons. Creator partnerships may feel more memorable, they may include repeated posts (or posts coming from multiple creators working with the same brand) or there may just be such a preponderance of collaborative content to the point that it inevitably makes a difference.

The rate of influencer collaborations affecting converters is a prime indicator that creator partnerships can be extremely effective, but brands must still walk a fine line with their choices of when to partner and with whom. Among followers of creators, almost half (49%) say they'll trust an account less if they have a lot of brand collaborations or ads. Even the most successful influencers can harm their personal brand if they overload their content with partnerships and ads. Brands must consider how to scope out creators who not only garner views and engagement but are also trusted by their audience.

*Definitions - Social media users (sometimes referred to as "users") - Travelers who used a social media platform (including YouTube) for either trip planning or sharing content about a personal trip.

• Converters - We define converters broadly as social media users who made a visitation or travel purchase decision as a direct result of travel content viewed on social media.
• Non-converters - Social media users whose travel decisions were not impacted by the social media content they viewed.
• Sharers - Social media users who shared content about a personal trip.

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