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Surveys show that word-of-mouth dominates in digital culture.
Wednesday, 8th March 2017
Source : Austin Davis - Exclusive & Live from ITB 2017

Word-of-mouth marketing continues to drive the travel decisions of millennials and their younger cohorts (Nielsens), that means that in a digitally-driven hospitality market, hotels, restaurants and amenity services should start turning to user-generated content for use in their advertising campaigns, Jody Farrar, VP of marketing at Chute, said at Berlin's ITB conference.

"User-generated content is just digital word of mouth," said Farrar. "More traditional forms of marketing have less impact for these groups."

Chute licenses user-generated content found on social media for use in marketing for travel accommodations. 

Millennials, or those people age 19 to 35, are particularly inspired by what they see on social media.

So harnessing the power of social marketing provides a win-win situation for both travelers and hoteliers: While users are provided with an authentic introductory point to a travel destination, hospitality firms get an inexpensive, easy way to gauge their audiences.

"When you use social marketing, you allow that authentic story to come through and allow people to talk about experiences," said Farrar. "Who doesn't want to see photos of actual people dining in your restaurant, or in your lobby?"

According to data obtained by Chute, some 78 percent of marketers already engage in some form of social media marketing, focusing heavily on content found on Instagram and Facebook.  

While these social media outlets remain enough to inspire millennials, centennials - or those individuals age 14 to 19 - are choosing YouTube more and more to preview travel destinations. 

Because teens largely influence family travel destinations, marketers should be on the hunt for clever ways to brand video content.

"YouTube is a medium we're all going to have to get more comfortable with," said Farrar. "[Centennials] see this as a new source of authentic content."

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