How UGC is Transforming Travel: Authentic Insights, Credibility, and Engagement Strategies

User-generated content (UGC) represents a significant opportunity for the travel industry. It allows a deeper and more intimate connection with audiences compared to, say, brochure descriptions or website banner ads.

UGC is transforming travel industry marketing by turning travelers into brand advocates. Perennial tourists and influencers are building vibrant communities to share their adventures in stunning detail, inspiring others to explore destinations. Their work gives travel lovers new insights into destinations they wouldn’t get otherwise.

This guide asks why authentic UGC destination reviews and recommendations matter for firms in the industry. Then, it explores how to build credibility in your marketing and leverage social media to maximize your impact and reach.

Why Authentic Destination Reviews and Recommendations Matter

Seventy-three percent of people use UGC to determine whether to buy a travel package. Authentic reviews and recommendations are helpful because consumers want realistic guidance on what they can expect when they arrive at destinations overseas. It reduces the risk of wasting money and having a bad experience.

Why destination reviews and recommendations matter to your company depends on the travel experiences you sell. Hang-gliding experience companies have different needs from hoteliers selling rooms in beachside resorts in the Mediterranean.

Authentic destination reviews by UGC creators on platforms like Billo can help in the following ways:

• Provide new perspectives on travel experiences. Creators can see hackneyed options from original viewpoints, allowing audiences to experience them differently, even if they are cheesy or generic.
• Offer social proof. UGC influencers provide social proof, showing their experiences of destinations as the audience’s peers. Their messaging is often less promotional and more inspiring, allowing them to communicate with leads more powerfully than conventional marketing efforts.
• Latest information. Creators can get up close and personal with what’s happening on the ground right now, encouraging audiences to get started. For example, they can report on building work, closed amenities, or new attractions.

Building Credibility: UGC’s Role In Influencing Travel Bookings

Audiences trust influencers who provide unvarnished opinions. Travelers who believe a creator provides honest advice are likelier to settle on their recommendations, even if they highlight some negative elements. As such, it makes sense for travel companies to focus on leveraging UGC to generate credibility.

Finding Authentic Voices

Part of this process involves finding real voices. Travelers like influencers who offer unfiltered accounts of their experiences in destinations around the globe. (This fact may explain why travel vloggers are so successful).

The trick here is to find a creator with balance. You don’t want a paid promoter but you also want to avoid harsh criticism. Most brands settle on engaging, non-controversial travel influencers who adopt a specific style or approach to their work.

The best creators focus on travel and slot destinations into their narrative. These insertions aren’t “salesy” but highlight where audiences can stay if they visit the same place.

Many are just run-of-the-mill customers who had a positive experience and decided to create content celebrating it. These additions are often the most genuine.

Overcoming Skepticism

UGC creators also help travel companies build credibility by overcoming customer skepticism. Audiences know influencers won’t sugar-coat their experiences and will show them what things are like when they arrive.

Again, travelers who see positive, neutral, or moderately negative stories are more likely to explore these destinations. These insights allow them to match their expectations with the asking price. Bookings are more likely if they believe they are getting value for money (or can tolerate the negatives).

Influencing Conversions

Travel UGC can also build credibility and lead to conversions – what brands want most. Customer content often provides the validation travelers need to book flights and hotels.

Part of this comes from their ability to connect with your audience. Creators and customers can build a sense of community with your audience by being relatable and helping people enjoy more meaningful travel experiences.

Furthermore, they can handle traveler’s pain points concerning a specific booking. Influencers can discuss potential negatives and explain why they aren’t as bad as expected. For example, they could detail building work close to a hotel, saying how it only occurs during the day and isn’t audible through their room’s double-glazed windows.

How To Encourage Travelers to Share UGC

Billo makes it simple to get creators to share their travel experiences. You simply order the UGC you want and our pool of curated influencers will fulfill it.

However, what if you want to reach out to your travel customers for content? How can you get them to share their experiences on social media?

Fortunately, you don’t have to reinvent the wheel. Numerous brands are already finding intelligent ways to tap into this resource.

Ask For Reviews

The simplest method is to ask for reviews. Getting customers to discuss their experiences of your brand on recognized platforms can boost visibility and increase trust significantly, without much work on your part. Simply send them automated emails asking for feedback once their trip ends.

The best reviews include videos and pictures. Sites like TripAdvisor promote these because they are visually engaging, making them the first thing prospective customers see when they become interested in your services.

You can also ask independent third-party companies to do survey analyses of your experiences and publish them in separate reports. These provide more detailed information on what customers think while reducing the effort required.

Provide Sharing Information

Another tactic to get travelers to share UGC is to use sharing options. Providing them with tools to distribute their experiences can generate more output.

For example, give them social media hashtags they can insert into their content on Instagram or TikTok. You could also provide QR codes to show them where to upload media (if for a website) and use in-app sharing (if using brand-specific software).

Offer Rewards

Rewards are another tried-and-tested method to encourage customers to share travel UGC. For example, you could offer:

• Free flights to select travel destinations in a region
• Prizes for the best photos or videos of a destinations
• Vouchers entitling customers to cheaper flights, food, stays, or experiences

Just be careful how you make offers. Don’t ask creators to produce only positive UGC. Instead, give them free rein and trust the experience to impress them along the way.

Highlight Your Existing UGC

Another approach is to show customers how you already use UGC on your various channels and outlets (if applicable).

Showing what you do already has more potential to make customers feel valued. If your audience can see that you reward hard work, they are more likely to jump on your UGC initiatives.

Ask Customers To Share Their Pre-Trip Preparations

Finally, encourage travelers to share UGC by getting them to post about their pre-trip preparations. This simple exercise isn’t as interesting, but it can excite creators and make them excited about what comes next. Getting the ball rolling often leads to higher UGC production during the trip.

You can also approach customers after they finish the visit, asking them to:

• Discuss their best hiking adventure
• Share their favorite campsite moment
• Talk about the facilities they enjoyed the most

Prompting them again can help bulk your UGC marketing and provide more options.

Maximizing Your UGC Impact Through Social Media Strategies

Once you have the UGC, the final step is to use it effectively on social media. Developing a successful strategy helps you reach more people and improve your return on investment (ROI).

But which strategies work best?

Repost Effective UGC To Your Social Media Channels

Reposting the best UGC to your social media channels is the most straightforward strategy. Taking experiences you want to promote and highlighting them for your audience can be highly effective. This strategy shows prospective customers what they can expect when they choose you.

Of course, you need to be careful with this approach. The creator you use should align with your brand and represent you faithfully. Their values shouldn’t differ too much from yours.

You should also tag the creator and mention that you value their input. Sharing is best when combined with appreciation.

Ultimately, ensure customers feel valued by you whenever they generate UGC. Talk to them about how you love what they do and appreciate it every step of the way.

Repurpose UGC For Your Social Media Content

Another approach is to repurpose UGC for your social media. Editing and adapting snippets of user-generated content can make your marketing more authentic and relatable.

For example, you could collate reviews from multiple customers and insert them into a longer video testimonial about the quality of your travel destination.

Repurposing UGC is an effective strategy because it provides ample original material. You don’t have to go out and film destinations: your clients do that for you. As such, you can use their output in more diverse applications, limited only by imagination.

Use UGC In Social Ads

You can also use UGC in non-organic content, like your social ads. These can boost performance substantially by adding grittier, more authentic elements.

Travel brands sometimes include video ad user reviews about meals or hotel stays. These snippets give confidence to travelers who haven’t clicked the “buy” button yet but want to.

It also helps you reach new audiences. UGC ads can appeal to fresh prospects who haven’t interacted with your brand. It gives them immediate social proof to explore your offer further and get on board.

Use Platform-Specific Strategies

Finally, use platform-specific strategies when experimenting with UGC on social media. Tailoring your approach increases your impact.

For example:

• Use Instagram for highly engaging UGC travel photos and videos on Stories, tagging destinations with the relevant hashtag
• Use Pinterest for UGC relating to hotels, travel tips, and user-generated travel boards with information to inspire future travelers
• Leverage Facebook groups for campaigns and contests to encourage UGC creators to create more
• Engage customers in challenges on TikTok, or focus on the fun side of traveling in short, silly videos

Combining these efforts often yields the best results. Don’t copy and paste your strategy from one platform to another. Instead, work on them together to boost your appeal.

Examples of UGC in Travel That Inspire Engagement

So, what examples exist of travel companies using UGC to inspire engagement?

Expedia

Expedia is a travel company offering flights, hotels, and experiences in one place. It’s convenient but users don’t always know where to book and whether it will suit them.

For this reason, the brand frequently runs travel photo contests. These invite users to submit photos of their travel destinations to win vouchers or discounts.

EyeWanderWin is one such campaign run in Asia. The competition asked customers to “wander” to far-flung destinations and take photos of the scenery they discovered. Winners received a free trip to a mystery destination, a smartphone, and a travel photoshoot with a professional photographer.

Contiki

Contiki offers group travel and adventure holidays for clients possessed by wanderlust. The operator provides over 350 tours in 75 countries around the globe, including in the Americas, Middle East, and Asia.

Contiki likes to operate UGC challenges, asking customers to share the best moments from their vacation experiences under specific hashtags. The brand then features the contributions it likes the most on its website and social media channels.

Contiki’s “perfect photo” contests appeal to younger audiences (under 25) who love sharing images on their channels online. These show their experiences while connecting to the underlying brand.

Furthermore, they build loyalty. Customers feel connected to Contiki, encouraging it to use its services again.

National Geographic

Finally, National Geographic did something similar with its “Your Shot” campaign on Instagram. While the brand isn’t explicitly involved in providing vacations, it does feature some of the world’s most desolate landscapes, encouraging its audience to explore them.

The initiative asked travelers to share their unique experiences of different cultures and landscapes, providing a deeper insight into what the world is like in its raw beauty. Photographers gained recognition for their photos, joining a vibrant community of individuals with similar interests.