Our Favorite Social Media Management Tools

At Segal Communications, we pride ourselves on being extremely transparent with our clients. We give them access to all our work and even hand off valuable assets if our relationship pauses or ends. In the spirit of transparency and not gatekeeping, here are our favorite social media management tools to maintain active social accounts for your brand. 

Scheduling and Analytics 

Hands down, our favorite social media scheduling tool is Sprout Social. Sprout’s interface for scheduling content is highly intuitive and provides us with a wide array of tools in one. As an agency, we have a customized plan that suits our workload and provides resources that keep our services top of the line. 

Sprout compiles all the data we need in customizable, comprehensive reports. With the platform’s reporting tools, we can send our clients easily digestible reports that provide them with key insights into the performance of their social accounts in minutes. The detailed analytics Sprout provides are also valuable for informing each social media strategy we devise for our clients. 

While Sprout Social is our top recommendation for a scheduling and analytics solution, there are a number of cost-free alternatives that can be viable options depending on your company’s needs. Later, Buffer, and Meta’s Creator Studio are all worth looking into if you don’t have a substantial social media budget yet. 

Content Creation 

When it comes to content creation, there are tons of tools available that can help you produce engaging content. Here are some of our favorites, along with what we like to use each of them for:

  • Canva – an easy-to-use platform to create graphics, videos, or edit photos
  • Photoshop – used for more advanced photo editing, clean background removal, simple graphics, etc.
  • Premiere pro – video editing software for creating Instagram Reels, TikToks, ad content, etc. 
  • Lightroom – used for bulk photo editing
  • Veed – used to add subtitles to videos

When looking for stock photos or videos, we recommend these free sites: Pexels, Pixabay, and Unsplash

For royalty-free music to add to your videos, we recommend Artlist.io or Pixabay Music as a free option. 

Client Approvals and Team Workflows 

Our entire team at SC operates within Google Workspace, and we love it; most of our clients use it amongst their internal teams too, so our workflows operate seamlessly. 

When it comes to approval workflows, each client is different in what they prefer. We typically gather preferences during the onboarding period using an onboarding checklist. We let clients choose one of two options to interface with us for content approvals: our customized content calendar templates in a Google doc or our task management software, Monday.com

Our Google doc content calendar provides a month’s worth of content in one document. The client can review the copy of each post and the media accompanying it. Next to each post, we include a dropdown menu that indicates the status of the post: draft, waiting for review, approved, scheduled, or published. On Monday.com, the content calendar is separated into “groups” based on month. We add a link to preview the content, a status section for the client to let us know if the post needs revisions or is approved, and a comment section for the client to provide feedback and edits. Both options are similar in the interactions they allow, with the decision between the two often coming down to which interface a client finds more user-friendly.

Recap: Our Favorite Social Media Management Tools 

Scheduling and Analytics

Content Creation

Free Stock Photo and Video

Royalty-Free Music and Audio

Client Approvals and Team Workflows


Need help managing your social media accounts? When we work together, your brand does more than show up. It shows up with a story, a purpose, a unique reason for being – and it makes an impact. At Segal Communications, we become an extension of your team – we work fast to become brand experts and make sure we’re keeping your company relevant on social media. 

Connect with us at [email protected]

Working With Food Influencers at Scale

When it comes to PR, the food, beverage, and restaurant industries carry a reputation of providing an exciting media landscape that is constantly evolving. In recent years, food influencers have become an integral addition to that landscape. 

A recent study found that influencer marketing in the food industry led to a 16% increase in purchase intent. Here at Segal, we’ve learned to capitalize on that momentum by utilizing influencers to help drive campaigns for a number of our clients.

Today we are going to dive into a few strategies for public relations professionals on how to source and succeed in working with the right food influencers for your next campaign. 

Utilize Your Inner FBI Agent 

When sourcing a batch of foodie influencers that align with your client/brand, don’t be afraid to do a bit of digging on their online profiles. What establishments are they frequenting? What’s their favorite cuisine? Do they opt for savory or sweet treats? Knowing the answers to these questions can help you understand an influencer’s tastes/preferences and whether they’d enjoy your product enough to promote it. For example, when sourcing influencers for our client Johnny Doughnuts, we make sure to keep an eye out for people with a sweet tooth that often post dessert-forward content. 

A food influencer holding a doughnut in front of a doughnut truck.

Work With Fans 

Convincing an influencer to promote your product is easier when they’re already a fan! If you’re lucky enough to catch an account with an impressive following posting about your product by their own accord, don’t miss out on the opportunity to establish a connection for future collaborations. 

Lay it on Thick

The only thing fuller than a food influencer’s stomach is their inbox. Content creators are constantly getting flooded with emails and DM’s asking to collab, so how do you make sure you’re not drowning in the sea of standard pitches? Be complimentary! Express genuine interest in the influence’s content and don’t be afraid to point out or reference specific posts you love and what about them stood out. This shows the influencer that you’ve taken the time to get to appreciate them as a person rather than just a promotional tool. 

Don’t Shy Away From Freebies

If Costco’s beloved in-store samples have proven anything it’s that people are more likely to show interest in a product if they’ve been introduced to it free of charge. This couldn’t be more true when it comes to influencer marketing. Free samples allow influencers to try your product and decide for themselves if it’s something they’d want to promote. While this may not be entirely cost-efficient, generosity goes a long way when working towards securing a successful collaboration, so make sure to set aside a budget for sampling. 

Maintain the Connection 

Once you’ve secured the bag with a food influencer, hold on to that connection for dear life. Good long-standing relationships are hard to come by in the world of influencer marketing so make sure to keep that person in the loop for future projects, campaigns, or product launches. 

The Takeaway

Utilizing influencer marketing in your food public relations efforts is a great way to expose your campaign or product to an extensive and diverse audience and create meaningful mutually-beneficial connections within the social media landscape.


Ready to take the leap on an influencer marketing program for your brand? Reach us at [email protected] to get started.

How to Increase Your Reach on Instagram

Instagram Collab posts have become increasingly popular since their unveiling back in 2021, and they’re probably one of the simplest ways to increase your reach on Instagram. Collab posts give users the opportunity to multiply their reach and engagement by adding a co-author to the post. If you’re not incorporating this trending feature into your current social media strategy, you’re missing out on potential customers. 

How do Instagram Collabs benefit your brand?

While originally intended to be a way for creators to maximize branded content, Collabs have proven to double as a sure fire way for brands to increase their reach and appear in the feeds of potential customers too. Collabs have also become a great way to beat the ever changing Instagram algorithm by showing up in two different feeds – your own and the feed of the account you’re collabing with. Brands now have the opportunity to insert themselves directly into the feeds of their target audience – be it through influencers, partnerships, or other relevant accounts. 

Additionally, Collabs have the ability to increase Instagram engagement. When utitlizing the feature, the post will not only appear in the brand’s feed but also the feed of the account they are collabing with. Likely, the collab account will have a different variety of followers, giving brands the opportunity to further build their communities.   

How to use Instagram Collabs 

Creating an Instagram Collab post is incredibly simple to do, however, it can be hard to find the feature if you’ve never used it before. Here’s a step-by-step process on how to invite a collaborator to your post. 

  1. Begin by starting a new post. You’ll need to do this directly within the Instagram app, rather than on a third party scheduling platform. 
  2. Once you’ve added your media, caption, and hashtags, click on ‘Tag people’ beneath the post. 
  3. Click on ‘Invite collaborator’ and begin typing in the handle of the account you would like to invite as a collaborator. 
  4. Publish your post.
  5. The collaborator will then receive a notification to accept your invitation to the collab post. 
  6. Once the collaborator has accepted, their handle will appear on the post within your feed and show in their feed as well. 
A graphic showing how to increase your reach on Instagram by using the Instagram Collab feature.

Use all platform features to your advantage  

While the Instagram collabs feature is a surefire way to increase your reach on Instagram, it’s essential to make sure you’re utilizing all of Instagram’s features in order to round out your efforts. Are you using Reels and Stories? Do you create polls and use the Question Box within your Stories? Are you incorporating Carousel posts into your content plan? Using all of Instagram’s features will not only maximize your chances of getting in front of potential customers but also increase your engagement as a whole. In today’s digital media landscape, you can no longer get away with posting a single image on social media


Need help maximizing your Instagram strategy? When we work together, your brand does more than show up. It shows up with a story, a purpose, a unique reason for being – and it makes an impact. At Segal Communications, we become an extension of your team – we work fast to become brand experts and make sure we’re keeping your company relevant on social media. 
Connect with us – [email protected]

What are the Benefits of Influencer Marketing?

One question we often get asked by new clients when deciding upon the scope of our work together is, “are influencers a necessary evil?” Although I understand the stereotypes that have led to this becoming a popular question to ask, I view working with influencers a bit differently. After several years of leading influencer marketing services at Segal Communications, I see these partnerships as an often untapped opportunity for brands to reach their ideal audiences, build recognition and trust amongst the public, and engage in a form of advertising that works with their budget.

Targeting your preferred audience

One of the most significant benefits of influencer marketing is its unique ability to deliver your message directly to the customers whom your product or service is designed for. In the initial stages of identifying social media influencers for your brand to partner with, your PR representative will request a media kit from them that contains valuable audience statics that will inform their decision on whether the influencer is a good fit. These statistics include everything from age and gender to the location of the influencer’s followers.

Is your target customer women between the ages of 25 – 34 who live in the US? Your PR representative will be able to source influencers whose audiences are in total alignment with this target demographic.

An influencer filming a video for social media.

Building brand familiarity and trust

We know that repeated exposure builds familiarity, and the mere exposure effect tells us that consumers prefer things they are familiar with. These principles are important to consider when planning an influencer marketing campaign as they support the case for engaging in long-term relationships rather than one-off partnerships. When audiences see your product or service repeatedly being featured on the page of an influencer they follow, recognition begins to build. As audiences continue to become familiar with your product, the chances that they will prefer and ultimately purchase your product greatly increase. Along with familiarity, ongoing partnerships with influencers are a great way to build trust in your brand.

When an influencer who has a history of only working with high-quality, reputable brands recommends a new product, their audience is going to trust that recommendation.

Advertising within your budget

Engaging with influencers can be surprisingly affordable with the right strategy in place. If you are a young company with a smaller budget, micro-influencer marketing could be the best route for you. Influencers within a certain range of followers, typically between 5k – 100k, are often happy to share a brand’s offerings to their social channels in exchange for a gifted product or experience. The key here is targeting the right influencers; those with well-established large audiences will almost always only post in exchange for monetary payment. If you have the budget to allocate to paid partnerships, the right relationships can lead to a sizable ROI. So although paid partnerships are a larger investment, oftentimes the exposure they provide will end up paying for itself. We typically recommend that our clients engage in a mix of trade micro-influencer partnerships and paid partnerships with larger influencers for optimal results while staying within a reasonable budget.


Ready to take the leap on an influencer marketing program for your brand? Reach us at [email protected] to get started.

How to Determine Which Social Media Platform Is Best For Your Business

An active social media presence is essential for businesses in the modern age. As a consumer of social media, likely your first instinct when hearing about a new company is to look them up on social media. Social media is also valuable for telling your story and connecting with your customers. Customers who feel seen and heard are more likely to become brand loyalists. With so many social media platforms at your disposal, how do you know which ones to prioritize and which may not benefit your business? Here are the fundamental points to consider when determining which social media platform is best for your business. 

What industry does your business fall under?

Understanding where each industry is most active on social media is the first step in determining the ideal platform on which to focus the majority of your time. Are you selling a product or service? Are you selling to other businesses? 

If you’re a direct-to-consumer (D2C) brand, you’ll want to focus on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok. Especially if you are selling a product- these three platforms offer a shopping feature, making it seamless for your customers to purchase directly from your posts. On the other hand, a business-to-business (B2B) company should focus its social media efforts on LinkedIn and Twitter. LinkedIn allows your brand to get directly in front of company decision-makers, and you can analyze your audience demographics based on job title and function. Twitter is a great place to send real-time updates about your company and seek out conversations your customers may be having about pain points your company could resolve. It’s also an excellent opportunity to speak directly with potential customers by inserting yourself into the conversation.

Who is your target audience?

Knowing your audience’s complete demographics is essential to understanding where they likely spend most of their time on social media. Sprout Social’s blog on social media demographics is a valuable resource for determining which social media platform is best for your business. 

A graphic of a hand holding a phone with different social media platforms stemming out of it.

Analyzing audience demographics and engagement metrics is key

If you’ve been posting consistently to multiple platforms for months now, your analytics will tell you exactly where your audience is strongest. While follower count is a vanity metric, it’s the first sign of where your customers are most active. Next, take a look at your engagements and engagement rate. Engagements on a post consist of likes, comments, saves, and shares for most platforms, and engagement rate is a percentage calculated by the number of times users engaged with your content compared to the number of impressions it received during its lifetime. You can find these analytics on each post when you are logged in to a business account on most platforms. 

Take a risk  

It’s okay to take risks and test out content on each platform to see how your audience will react to it. You just might find that your followers take well to a cheekily-captioned Instagram post. 


Need help getting started with a customized social media program? When we work together, your brand does more than show up. It shows up with a story, a purpose, a unique reason for being – and it makes an impact. At Segal Communications, we become an extension of your team – we work fast to become brand experts and make sure we’re keeping your company relevant on social media. 

[email protected]

Why You Can No Longer Post a Single Image on Social Media

As a social media professional, I’m constantly having to adjust my clients’ social media strategies based on new trends and algorithm changes. This is arguably the most valuable way to grow your audience and increase engagement on your posts. I’ve seen it and experienced it firsthand: the brands that fully embrace these changes on social media experience growth at an exponential rate compared to brands that stick with their outdated social media strategy.

If you don’t keep up, you’ll simply get left behind.

The rise of short-form video on social media 

During the height of the pandemic, TikTok grew immensely in popularity. All other social media platforms were forced to catch up and began offering their versions of short-form video content similar to the format of TikTok to do so. A recent report from HypeAuditor shows that Reels generate the most reach on Instagram, beating out both static image and carousel posts. Instagram, specifically, is working to keep up with its top competitor, TikTok, so it’s no surprise its algorithm pushes Reels out to mass audiences more than other post formats. 

As all social media platforms have moved in the direction of short-form video content, posting videos on social media has quickly become a top priority in the social media strategies we create for our clients. 

A woman capturing content of her day to day routine to post on her social media accounts.

How do social media algorithms work? 

Gone are the days of your social media feeds appearing in chronological order. Simply put, social media algorithms work to show you content they think you will be most interested in based on how you’ve interacted with content on your feed. All social media platforms have one objective in mind: keep users on the platform for as long as possible. When the algorithm picks up on a piece of content that is accomplishing this objective, it will continue to put it in front of even more users. 

Understanding how the algorithms work and keeping up with new algorithm updates is the name of the game when it comes to any content strategy. While we tailor our plans for each client to reach their specific goals and needs, we always keep algorithms at the forefront of our strategies. 

Investing in your content plan

It is vital to frequently produce new, quality content to support your social media strategy. In order to gain large numbers of Impressions on your content and grow your audience, you need to be publishing posts at least two to three times per week, and ideally three to five times per week (depending on the industry). Unfortunately, you can no longer get away with posting a single image. You simply won’t see the growth you’re aiming for because these types of posts no longer gain a substantial amount of traction. 

Since we work with clients with a variety of content budgets, we’ve gotten creative with the ways in which we source content. I’m fortunate enough to have an awesome team in-house that is creative and highly talented. We’ve put together numerous shoots for local clients and clients with a product that can be shipped directly to us. This is our ideal method of producing content because it gives us full creative control over the content we publish and saves our clients money. Another way we’ve been able to meet the challenge of producing regular content is by partnering with a client to help them hire a content intern. We were even able to get some press from the job listing! 

How to stay on top of trends

As a social media manager, much of my job consists of identifying current social media trends and making sure our clients are taking advantage of them. How we do this is pretty simple, and I’ve listed some resources below to help if you’ve not yet made the switch to a social media management agency. I also scroll through Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Reddit more than I’d like to admit. 

Resources:

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Ready to get started with your customized social media strategy? When we work together, your brand does more than show up. It shows up with a story, a purpose, a unique reason for being – and it makes an impact. At Segal Communications, we become an extension of your team – we work fast to become brand experts and make sure we’re keeping your company relevant on social media.

[email protected]

Why Your Business Needs to Have a Social Media Presence

Living in the digital age, technology is now an integral part of our everyday lives. Brands have transitioned from traditional marketing practices to developing a presence and following on social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube, among others. Most companies know they should be on social media but often haven’t given deeper thought to the reasons why. We’ve compiled the top three reasons why having a social media presence is a crucial marketing tool for every modern business to implement.

1. Less expensive than traditional marketing

An organic social media strategy is free! With the growing number of social media platforms, companies can create accounts to post about all aspects of their business. Whether that be who you are, what you do, day-to-day life, product features, and more, the possibilities are endless. It’s important to actively post, engage with other accounts, and utilize each platform’s features. 

Companies can venture into paid advertisements if they choose with costs based on your account’s reach. However, it’s best to establish a strong organic social media strategy first.  

Many apps have enabled features specifically for business purposes, including professional or business profiles to track analytics and insights easily. Platforms like Instagram and Facebook have enabled features for businesses to sell their products directly in the app. 

2. Boosts brand awareness and engagement

With social media, you can increase brand visibility and awareness by engaging with millions of potential customers.

 Once you’ve established your target audience, creating original and engaging content is important. You’ll want to have your values and goals at the forefront of your posts by having fun and creating content that will make your company stand out. Content tailored to your brand’s values will help you increase engagement and target your audience appropriately, which can ultimately direct them to your website.

Having a social media presence on multiple platforms, including hosting a website, helps users become familiar with your brand and encourages them to engage.

3. Creates brand authenticity

Brand authenticity can be achieved through social media by establishing your expertise and authority in a field, making your goals and values consistent throughout all aspects of your company’s image, and building clear communication between the brand and your audience. 

Customers appreciate when brands they love interact and care about the support they’ve shown for a company. Social media helps brands create meaningful relationships with their customers. Your presence on social media gives your audience a glimpse into the daily operations of your business through behind-the-scenes content and speaking directly with them through comments and direct messages. These aspects will drive customers’ trust in your company.

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Social media managers play a pivotal role in your overall communications plan. They craft well-thought-out social media strategies and campaigns, monitor analytics and trends, track conversations and keep your audience engaged. Ready to get started? Email us at [email protected]

5 Signs it’s Time to Hire a Social Media Manager

While social media used to be considered merely a supporting communication channel, it’s now much more. For millions of potential customers, it’s how they find, engage, and become loyal to brands. Despite this, we regularly come across founders and owners who either don’t think social media is important for their business, have someone on their team posting in addition to their regular job, or are doing the posting themselves, albeit infrequently.

While you don’t need to be on every platform, creating a consistent posting schedule is no longer optional for any brand or individual looking to establish credibility or attract new customers.

Here are five signs it’s time to invest in social media support.

Responsibility for managing your brand’s anemic channels is being passed around like a hot potato.

Creating social media posts is constantly being pushed off because of other responsibilities that take priority. You have good intentions to make social a priority because you know it’s important, but you just don’t have the bandwidth to keep up.

You’re feeling lost at sea.

The world of social media and social media marketing is vast – growing channels requires a well-thought-out strategy and the ability to adapt to new features and trends across platforms. It may seem daunting to attempt to do it all on your own. That’s where your agency will come in. An agency will craft a detailed social media strategy for your brand, figure out where your audience is strongest, and monitor performance to make sure the strategy is going according to plan.  

Your social media strategy isn’t based on insights and analytics.

Odds are you’re not a data analyst, and deciphering what each KPI (key performance indicator) means has been a challenge. And what are you supposed to do with the information? Your social media manager will know how to best use these insights and analytics to drive a well-thought-out strategy for your content moving forward. On an ongoing basis, they’ll make sure you’re meeting the goals you established by monitoring your channel’s data and adapting to trends. 

Social media manager holding a cell phone looking at social media apps and looking at it with another person beside them.

You’re experiencing a creative block.

Continually pushing out valuable, engaging content is no easy stint. Social media managers have a keen eye for making an aesthetic Instagram grid or strong marketing graphics. They also have the resources and a reliable network of creatives to tap into when the demand for content is extremely high.

You’re not keeping up with the Joneses.

Let’s face it, social media is an ever-changing landscape. If you already have a full plate, odds are you don’t have the time to keep up with trends across social media. An agency will always be on top of trends and know when it’s time to participate and when adding another post to ‘National Sandwich Day’ is just adding to the noise rather than value. 

Your audience on social media is arguably the most important and valuable asset to your business. If you don’t have the bandwidth to engage daily with your community, you’re losing out on potential sales and building upon your brand loyalists.


Ready to get started with your customized social media program? When we work together, your brand does more than show up. It shows up with a story, a purpose, a unique reason for being – and it makes an impact. At Segal Communications, we become an extension of your team – we work fast to become brand experts and make sure we’re keeping your company relevant on social media. 

[email protected]

How to Increase Executive Visibility on Social Media

As part of increasing brand awareness and visibility for your company, it’s essential not to skip out on your own social media profiles as an executive or member of the c-suite. Likely, you are the face of the company, and making sure your social media is buttoned up and active is a crucial step in maintaining good PR

Whether you’re just starting out or have had Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Facebook profiles for years, here are five ways to increase executive visibility on social media. 

Clean up and optimize your profiles 

This may seem obvious, but it’s imperative that your social profiles are buttoned up and used to their full potential in order to increase visibility. Have you filled out all the sections on your LinkedIn profile? Is your LinkedIn headline optimized for your industry? Set your LinkedIn profile to allow anyone to follow you by turning on Creator Mode, and make sure your DMs are open on Twitter. Don’t forget this crucial step when getting started on increasing your executive visibility

Define the purpose of each social media profile 

While sharing the same content across all your social media pages is tempting, it’s not something we recommend doing. Provide value to your followers and make it worthwhile for them to follow you on all platforms. On LinkedIn, share your wins, accolades, and awards – treat it as a place to share updates relating to your professional life. On Twitter, share real-time thoughts and updates, speak to current news in your industry, and retweet others’ content with a comment (also known as a quote retweet.) Instagram and Facebook are great for sharing more personal updates. Instagram stories are a great way to share your day-to-day life. Show your face and talk directly to your audience.  

Share your work 

Don’t be afraid to show off what you do and humbly brag about yourself. After all, you are an expert in your field, and you should express that to your audience. Did you recently contribute an article to a major publication? Did your company make an exciting announcement? Be proud of your work! You worked hard to get to this place.

Provide followers with your expertise 

Along with sharing your work, there is great value in providing your audience with your vast knowledge relating to your industry. After all, that’s likely why they follow you. You’re successful, and you got there somehow, so share that with them. What advice can you give to other folks hoping to make it up in the ranks within your industry? How did you get your start? Transparency and authenticity will go a long way with your audience and allow them to put their trust in you as an industry leader. 

Engage with your community! 

Social media is meant to be social, so engage with your audience. Spark conversation out of them and then participate in those conversations. Allow your audience to feel heard just as much as they hear you. 

An executive dressed in business attire looking at their phone.

Recap

  1. Complete your LinkedIn profile
  2. Add a LinkedIn headline (for search optimization)
  3. Turn on Creator Mode on your LinkedIn profile to allow others to follow you
  4. Open your Twitter DMs
  5. Share your wins, accolades, and awards on LinkedIn
  6. Share real-time thoughts, updates, and speak to current news in your industry on Twitter
  7. Share personal updates on Instagram and Facebook

Need help increasing your executive visibility? When we work together, you and your brand do more than show up. You show up with a story, a purpose, a unique reason for being – and you make an impact. At Segal Communications, we become an extension of your team – we work fast to get to know you and your brand and make sure we’re keeping you and your company relevant on social media. 

[email protected]

Getting the Most Out Of Influencer Visits To Your Property

This blog was originally published in Hotel Online.

Influencer marketing can be a valuable means of reaching new audiences, but not every influencer will be a right fit for your property. If you’re going to go through the effort of hosting an influencer (and often a plus one or family) on the property, you should be confident they will showcase your hotel or resort in the best possible light. Here are a few guidelines to help you ramp up your hosting game.

Destination

For starters, if you want to attract influencers, it’s essential to make it a high-touch experience at the outset. Have a designated place for influencers to request a stay at your property. We recommend a dedicated email and appointing a staff member to handle inbound requests to streamline the hosting process.

Influencers love the feeling of exclusivity and special service, so taking these steps will attract more of them.

Check-in

Before you agree to host an influencer, it’s vital to ensure they are a good fit. We recommend establishing a vetting system that helps determine whether an influencer will be able to match the level of value you provide. Will the value of their post(s) offset the expense of hosting, which includes the rate you’re not getting from a paying customer, housekeeping, in-room amenities (food, snacks, bathrobe, etc.), on-site dining, and the time spent coordinating a visit?  Obtaining a media kit from influencers is a great first step in determining whether they have the audience you are aiming to target. An agency can help you develop a checklist with associated values that can help automate the decision-making process.

Reservations

Influencers expect to get contracts. ‘Influencing’ is a full-time job for most, and they understand the process. That said, if you are working with an influencer with a fantastic following on their Instagram channel don’t assume they will be posting in-feed. If you prefer a stationary post to a story, then put that in writing along with any preferred messaging and hashtags you’d like included. Depending on their follower count and engagement, you’ll often need to negotiate rates depending on whether you want an in-feed post, story, or combination. Provide a time frame for the influencer to share their post within, usually a specific number of weeks after their stay.

Guest Experience

When drafting the agreement, be sure to include specifics about new services or hotel features you’d want the influencer to experience while on the property and, in turn, share with the public. Whether you’ve added a new treatment to your spa menu, a new cocktail to your lounge, or have a promo worth mentioning, you should relay that before signing on the dotted line. Think about which amenities are attractive to their followers. A fashion influencer would be great for promoting an on-site shop vs. a foodie influencer whose followers might enjoy the restaurant or lounge.

Length of Stay

The excitement that builds before the arrival of an influencer can quickly leave management crestfallen when hours go by with no posts in their feed. If you want an influencer to start posting the moment they walk in the door, you need to make sure they understand that before they begin their stay. Some influencers plan their feeds far in advance, so it’s worth confirming post dates in early negotiations. Another idea to consider is to include a “flashback” post 6-8 months after their stay – your relationship does not have to be one and done. Some influencers might offer better rates for long-term packages, so consider how you might maximize your ROI.

Confirmation

Another benefit to working with influencers is that you have more control over the visit outcome. While most members of the travel media are freelance, they are often held to the same standards as credentialed media and are not allowed to share work before publication. Influencers are a paid (or trade) relationship; you have every right to seek post-approval before they go live. Make sure this is included within your agreement.

Amenities

There are several ways you can optimize the value of an influencer stay. First, ensure that your agreement allows the repurposing of content created by the influencer with appropriate credits in your own property’s social feed. Second, if you love the influencer’s content, you might work to secure additional images to use on your channels throughout the remainder of the year. We have all seen influencers strike pose after pose; you might consider using that as a means to get more content to use well after they have checked out! This can often help you save big on in-house photography costs, while diversifying your content.

A female influencer sitting on the edge of a pool at a hotel resort.

Check-Out the Data

Most savvy influencers won’t be surprised by requests for a data report on the success of their posts. Be sure to add this as part of your agreement. It will help you better understand and fine-tune your vetting process for the future. It also might indicate that a return visit from the influencer may be worthwhile. Ongoing relationships with influencers come with the benefit of audience recognition, and can be especially valuable if your property constantly updates and adds services, amenities, and activities.

Cancellation Policy

It’s not uncommon for influencers to clean up their feeds and remove posts after a while. While we can appreciate the need for a fresh start, we recommend adding a clause to your agreement that ensures your post will live in perpetuity. Back-scrolling is common for Instagram followers, so a 6-month-old post can still provide value.

While initially daunting, hosting influencers is easy to manage once you have set up a process. We find that influencers appreciate clarity in the relationship and are amiable to most requests. Check out our blog for more tips and tricks on working with influencers and members of the press.


Ready to get started with your customized influencer strategy? When we work together, your brand does more than show up. It shows up with a story, a purpose, a unique reason for being – and it makes an impact.

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