So to cooperate or not to cooperate with bloggers – that is the question for hotels.

Every hotelier wants to make their hotel recognizable in the Internet, yet not everyone is aware of the power hidden in the increasingly popular blogosphere. To be true, it’s a direct path leading you to success, but what do you gain exactly through such a cooperation?

That’s pretty obvious that blogs are visited by millions of viewers every single day. The Internet creators have even risen to the position of authorities and gained the name of the so called influencers. They are often the ones who create opinions and have a huge impact on the Internet users, acting as a signpost to a nice vacation spot. The research conducted by PSBV (Polish Association of Bloggers and Vloggers) in 2015 showed that as many as 53% of people reading blogs and vlogs on a regular basis bought a product only because it has been recommended there, and 52% gave the product up because a blogger had a negative opinion on the subject.

Actually, the blogosphere suits every single branch looking for an attractive advertisement environment – simply due to the large marketing potential of the blogosphere and the varied subjects of contents entered there. Thus, why should hotels be any different than the rest of the business sphere?

Bloggers make your brand more credible

An authentic opinion given by an influential blogger and signed by them gets extra credibility. Nowadays even fora or social media do not have such a large power as blogs do, simply because they are often filled with comments written by WOM marketing specialists, thus, you’d look for true reviews there rather in vain.

In order to make a cooperation with a blogger satisfying and successful, remember about a transparent attitude and never force the editor to describe a product as you would wish them to do. The paradox has it, even if a blogger points out a mistake, a failure of a brand, it will still have a strong position and the viewers will rate this company as a credible one.

A creative blogger will present your hotel in an interesting way

According to the portal Eredaktor.pl only in 2012 there were as many as 3, 5 million of bloggers in Poland. So, in order to make themselves recognizable in comparison to such a vast competition, a blogger must make their posts creative.  

Every Internet writer is different, that is why cooperation with every single blogger will proceed in a different way as well. Bloggers are often professionals, living on their Internet activity. Therefore, they treat cooperating with companies very seriously and can adapt the content to the readers’ interests so that they would pay attention to your brand. For this reason you can be almost certain that cooperation with a blogger will make your hotel even more original.

Blog ads reach a specific readers group

If you decide to take up cooperation with a blogger and conduct a campaign together, define the target group which you want to reach with your advertisement in the first place. 

Then make sure that this particular blogger will help you get what you aim for.

Hotels usually cooperate with life style bloggers because that is the most popular blog category. At least that’s what the data from the portal zblogowani.pl show, read by 39% of women and 22% of men using the blogosphere. The slow life philosophy bloggers will gladly visit a little hotel in the Bieszczady Mountains whereas the fans of large metropolis shall certainly accept an invitation to a luxurious hotel in the capital city centre.

Hotel ads can be found also on travel blogs, so why not to break the scheme and start cooperating with bloggers from other branches as well?  For a Spa&Wellness hotel that would be a beauty blog and for family hotel a parenting blog.

Cooperating with well-chosen bloggers you will immediately reach the target group which shall find your offer worth their attention.

Blogger as an attaché of your brand

In order to make your brand even more present in the awareness of the Internet users, you need time, for nothing happens within minutes. The users hate it when they are bombarded with sponsored posts twice a week, yet if the posts related in their subject scope to the marketing campaign are posted 1-3 times per month, they willingly participate in the discussions under such contents.

A long-lasting cooperation with a blogger is a perfect example of the image campaign which shall let the company gain a steady place in the Internet awareness and the liking of readers.

Content marketing and SEO

Cooperation with bloggers is also the element of content marketing strategy, having an influence on the placement of the hotel website. The link to our page, found through a well-chosen branch blog is valuable for two reasons. Firstly, the link from a site of a similar content to ours is very reliable and attractive for Google, because the position in the searching results gets higher. Secondly, a good post written by an influential blogger attracts visitors to our website.

So should hotels co-work with a blogger?

Well, usually it’s a considerably reasonable solution, yet only if have been planned well in advance. A properly conducted campaign in the blogosphere can be a perfect addition to the Internet marketing of our hotel. If the contents are presented in an interesting way, and the blogger enriches it with a credible review, we can easily reach our target group. Suffice it to say that such an Internet campaign beats any other advertisement forms in the traditional media right away. 

To be true, cooperation with a blogger brings profits not only to one of the parties, for exclusively the 3x win strategy makes the common actions successful. Then both the company, the blogger but also the reader are the winners. The brand gets fame, the blogger is rewarded with a proper remuneration and interest in their creations, whereas the reader can take part in many contests with attractive prizes. Then such a campaign makes really sense.

Tom Walkowiak, Technical Support Specialist Team Leader