10 brand-fit influencers were selected and vetted based on (1) their audience profile and its similarity to that of the Accor Hotels’ target audience, (2) their reach and engagement rates across digital platforms, and (3) their specific niche. Niches such as luxury travel, couples’ lifestyle, interior design, couples’ urban adventure travel, the great outdoors, family travel, vegan travel, and various combinations were selected to highlight Accor Hotels’ key selling points and brand differentiators.

The influencers took the Seeker Project assessment and visited one of the recommended properties, all while promoting the entire process (from assessment to brand experience) on their digital platforms, effectively reinforcing the Accor Hotels’ brand message of “knowing the needs of the consumer before they do.”

A variety of content formats were strategically distributed to optimize viewership and conversion: Instagram Stories and in-feed social content promoting the assessment and generating initial excitement around the upcoming trip; Instagram Stories and in-feed social content shared during the trip, highlighting key experiences; blog content with affiliate links was published after the trip, recapping the entire trip and driving traffic to the Seeker Project website.

To generate discussion around the Seeker Project and promote the influencer trips, we organized two one-hour Twitter Chats hosted. by some of the biggest luxury travel influencers on Twitter, the 10 campaign influencers, in-house travel publishers, as well as the Accor Hotels brand and featured property accounts.

Twitter Chat questions were strategically developed to generate interest in the Seeker Project, the featured properties, and property selling points. We also devised questions that would attract and engage with target consumers based on topics they were already searching for on the platform, such as travel tips, travel photography, and luxury hotel reviews.

The influencers, the Accor Hotels brand, and our in-house travel publisher promoted the assessment, influencer trips, and Accor Hotels properties on social media throughout the life of the campaign using the branded hashtag #SeekerProject to generate awareness and conversation around the brand.

A variety of content formats and tactics — such as Instagram Takeovers, video, IGTV, paid social, and GIFs — were used to immerse the audience in the Accor Hotels experience, maximize reach, and drive traffic to the Seeker Project landing page.

Content was created and published for each social channel. Instagram and Facebook were used for live shares, Twitter was used for generating conversation, and Pinterest, Facebook, and Twitter were used to promote the post-trip blog content.

After each of their trips, the influencers developed long-form blog content for their websites using storytelling and media captured during the trip to recap the experience in a detailed yet immersive way.

Editorial content was also published to our in-house travel publisher (Travel Mindset) to further increase awareness and drive conversions.

All web content included affiliate links strategically embedded in the content to drive click-throughs to the Seeker Project and hotel property landing pages.

All web content was then promoted on social media to extend the conversation, increase brand exposure, and drive consumers to book their trip with Accor Hotels by way of the Seeker Project assessment.