What to do when your social branding needs a refresh? Miami-based Virgin Hotels got back to basics and showed off its hotels on Instagram with a consistent mix that highlighted on-property imagery and brand benefits, according to the company’s SoHo application. The platform had roughly 15,000 followers at the beginning of 2017 and had only added 521 followers the previous year.
With new properties in the pipeline, the goal was increasing followers and visibility in 2018.
So what worked?
“Content that prominently featured our rooms, hotel amenities and the Virgin Hotels experience often performed the best,” says Doug Carrillo, vice president of sales and marketing. “One of the initial challenges was identifying the right balance of content that our audience would gravitate toward and would inspire travel.”
(Miami-based Virgin Hotels was one of six winners in HOTELS 2018 Social Hotel Awards for Best Instagram, Brand)
Budget: Paid advertising of US$2,850
Goals:
• Establish a loyal fan base on Instagram with 2,166 new followers
• Increase engagement and generate 14,060 likes and comments
• Drive 250,000 impressions of Virgin Hotels’ brand
Target audience: Business and leisure, men and women, Boomers to Gen Z: all with a penchant for style and substance
ROI: The company aimed to increase Instagram growth by 50% year over year. For the first six months of the year (the time frame for this campaign), Virgin:
• Increased audience by 5,859 followers, topping original goal by 70%
• Generated 16,577 engagements — 18% higher than goal
• Drove 467,225 impressions, exceeding goal by 88%
Judges?
Jennifer Wesley (director of Travel, Google): Virgin was focused from the beginning on its business objectives and developed a sustainable strategy. By leveraging Instagram, they were able to pivot to a new audience and ensure its messaging reached and resonated with its evangelists.
Loren Gray (founder, Hospitality Digital Marketing): Solid campaign, great results
Runner-up: Hilton