Does Travel Influencer Marketing Content Work On CTV?

Destination marketers frequently mention that the main challenges they face when it comes to their digital marketing strategy are the number of channels there are to manage, the sheer volume of content that needs to be created, and the ever-growing content formats and variations.  
 
One of the obvious solutions is to repurpose as much content as you can across channels. The problem is that the most compelling form of content for any destination, video, comes in two very different sizes, 9:16 or 16:9, making creator content difficult to repurpose on CTV.  
 
Even if you could repurpose travel influencer content on CTV. Should you? Aren’t TV screens for premium-produced content?  
 
The answer is yes to all of the above. Yes, you can repurpose influencer content on CTV, yes you should, and yes it should be high quality.  
 
And because this is Steller – yes it does drive travel, and we can prove it.  

Who do you trust more? A paid ad? A billboard? Or a friend? Influencer content is high trust. Consumers want to see people like them in your destination. We’re not just saying this because we’re a company that thrives on influencer content. The data proves it with creator content outperforming branded content across the board. Spending on creator advertising has increased 26% YOY and even the largest brands in the world are starting to mix creator content into their own TV ads. Take this NFL ad as an example.  

The above example is still high quality, but that real-life content gives it that little bit of emotional connection that makes it memorable. Now you could argue that this still includes high–quality production; it does, but keep reading, and we’ll show you how to create something just as memorable with what you have.

Television and social media are pretty similar. In his popular, post Everything is Television, Derek Thompson writes that both are streams of video and one is a stream of video where everything matters and one is a stream of video where nothing matters. Meaning the stakes are much lower on social media you can try new things and see what sticks, for CTV you need to be more thoughtful.

The ad should speak directly to one of your destination’s traveler personas. With CTV you can target specific audience segments, so you’ll want to make sure your creative is designed to speak specifically to the audience you’re targeting.  If you want to target families, pull out all your best-performing pieces of influencer content. If you used them as paid ads, analyze where in the video they clicked through.  

Now you have a few options. Some platforms will pop your 9:16 video into a phone and place some copy next to it with a QR code. Or you can get creative and mock the videos up into your own frames, similar to the example below.

At Steller, we have some of the best creative minds in the travel business on our team. So we like to create something a bit more custom, like this ad for Discover Puerto Rico, which combined creator content and key messaging for one of their target traveler personas. The QR code drove to a landing page with matching creator content and messaging, which converted to an email at 32%.

Yes, a 32% conversion rate seems unbelievable. The 43 trips planned from the short 30-day campaign seem even more unbelievable. But is it? Creator content performs. The creator industry is on track to be larger than the music industry within 2 years because marketers are going all in on creator content.  

At Steller, we put the knowledge gained from the 30 million pieces of travel influencer content created on our campaigns to work for you. We know what drives travel, whether that creator content is on social media or a TV screen. We also create the assets free of charge.  
 
As with all Steller campaigns, Steller CTV campaigns utilize Steller Connect, meaning they are built for conversion: 
 

• Built to convert viewers to trip planners and travelers 
• Retargets viewers through email and push notifications to keep you top of mind 
  
• Report on email addresses of travel intenders, number of trips planned, and any booking made.  
  

Ready to see how creator content can perform for your destination on CTV? Book a strategy call.