Why You Should Use Real Customers’ Photos in Your Tourism Marketing

In our technological world where scams freely run rampant, consumers appreciate any help they can get to distinguish credible brands from fraud. Fortunately, the marketing world has drastically improved over the years and has found simple fixes to earn customers’ trust without splurging.

One easy way to bump up the credibility of your brand is by utilizing user-generated content. Tourism businesses are oftentimes hooked onto the idea of pushing picturesque, carefully curated photos onto their marketing channels. Many overlook the value of sharing unedited snapshots from real life customers and the trust they could build with their audience by doing so. Here at AAMP Agency, we understand the true benefit of user-generated content and the effect it has on potential customers.

Let’s look into how real customer photos can play a significant role in your tourism marketing strategy.

An Overview of User-Generated Content

User-generated content is any content, such as photos, videos, blogs, or reviews, that real people (not brands) create. This kind of content is considered to be the most easily digestible form of social media content for many brands.

According to Statista statistics, the most popular networking activity in recent years is content sharing. The application of user-generated content is a very strong yet simple marketing strategy that can spread both awareness and credibility about a brand in an instant. Travel and tourism brands can easily pull user-generated content from their tagged photos on their social media pages and share them onto their social channels at no cost. When used properly, the benefits are outstanding.

Benefits of User-Generated Content

1. Create Credibility

“Purchasing Anxiety” is one of the prevalent reasons why modern customers delay (or even decide against) a purchase. Nowadays, customers want to know exactly what they are signing up for before they pay. As an adventure tourism business, posting real-life experiences of your service will help create a different level of credibility and trust in your supporters that they wouldn’t be able to get from anything else.

2. Increasing Purchasing Intention

A recent study revealed that user-generated content leads to higher purchasing intention. One of the more popular ways to drive purchasing intention is ephemeral content (any content such as video, images, or gifs that stays online for 24 hours before disappearing).

Ephemeral, user-generated content takes advantage of the fear of missing out (FOMO). When applied correctly, an immediate purchase is oftentimes the elicited response (triggered by watching others’ real life experiences firsthand) to gratify a customer’s desire to join in on the fun. This behavior can consistently help sales to skyrocket.

3. Promoting User Engagement

User-generated content allows tourism brands to engage with their customers on a more personal level. Once a customer trusts a brand, future bookings become more likely. In business, connecting with customers on a deeper level is a powerful tool. Customers flock to transparency, and client retention is stronger to companies who follow suit.

This marketing strategy also increases a brand’s content volume, which can help boost your page on your followers’ feeds and beat the ever-changing algorithm.

Why You Should Care

Growing a brand is not as easy as it seems. Followers and potential customers come and go. Utilizing user-generated content is a simple way to create a lasting relationship with your audience, promote organic growth for your business, and build transparency.

Sharing customer submitted photos with your followers will:

• Enhance your brand’s reputation
• Create a more organic customer reach
• Reduce apprehension for first-time customers
• Target the right audience
• Boost sales

Grow Your Brand With Us

Here at AAMP Agency , we understand the unique impact and value of visual marketing. Because of this, we always encourage our clients to use real customer photos on their social media and marketing channels. With this strategy, potential customers can get a good feel of a company’s service or products more so than through any other way.

If you wish to level up your marketing game, reach out to AAMP Agency for a consultation.