Social media is the place where your audience hangs out morning, noon and night, giving you a fabulous chance to build an emotional connection with them on a regular basis. In today’s digital world, it’s where brands need to be.
Social media for travel and tourism is all about striking the right tone. One that conveys your personality through storytelling – from captivating words to mesmerising visuals, or even something simple that resonates with your audience.
The right tone makes your brand instantly recognisable, with a unique style your audience knows and loves. And it builds a unified approach, a consistent core of communication that threads together all elements of your brand.
Here’s how to fine-tune your tone and get your brand's travel social media content right.
Get to know the different social media channels
Despite the emergence of other popular social media platforms, Facebook is still hugely influential – it’s the most used platform, with almost three billion monthly users worldwide. Its highly sophisticated advertising algorithm makes it easy to reach a targeted audience, especially if you’re a family-oriented brand.
Twitter (X)
Perfect for concise, high-impact messaging, Twitter is a highly populated online public arena where your brand’s message can quickly spread with the help of other influential users. With 89 per cent of users now using Twitter to buy products or services, maintaining an account is vital to success.
With its strong visual focus, Instagram has the potential to create a solid emotional bond with users. Perfect for creative campaigns and for crafting a trusted bond with your audience, Instagram is used by 67 per cent of travel enthusiasts seeking inspiration.
TikTok
Perfect for snappy, succinct, high-impact videos aimed at a younger audience, TikTok can help you provide quick insights and increase engagement. Over 52 million TikTok users have travelled to a destination after being inspired by a TikTok video.
With more of a professional emphasis, LinkedIn is useful for building your brand reputation within the travel and tourism industry. Here, you can create strong content that positions your brand as a thought leader within the industry. With over 930 million global users, it has a significant influence on businesses all over the world.
The third most popular social media platform with women, Pinterest is especially popular in the US, where it has almost 85 millions users. It’s particularly effective for travel brands, as the visual nature of the platform gives you the chance to get creative with beautiful imagery and captivating content. It’s also effective for long-term impact – Pinterest trends last 21 per cent longer than trends on other platforms.
How to define your tone of voice
Your tone of voice refers to the way your brand communicates with your audience. This can include the words you use, whether written or spoken, and the emotional tones they take.
However, tone of voice doesn’t only refer to written or spoken words. It can also be a visual tone of voice that showcases your brand’s personality and identity to your audience.
Finding and refining your tone of voice takes work. Your process should include the following:
Define your brand’s core values. What is your brand all about, and what can you deliver to your audience? This will give you a clearer idea of the message you want to convey to your audience.
Drill down on the tone that encapsulates your brand personality. Whether it's playful humour, formal professionalism or sky’s-the-limit enthusiasm, or a delicate balance of them all, detail exactly how your brand can communicate with the buyer persona.
Fine-tune your tone. Just like people, brands evolve. You’ll need to adapt your message and strategy to best reach your target audience. Whether it’s keeping up with changing trends and attitudes, or testing and tweaking as you go, an adaptable approach to tone is essential.
Create your all-important brand guidelines. This is the unified approach, the connective thread that runs through all of your communications. Your style guide is everything from the colours, logos and, of course, the language that will help your brand build an authentic connection with your audience.
Using your voice
Once you’ve defined your tone of voice and considered how it can translate to different platforms, it’s helpful to set some ground rules for communicating with your audience online.
Your brand tone of voice guidelines should include the following
Your target audience
How your brand sees your audience
Your brand’s core values
The grammar and style rules you want use
The kinds of words to use (and those to avoid)
Your overall mission statement
Examples of the type of content that can be used
Keep in mind that your tone of voice should adapt depending on the social media platform. Tweet, Reels and Facebook posts should all be recognisable as coming from the same brand. But they should all use different language and style, to effectively connect with each platform’s respective audiences.
Your tone on Facebook and Twitter, for example, might be more direct or informative, while Instagram and TikTok could be snappier and more playful. Adapting your tone yet retaining brand personality is essential to get maximum engagement across all platforms.
The brands getting travel social media right
Ikos Resorts
This hotel brand focuses on all-inclusive luxury, where everything is taken care of, for a blissfully relaxing experience. They speak directly to the audience, focusing on emotions and sensations with poetic content, while evoking a sense of space through imagery of empty, inviting swimming pools and a pristine environment. Their imagery also focuses on people in motion, joyful and dynamic, offering a glimpse into the exciting experiences that await.
Airbnb
The experts at storytelling through user-generated content, Airbnb has figured out how to make its audience do the hard work. Creator content, cultivated by competitions created by the platform, showcases the brand’s unique offering and authenticity while highlighting quirky homes, luxury stays and one-of-a-kind getaways available around the world.
In terms of tone, they opt for professional and informative content that’s consistent and to the point, a strategy that resonates with Airbnb’s wide demographic.
Virgin Voyages
Enthusiastic and optimistic content that strikes a chord with the young and the young at heart, Virgin Voyages takes a playful and approachable tone, infused with a trademark British wit and a bold sense of adventure.
Virgin uses creative tactics when it comes to getting its message out, such as giving away cruises to successful influencers to help promote their brand. The travel company also used AI technology in a humorous way for a recent campaign.
Expedia
Experts at engagement on TikTok and Instagram, Expedia entices travellers with quality videos of lush destinations, showing audiences the kinds of experiences they could have if they book with them.
The travel brand also runs inspirational social media campaigns to engage and increase its audience.
Getting social media content right
Developing your brand’s unique, strong social media tone of voice builds a connection with your audience and demonstrates what your brand stands for. It's a powerful tool with huge creative potential that can have a decisive impact in a competitive sector.
At Contese Creative Content Agency, we work with top travel brands like Ikos Resorts to define and create a brand voice that strikes the right tone with the right audience.
Our social media writing services are designed to help your brand build trust and forge connections with new audiences.
Get in touch with us to find out more