At a time when consumers are bombarded with advertisements and brand promises, influencers are becoming an essential ingredient in your marketing mix to give your message that feel of an authentic recommendation. In fact, with an uptick in Gen Z using TikTok as a search engine, finding native ways to integrate your messages into these digital spaces will be more important than ever.

But what’s the key to success in influencer marketing? We reached out to our expert partners to discover what best practice place brand and marketing teams should adopt to amplify their brand by working with local and global influencers.

Partner with influencers with a genuine connection to your place.

Successful influencer campaigns begin with a clear goal and a commitment to authenticity. Knowing your objective—whether it's driving awareness, generating engagement or even gathering ownable photo and video assets helps align the right influencers with your brand. Authenticity is key: influencers who genuinely connect with your destination will create more engaging, trust-building content that resonates with their audience. By allowing influencers the freedom to be themselves and tell their own stories in their own voice, the content feels more authentic and relatable, promoting organic connections that inspire consumers to experience your brand for themselves.

Megan Conder, Director of Social, MMGY

Understand your target audience and work with influencers who resonate with that group.

The influencer market is thriving, and while finding an influencer is easy, identifying the right one(s) for your brand is becoming increasingly challenging. With so many options available, it’s crucial to truly understand who your target market is and what interests them—because if an influencer doesn’t genuinely resonate, it won’t bring about the desired results.

This is where using data becomes valuable: by analysing audience preferences and behaviors, you can choose influencers who genuinely connect with your target market. This approach ensures you partner with someone who resonates on a deeper level, creating meaningful content that truly enhances your brand. Here, quality over quantity matters: a small, engaged following allows you to handpick your audience, fostering genuine engagement rather than simply casting a wide net and hoping for the best.

Mirko Lalli, CEO, The Data Appeal Company

Look beyond the follower count.

Choose influencers based on factors besides follower count. First, make sure they match your brand. Evaluate their content. Does their general “vibe” vibe with yours? Is their audience similar to the audience you’re trying to attract? Work with them to suggest ways your place fits seamlessly into their brand. You want the engagement to be authentic. Then, you can even work into the contract amplification of their message through paid social ads to expand your audience and reiterate that message even more.

Jessica McCarthy, President, Joy Riot

Build long-term partnerships with influencers.

To effectively amplify your brand message, we recommend working with Public Relations-approved creators and measuring their organic performance. Your place can launch branded paid ads that seamlessly integrate with influencers' own promotions, leveraging their authentic voice and audience trust to maximise reach and engagement for you: an approach that ensures your brand message resonates with the influencer's followers. We advise building long-term relationships with creators, involving them early in campaigns, and balancing local and global influencers. Partnering with a media expert for premium creative support can help you launch branded and creator content on platforms like TikTok. For more information, visit our consumer media page.

Tom Starr, Vice President of Global Destinations, Hospitality, Amadeus

Provide a clear brief and then work with influencers to refine the message.

The first approach is to carefully select influencers who resonate with your brand's values. Then create a visually stunning itinerary that aligns with your brand messaging, encouraging influencers to capture and share ample content.

Before any activation, it's essential to provide influencers with a brief that clearly outlines the key messages you aim to convey. Then, when approving the influencer's posts, ensure they incorporate the key messaging from your brief. Consider boosting the influencer's well-performing organic posts shared on your page to maximise exposure — just make sure to negotiate any additional fees for commercialising their content with the influencer beforehand.

Ultimately, aim to build long-term relationships with the influencers you work with, rather than doing a flash-in-the-pan campaign. The goal is to continuously engage them so that they eventually become authentic long-term brand advocates.

Anneka Roberts, Senior Vice President – Digital, FINN Partners

Work with a portfolio of influencers to get reach and access to niche audiences.

For places looking to collaborate with influencers, it’s vital to select partners who genuinely connect with the destination’s core values. Engaging both macro and micro-influencers allows for a broader reach while maintaining authenticity. Macro-influencers can attract large audiences, while micro-influencers often have more engaged, niche followings. Ensure that influencers highlight diverse aspects of the place—its culture, people, and unique attractions. By encouraging them to create personalised, engaging stories rather than traditional ads, you can foster a deeper connection between the audience and the destination. Also, you can use analytics to monitor engagement and refine your strategies accordingly.

Jose Torres, CEO, Bloom Consulting

Think outside the box.

Don’t feel limited to working only with travel influencers! The Trove approach to influencer partnerships is to focus on high-priority segments instead of the travel category as a whole. Since the pandemic disrupted travel, traditional travel influencers have lost some of their marketing value, so we select influencers who have cultivated interest-based followings in niche areas that align with a destination’s products. For example, we might collaborate with influencers specialising in nature, culture, adventure, gastronomy, luxury lifestyle, fashion, or other areas of expertise. Niche influencers can effectively promote a destination by showcasing unique angles that resonate more deeply with their trusted audience than traditional travel narratives.

Danny Cohanpour, CEO, Trove Tourism Development Advisors

Work with those who align with your values.

To succeed with influencer partnerships, authenticity and alignment are key. Choose creators who truly represent your destination’s values—don’t just focus on big names or professionals. Sometimes, those with a real-world presence can build deeper connections with niche audiences. Success isn’t just about follower count; it’s about reaching the right people. In our experience, long-term collaborations are more effective than one-off campaigns, building a more relatable brand story. When influencers share their personal take, the content feels more organic. And always start with clear goals, tracking both qualitative and quantitative outcomes to measure real impact.

Semina Sarantopoulou, Account Director | Marketing & Events, TOPOSOPHY

Provide training and resources to support your influencers.

Whether you are building a cohort of place “champions” or influencers, these ingredients are vital parts of an effective strategy for accelerating their effectiveness:

The Place Playbook: Create an easy-to digest overview of the brand proposition with a clear messaging, a “cheat sheet,” and an action matrix that provides tailored “Why choose here” points for specific audiences. Be clear which aspects of the value proposition are likely most relevant to which audiences? Highlight suggested ways that champions can support your initiative e.g. adding affiliation messaging to email signatures and web sites, reposting content, providing endorsements etc.

Place Insider Tips: Encourage public-facing staff and locals to add their own “insider” tips and advice when interacting with visitors. Provide people in hospitality with suggestions on how to engage travellers and share “insider” recommendations.

Place Toolkit: Provide digital, downloadable content that’s easy to share and adapt including customizable social media posts, images, graphics, videos, presentation modules and text.

Place Brand Workshops and Training: Workshops and online training are great ways to provide practical how-to advice as well as encourage creative collaborations. Online sessions can be easily recorded for reference.

Awards and Incentives: Recognize those who reflect best practices and impact. Providing grants or seed money for fresh approaches also encourages ongoing renewal.

Jeanette Hanna, Chief Strategist, Trajectory