Travel influencers across social media and on blogs are most
likely to mention individual travel brands on Twitter, but the most engagement
on their posts happens on Instagram, according to a study from Traackr.
Traackr, an influencer relationship management platform,
conducted a study of the top 250 global travel influencers, based on their
reach and relevance, and the resonance of their content. It looked at the period
from Jan. 1, 2017-Dec. 31, 2017.
In three categories -- travel packages, lodging and flight
booking -- the study identified brand mentions and engagements, how many
influencers mentioned the brands, which social media sites influencers used,
and which social media sites had the most engagement.
For all categories, most influencer mentions took place on
Twitter, while most engagement happened on Instagram.
The travel packages category included the brands Expedia,
Priceline, Travelocity, Kayak, TripAdvisor, Orbitz, Hotwire, Lastminute.com and
Hipmunk.
With 46%, Travelocity was the clear leader in mentions.
TripAdvisor was second at 18%, and Expedia rounded out the top three with 14%.
At 38% and 33%, respectively, Expedia and TripAdvisor were the top brands when
it came to engagements. Travelocity was third, with 20%.
In total, 163 individual influencers mentioned Kayak, the
top in the travel packages category. It was followed by TripAdvisor with 161,
and Expedia with 129.
The flight booking category included Skyscanner, Seatguru,
CheapOair, Cheapflights and Momondo.
CheapOAir had the most mentions at 52%, followed by
Skyscanner (41%) and Momondo (6%). Skyscanner was far and away the leader in
engagements, with a 92% share; CheapOair (4%) and Momondo (3%) came in a
distant second and third place.
Skyscanner.com garnered the most individual influencer
mentions with 103, followed by Momondo with 52 and CheapOair with 47.
The lodging category included Airbnb, Booking.com,
Hoteltonight, HomeAway, Hotels.com, Trivago and HotelsCombined.
Airbnb won the largest share of both mentions, 76%, and
engagements, 88%. For mentions, HomeAway came in second with 11%, and
Booking.com in third with 6%. For engagements, second place went to Booking.com
with 8%, while third place went to HomeAway with 3%.
A total of 196 individual influencers mentioned Airbnb,
followed by Booking.com (71) and HomeAway (70).
The study also looked at brands under the Booking Holdings
and Expedia Group umbrellas.
Of the Booking Holdings brands (Priceline, Agoda,
Booking.com, Cheapflights, Kayak, Momondo and Opentable), Kayak dominated with
a 48% share of mentions and a 59% share of engagements. For mentions,
Booking.com took second place with 15% and Agoda took third with 11%. For
engagements, Agoda took second with 22% and Booking.com took third with 13%.
Of the Expedia Group brands (Travelocity, HomeAway,
Hotels.com, Orbitz, Trivago, Wotif, Hotwire and Egencia), Travelocity dominated
with 83% share of mentions and 95% of engagements. For mentions, HomeAway came
in second with 7% and Orbitz and Hotwire tied for third with 3% each. For
engagements, Homeaway came in second with 3%, with the remainder split between
other brands.