Objective

In 2022, social media channels like Instagram and TikTok shifted to prioritizing video (specifically reels) over other content formats. So, our main objective for 2023 was to bring W Hotels to life through world-class, always-on, video content. After analyzing what worked for us in 2022, we realized our opportunity to break through the noise was to create best-in-class video content with high-reach recognizable talent. This transports our audiences to our different hotels around the world alongside familiar faces they know and love. 

We set out to make W Hotels’ social media a personification of our brand, a timely output of who we are and what we're up to. Just like our audiences, we go after big ideas and make them happen—our social media sets precedents, exceeds expectations, and stands out. We’re a hub of culture, travel, and luxury, all with our signature twist of boldness and polish. Our channels amplify diverse perspectives from partners, tastemakers, and influencers; our content is engaging and aspirational, being social-first without sacrificing aesthetics. 

We meet our audience where they are and take them wherever they want to go. So, in 2023 we focused on doing more of just that. 

Strategy

With the social media landscape shifting to prioritize video, we knew that we needed to capture and publish world-class, always-on video content. The biggest challenge we faced was producing both evergreen and timely content from culturally relevant events activated at our hotels globally. This challenged us to redefine, reinvent, and rebrand our approach to content capture, and expand what our content looks and feels like. Our strategy was rooted in three key imperatives: 

• Focusing on Video-First
  • Video is king on social media and accounted for 82.5% of global internet traffic in 2022. So, we knew that by investing in video content and catering to our target consumer, we'd be utilizing our resources most efficiently. 
  • This meant prioritizing video in every sense. We shifted our Instagram to be almost exclusively video, built content plans with a video-first approach, and continuously optimized our video content to improve KPIs such as impressions, CPM, engagements, and CPE. Whether it was evergreen shoots or activations, owned content, or influencer partnerships, video became our main focus. 
• Diversifying Our Franchises and Approach to Content Capture
  • As the social ecosystem has shifted to include more lo-fi and iPhone-style content, we knew we needed to expand on our video franchises and lean into this trend. Knowing that 56% of users and 67% of creators feel closer to brands when they publish human, unpolished content, we shifted our approach to feature talent (celebrities, influencers, musicians, and tastemakers) in a way that feels authentic to our brand and theirs.
  • We became more balanced in our content capture by contracting lo-fi iPhone creators for events and activations. We continued to expand our content strategy to include lo-fi versions of previously hi-fi franchises and leaned into familiar, social-first formats like GRWM, transition videos, and BTS. This made us more relatable to our audience and unlocked the ability to publish real-time, social-first content.
• Continuing Influencer and Tastemaker Partnerships
  • We continued to work with influencers in both an activation and evergreen capacity. For activations, we leveraged talent by having them create content for their channels, driving earned reach. For evergreen, we leveraged talent by featuring them in our owned content, driving owned reach and relevance for the brand. We amplified both through whitelisting and boosting to further expand our reach among our target audience. 

What sets us apart? When you look at our channels, we aren’t just posting pretty pictures and aesthetically pleasing videos. We’re inspiring, educating, and entertaining, showcasing the internet’s favorite talent, and telling our story in a social-first way. Whether it’s Pillow Talk with Kristen Kish or a behind-the-scenes video with Cercle, our strategy has allowed us to explore varied video formats to give our audience a taste of what it’s like to travel with us while showcasing some of the best hotels around the world. What’s more? We’ve been able to do this in real time. From Amsterdam Dance Event to Miami Music Week, we prioritize being a part of the conversation while it’s happening, not after the fact.

Results

In terms of return on results, we’ve completely overhauled our Instagram in a way that has increased our awareness by +4.4 points (benchmark +2.5) and consideration by +2.5 points (benchmark +0.9) in just one year. On the channel, we’ve generated over 97 million owned impressions and over 4.7 million engagements by expanding to over 15 content franchises. Even more impressively, our platform engagement rate is averaging at about 5%, well over the industry standard of 1.45%, according to Hootsuite.

We’ve reached new audiences with over 5 billion OTS (potential reach) across global brand and hotel Instagram channels and leaned into our different passion points by partnering with over 70 influencers including Noah Beck, Tefi Pessoa, Isaac Hindin-Miller, Kristen Kish, Cyrus Veyssi, and Indira Paganotto, and brands like Cercle, PhotoVogue, and Mambo Creatives– all of which were tasked with driving their audiences back to our channel. 

With comments like “I can’t wait to stay,” “Nothing hits better than room service at the Ws around the world…” and “Best vibes!!!!”, we’ve proven that a W Hotels travel experience is aspirational, but also relatable. 

Media