Viator's team of travel insiders is obsessed with finding the best things to do everywhere in the world. From Paris to Phuket to Perth, from traditional tours to once-in-a-lifetime experiences, we've discovered and curated something for every kind of traveler.
Our goal is to help travelers feel like they're traveling with an insider, everywhere they go. We've created a collection of thousands of handpicked tours, activities and attractions in more than 1,500 destinations worldwide to help travelers experience more of their destination, and create memories that will last them a lifetime.
Viator's social media platforms are an extension of that goal, delivering valuable information and inspiration through Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, YouTube and other channels. We give travel planners and dreamers alike access to information, photos, videos and fellow travelers' reviews and tips to help them research and plan the travel activities that are just right for them.
Viator's social media channels – as a true extension of Viator.com and the Viator Tours & Activities App – succeed in turning the traveler into the "insider." The information, inspiration and access delivered through each channel helps get travelers beyond the velvet rope, off-the-beaten-path and behind the scenes to experience more of their destination and the coolest things to do.
Each channel's unique characteristics are incorporated into our strategy to most effectively connect with users and provide them with exciting and relevant content to help them plan the perfect trip. We utilize each channel's native tools to help raise brand awareness, drive traffic and revenue, increase community engagement, bring on new customers, and provide customer support.
Through our corporate Facebook page and 160 additional destination and attraction-specific pages, we deliver compelling content to help travelers find and book the best activities. Viator's approach of being the "travel savvy friend you always wanted" translates well onto Facebook, as users are already comfortable sharing and discovering across the user-friendly platform.
Each of Viator's Facebook pages are matched with a dedicated travel blog, allowing us to combine the best of long-format editorial with short-format entries that work best on Facebook, such as contests, photo of the day, insider tips, destination updates, etc. What's unique about our strategy is the ability to offer a full range of content and social interactivity focused on a single travel destination. When we highlight specific products we encourage engagement discussing whether followers have already done the activity, want to, or need more information.
For the year ended 2014, we had 696,767 total Facebook fans, a 30% increase over 2013. We had over 1 million post likes, and more than 19 million impressions.
Moving into multi-media, Viator's exclusive collection of professionally shot and produced videos gives travelers insider access to the world's most popular tours and attractions, before they travel. They're a sneak peek into an experience – right on your laptop or smartphone.
According to the Google-commissioned study "The 2013 Traveler," 51% of leisure travelers watch online travel videos and of those travelers, 65% are looking for activity ideas in a particular destination. YouTube provides an additional access point for travelers to search and view the exclusive video content featuring tours, attractions, destination overviews, deals and promotions. Inspired viewers can immediately begin planning their next trip via YouTube with access to the Viator Tours & Activities App, emails, deep links and more.
In 2014, we uploaded 10 to 15 videos each month. At year-end, we had 650+ videos live, an increase of nearly 30% YOY. We had nearly 8 million total views, a 270% increase over 2013, and more than 3,500 subscribers, up 140%.
Twitter provides Viator with a platform for directly and instantly reaching travelers with promotions, limited time offers and special deals. The instant connection provides an important channel for handling customer service inquiries (when appropriate), and lets us reach a large number of people at once with important information regarding travel advisories and updates from the destinations we serve.
To take the platform a step further, and because we know travel planners seek out video, Viator showcases Vine videos to inspire our followers.
At the end of 2014 we had 155,677 Twitter followers, up more than 10,000 YOY, and we posted more than 7,000 tweets.
Viator uses Instagram as another inspirational channel. By highlighting the different destinations we cover using breathtakingly beautiful images, we are able to show our followers incredible destinations, as an insider would see them – destinations they're familiar with and many they've likely never encountered before. Viator also uses Instagram as an effective channel for curating photos utilizing exciting contests, which generate strong engagement and help to fortify our brand awareness.
We had 2,689 total fans year-end 2014, an increase of over 200% YOY, and we posted more than 300 images.
Pinterest is a wonderful tool for the travel industry given its stunning visual interest and helpful maps feature. Through the maps feature we are able to help our users plan their activities around the world. By using high quality pictures we can highlight top attractions and show other amazing sights to visit that are nearby the destination or landmark a traveler is exploring. We can then link all of those images back to our site to easily facilitate the travel planning process.
We had 21,000 fans at the end of 2014, a 130% increase over 2013. We pinned more than 10,000 pins, and had an average of 3 million monthly viewers.
