With the grand opening set for 2017, 'Alohilani Resort was looking for a way to generate awareness about their beautiful, unopened property on the coast of Waikiki Beach. With a blank canvas to work with, the direction we chose to build brand awareness for the upcoming Hawaiian escape was to visually stimulate and inspire. Although this strategy is meant to stretch across all of 'Alohilani's social channels, Instagram was chosen as the big launch for the hotel's social presence.
Our strategy was to stage an "unwrapping" of the hotel's social to build brand awareness & buzz. We wanted to showcase all the highlights of the hotel property as well as its surrounding area by using inspiring imagery and copy. Our focus for Instagram was to bring the beauty of the property and Hawaii harmoniously into one place.
It was imperative to have a clear visual direction & strategy - we broke down the focus into six rough categories: Local Photographers; Food & Beverage + Hotel & Room; Honolulu Inspiration; Local Tastemakers; and Rough Glamour. Each category highlighted the surrounding area and hotel while streamlining the visual strategy. A vibrant and welcoming color scheme was chosen based off of the Hawaiian landscape & culture in addition to the hotel's design & logo. A dedicated social media imagery photoshoot was scheduled to capture the essence & details of the hotel. The curated shot list produced photographs of classic hotel room shots, amenity shots, views from and of the hotel, lifestyle shots and details of local hidden treasures.
In addition to visual stimulation, there was a keen focus on the copy that accompanied the photographs. The aim was to carry a narrative with the audience while still being informative of 'Alohilani's anticipated opening. Seamlessly lacing in Hawaiian culture into our narrative, we included Hawaiian phrases, insider-tips from locals and trivia on the hotel & surrounding area. The results of the ongoing narrative we placed yielded an immense volume of engagement in both photo likes and comments.
Without any use of paid promotion, the unopened 'Alohilani Hotel's Instagram cultivated over 1.9k organic followers in under 3 months with several nods from travel media brands like MyDomaine, TravelAge West, and Islands. Average engagement on each post ranged from 250-350 interactions with over 16.5k interactions in all.
592% growth in Instagram followers
187% growth in Instagram engagement
