RCI grows social media programme

Instagram has now been added to RCI’s online community portals, giving its members another way of sharing their love of travel using timeshare ownership.

RCI’s facebook.com/rcieuro page now has a community of 430,000+ committed travellers, and with a dedicated social media team behind it, RCI – the world’s leading provider of holiday exchange services – expects its new Instagram page, Instagram.com/rcieurope to quickly grow and complement the shared-vacation ownership industry’s expanding web presence.

“The statistics for Instagram use are compelling, demonstrating its value to our industry as an essential influencer of our future customer demographic,” says Lisa Theanne, E-Commerce and Social Media Strategy Manager for RCI Europe. Instagram statistics of especial note are:

• 400 million active users – 53% aged 18-29; 25% aged 30-49
• 80 million photos shared every day
• 3.5 billion ‘Likes’ daily

User interactions with branded posts as a percentage of brands’ fans and followers:

• Instagram – 4.21%
• Facebook – 0.07%

(Source: Pew Research Center Demographics of Key Social Networking Platforms)

“With our international reach and rapidly strengthening presence across social media, RCI has a responsibility to the shared-holiday ownership and timeshare industry as a whole to build on the opportunity it has to influence consumers as to where and how they holiday,” adds Theanne.

“Looking at the engagement with Instagram, it is obvious that we have to be in that space, talking to that audience as they talk. Our messaging on that media is focused around visual impact that describes fabulous and diverse destination experiences in a quality environment. We wanted to give our members a platform where they could have fun sharing their passion for travel with fellow timeshare owners, and with literally, millions of other like-minded travellers.”

Making memories

RCI’s Instagram posts will be a mix of user-generated content (UGC) and professional editorial that will tell the story of holidays of a lifetime, for a lifetime, with those who mean the most. In the moment experiences and the sheer joy of being away on holiday, will sit with enticing insights into worldwide destinations, cultural and historic celebrations, amusing moments and all the little things in between – such as a long cool cocktail sipped in the shaded fringes of a baking beach – everything that makes holidays so memorable.

Posts will be made between three to five times each week. RCI has undertaken studies to identify the optimum posting times to generate the highest level of engagement and awareness, and will be geo tagging posts, as well as encouraging use of user tags and hashtags among its fans and followers, to net even greater engagement.

“If you follow us, we will follow you,” concludes Theanne. “To build a strong and active community that will bring benefits to its members, as well as increasing awareness in the open market as to the great value and advantages that come with timeshare holidays, we need to support each other’s social media.

“Please encourage your holidaying owners, members and your resort staff to follow Instagram.com/rcieurope.”