Influencer Interview : The case of Nos Curieux Voyageurs

The profession of travel blogger, content creator or influencer, depending on the assignment, has become particularly professionalized in recent years.
At a time when demand is exploding and prices are soaring, it’s time to take stock of this job in its own right, and what it can bring to a tourism brand or destination.
We interviewed Nos Curieux Voyageurs, a couple of travel bloggers we’ve commissioned in 2019 on several content creation operations (paid) and blogtrips (endowment) to explain this collaborative mechanic and the benefits it brings.

Can you tell us what your travel income is based on?

We work in collaboration with tourist offices and tourism stakeholders to create content to promote the destination on our various media: our social networks (photo & video publications on Instagram, Instagram stories, Facebook publications, videos on Youtube and boards on Pinterest), our blog through detailed articles on our itinerary, budget, classic and off-the-beaten-track tours, our 48-page travel guides available free of charge and instantly on our blog.
The idea is to share information with as many people as possible to help our community organize a great trip of their own.
Our travel income also relies on the sale of photos for our partners and sometimes a take-over on their social networks.

You agreed to go on unpaid blogtrips, notably to the Dominican Republic and the Bahamas for the Viva Wyndham hotel group.

Maxime and I decided to take an unpaid blogtrip every year, two years ago to the Bahamas and last year to the Dominican Republic.
These are two destinations we’ve always dreamed of, so this was our chance!
I love the idea of going away with other bloggers, who aren’t necessarily focused on travel. Our exchanges help us to evolve mutually, and it’s super enriching because our work and communication techniques are so diverse.
A blogtrip is also an opportunity to let yourself be carried away by a program that you don’t know in advance, promising many wonderful surprises!

What do you think blogtrips bring to a destination or agency?

I think the strength of a blogtrip is the diversity of profiles: travel, family, lifestyle, food, creative… This enables us to reach different targets, emphasizing different qualities of the destination.
If we take the example of the Dominican Republic blogtrip, Morgane showed the family travel aspect, Floriane showed the girlfriend travel aspect by illustrating herself wonderfully in the different places, Claire showed the destination as a person with her creativity, while I saw the road-trip aspect by sharing practical information for making a similar trip there (visits, budget, itinerary…).
I think the selection of profiles is the most crucial part of a blogtrip, because beyond the diversity of profiles, you also have to think about group cohesion, which is the key to a successful trip between influencers.

You have been commissioned by the agency to create content for the Côte d’Or tourist office. What does this involve?

Our main mission was to showcase the different assets of the Côte d’Or: the landscapes, the pretty villages, the cultural richness and the gastronomy.
At the end of the trip, we shared our adventures in Instagram stories, through publications on Instagram, a detailed article on the destination: 3-day itinerary idea, budget (accommodation, transport, restaurants, activities), must-see visits (the Burgundy canal, Buffon’s grand forge, Semur-en-Auxois, Fontenay abbey, Bernard Loiseau relay, Château de Commarin, Château Sainte-Sabine, Chateauneuf-en-Auxois, the route des grands crus, Jean-Claude Boisset cellars and Beaune).
We also supplied a pack of 30 photos to the tourist office for use on their various media.
This project was one of the first we’d done in France, so it was a nice surprise and made us want to discover more of our beautiful regions.

Do you think influence is different on a blogtrip than on a content creation assignment?

Yes, I think so!
A blogtrip is a great way to reach a wider audience, whereas a content creation mission is more targeted.
Although I like to do one blogtrip a year, Maxime and I particularly like to discover things for ourselves, so we can create our own content more freely and manage our timing better.

Why use an influencer to create content about a destination?

I think that each influencer brings a creative aspect, whether it’s photography, video or writing, that will speak to their community and convince as many people as possible to choose this destination.
And then there are the media, which differ from one influencer to the next, adding real value to the project.
We’ve chosen to focus on the 3 pillars of our expertise: Instagram, video and our travel guides.

Today, it’s important to differentiate between destination blogtrips and paid content creation missions.
While we can ask for visibility and creativity from an influencer when he or she goes on a free trip (merchandise exchange) to promote a tourism brand or a region, we can’t expect a return in content as complete and oriented as on a paid mission.
The two projects are complementary, both in terms of maintaining an authentic and credible approach (the guest blogger is free to speak his mind, even if he is briefed by the agency), but also in terms of producing the expected and exploitable content from a purely advertising point of view (contracts, assignment of rights, etc.).