An Altrincham travel firm promoted by celebrities including Amanda Holden and Nicole Scherzinger has hit its £300,000 crowdfunding target as it looks to tap into the “trillion pound” social media industry.
Trending Travel, based at Station House, secured the £300,000 target from over 160 investors with over 20 days of its campaign still to run.
Launched just two years ago, the company uses influencer marketing to turn social media activity into holiday sales.
As well as selling package holidays, it works with celebrities and influencers to endorse the destinations.
Founded by chief executive Keith Herman and director Sophie Foster, Trending Travel has made £2.5m in bookings since launch and last year generated a revenue of £763,000 and loss of £329,000.
It will now use the funding to invest in personnel and “vastly improve” its user experience.
Herman said: “Social media is a trillion pound industry. We aim to harness the power of social media by turning likes, follows and engagement into holiday bookings by collaborating with influencers, celebrities, and content creators.
“We believe travel marketing is filled with bland and uninspiring content, failing to create a compelling call to action. Our research indicates that hotels, airlines and destinations struggle to track ROI on influencer activity.
“Our solution offers trackable campaigns, verified statistics, and valuable data analysis.”
He added: “Our goal is to develop a strategy to increase media sales through the promotion of hotels, airlines & destinations. We believe these areas are receptive to influencer marketing and our demographic of 18-40 year social media consumers.”
