COMMUNITY @ FTLO TRAVEL
Hey FTLO Team,
Welcome to this secret corner of my portfolio. Feel free to look around at my other work, but this page is just for you!
TLDR:
I’m deeply passionate about community building.
I’m travel-obsessed and love to experience new places and cultures. Travel has been transformational to my life, and I would love to help others have those same life-changing experiences.
Experience in Community/Social and CX in the DTC retail and e-commerce industries.
I come from a scrappy start-up background. I start by dreaming big, then scale back ideas to meet realistic expectations.
Here’s how I would do community for FTLO
Peer-Led Storytelling
The online world is filled with people selling things. Online communities are built by highlighting people and stories that everyone can relate to without feeling like something is being sold. Having community members “take over” your social platforms, sharing stories of their experiences with FTLO, is an easy way to build trust online. Whether it’s having a Trip Leader share a “Day in the Life” during one of their trips or a traveler who loves to film their travels, having real people who are involved with the brand sharing their authentic experiences can grow your online community through relatability.
Community Brand Trips
During a time when influencer brand trips are oversaturated and often perceived as tone-deaf, creating immersive experiences for actual community members who care for and have invested their time and money in your brand can have such an impact. It can be an invite-only trip selected from your most frequently traveled, or a contest open to community members. An experience like this is also a great way to get content for social media.
Newsletter Travel Itineraries
The new kid on the social media block is Substack. It seems like everyone is migrating there to take part in the new way of connecting with their community—long form. Substack is the perfect platform for organizing evergreen travel itineraries that the community can return to anytime. You can include it all: writing, photos, videos, and audio. Community members can comment, like, and share entire articles or specific sections. The best part? New posts go directly to community members’ email inboxes, so they can stay in the loop without always having to check the platform!
Choose Your Own Adventure
After receiving results from your community surveys and using the data to refine upcoming decisions, giving community members a sneak peek at new trip and itinerary options allows them to feel “in” on the conversation. Maybe it’s a quick “this or that” survey including new trip and itinerary options, a conversation in a community group, or even a short call with community members. Sharing insider info and having them take part in decisions is a fun way to include them in the future of FTLO Travel.
Frequent-Travelers Network
Building community is not just about connecting members to the brand; it’s also about connecting members with each other. Having a channel on Instagram where the brand’s most frequent travelers can share recommendations, post pictures from recent trips, ask questions, and tell stories can actually foster a deeper connection to the brand and bring members closer together. Creating multiple channels of connection in this way can encourage community members to travel together with FTLO in the future, boosting member retention and loyalty.