Video Matters Most
In the second instalment of our three-part series, Video Matters Most, we dive into Six Senses’ significant investment in short-form video content.
Bryan Gabriel, Six Senses' CCO, shares valuable insights from our London Business Breakfast Event, discussing how short-form video has become central to their content strategy and how they've empowered their team to become content ambassadors.
Six Senses have 27 properties worldwide and an incredible 43 new openings in the pipeline for the next 5-7 years, including their first in the UK, Six Senses London, which will feature 109 rooms and suites in a restored art deco emporium, The Whiteley London.
Setting Standards
The unforgiving lens of video content forces a delicate balance for a global luxury brand like Six Senses: authentic storytelling without compromising their brand identity.
“Video is raw and you have to put certain rules and regulations around it to hold onto what your brand message is" explained Bryan Gabriel, CCO of Six Senses. "That’s why we invested in training, to maintain a certain standard of how we represented ourselves globally”.
And it’s perhaps a misconception that training of this nature can’t be done at scale. Working with Six Senses, over 9 years, Andy Whiteside and the Hotel Social team have trained nearly 1,000 of their team on how to create industry-leading social content.
Beyond Likes & Loves
To identify areas of strength and opportunity, we benchmarked Six Senses' social media activity against its competitors in 2023.
While views and likes do contribute to overall performance, direct engagement (like commenting) is a key factor influencing the algorithm, particularly on platforms like Instagram and Facebook.
The average number of comments per reel across Six Senses' competitor set was just over 12, with Six Senses themselves boasting an impressive average of more than double this.
Posting frequently helps drive visibility too. Our benchmark audit noted that, out of their competitor set, only Six Senses (and 1Hotels) were posting regularly on TikTok in 2023. Bryan explains, “we registered an account and watched where TikTok was going and as we started to see our guests posting on there, that’s when we started to bring that account to life”.
Keep the conversation flowing
Engagement should be two-way. While it’s fantastic to receive comments on your content, it’s vital you keep that conversation going. In fact, research shared at the event by Hannah Bennett, Head of Travel at TikTok, noted that 33% of users want luxury hotels to interact with them.
A fantastic example of this in action is Six Senses’ innovative #EarthLabLive campaign. Over one month, all 23 Six Senses resorts, at a property and brand level, created content around their place in the community, sustainability initiatives and what really matters to the Six Senses brand. They even went live on Instagram from every single resort around the world – the ultimate form of raw content and real-time engagement.
“I mean it worked really well, but how Elena Black (our then VP of Marketing Communications) remained sane while getting 23 resorts to go live, I don’t know!” quipped Bryan. “It was bold and proved really successful, both for the brand but also helping us to dig deeper into sustainability which is one of our key brand pillars”
"We have no intention of posting sun-loungers, sunsets or sun-downers. It’s about standing out from a sea of sameness"
Bryan Gabriel, Chief Commercial Officer, Six Senses
Be a story 'do-er'
Another key component of Six Senses' success comes from their authentic approach to content creation.
“One of the best quotes I’ve heard over the last 5 years; be a story do-er, not a story tell-er" explains Bryan. "You have to ‘do’ the story first, before you can tell it, and that keeps our content authentic. We have no intention of posting sun-loungers, sunsets or sun-downers. It’s about standing out from a sea of sameness”
The Pay Off
Measuring the ROI of your content marketing efforts can sometimes be challenging as it’s often not the last interaction before a conversion. Some of the benefits aren't always financial too, as #EarthLabLive shows.
However, Bryan was quick to note that Six Senses consider social media as part of a path to purchase, adding that “our digital efforts deliver above 45% of our revenue for the brand and our approach to short-form content has been a major component in driving direct bookings”.
For more on Six Senses, visit their website.
See also:
Need social media support for your hotel? A short-form sidekick?