Madison Rifkin tells us: Stop Renting Your Demand. Use Social Media as the Booking Engine You Control

Today I’m joined by Maddie Rifkin, a builder who’s been doing standout work at the intersection of travel + creators + social distribution.

We talk about:

• Why she started throwing pre-conference golf days (relationship cheat code)

• How her first company began as a bike lock at 12, then pivoted through scooters into travel

• The real play for short-term rentals: sell the destination, not the hot tub

• “ROI thinking” that kills great ideas (including a Taylor Swift ticket stunt that went huge)

• Creator retreats and how local operators can plug in (often by simply comping the experience)

• Why operators should stop letting OTAs own the creator relationships and content

• What PopFly actually is, and how it helps local tour operators work with creators without the chaos

If you’re a tour operator, activity business, or experience brand and social still feels like an afterthought, this one’s your wake-up call.

Hear the episode here on Spotify and over here on Apple Podcasts

How the destination of Palau drive over 450 leads (not likes) to their local suppliers with just 2 posts on Instagram?

The destination of Palau had run influencers campaigns in the past and whilst the pictures were nice, the business outcomes were unclear. Sure, some people “liked” it, but how did that drive business outcomes for the suppliers in their destination?

When putting out their next request for proposal (RFP) they were looking for someone who could tell them and their constituents, what happened next after the posts.

The winning bid pitched Videreo’s capabilities. The Videreo product and process collects the real travel intent of an audience and counts the actual leads generated.

Success in creator marketing no longer needs to be about guesswork or vanity metrics. It lies in data and proof that can show true ROI, something CEO’s, CFO’s and CMO’s have been looking for to invest more in this channel.

See the full case study here from the creative to the dashboard of live results and to access your own FREE trial if you want to measure what matters.