Just after 7am on September 27, a sharp whirring click was heard on a Samoan beach as a camera captured the dramatic unfurling of a South Pacific sunrise. A juicy mess of tangerine smeared itself across a smoky canopy of clouds as the outline of the island of Namu’a emerged sleepily before the carefully poised lens.

Within minutes the striking image, taken by Gold Coast-based photographer Garry Norris, had been uploaded to photo-sharing platform Instagram and tagged with the #helloworldrelay hashtag, marking the start of a ground-breaking social media campaign from agency group Helloworld. Designed to coincide with World Tourism Day, the innovative relay campaign filled the next 36 hours with images taken in 80 locations, starting at the westernmost point in the world and making its way around the globe past powdered desert dunes, turquoise turrets, hot air balloon-sprinkled skies and glassy azure seas before finishing up back in the South Pacific with sunset in the Cook Islands.

The photos were uploaded to Instagram by 80 “influencers”, known for their impact on the social media stage worldwide, but the snapping snowballed as non-official Instagrammers from across the world seized upon the hashtag, throwing their own photos into the mix. The numbers went into the “hundreds of thousands” with photos still being uploaded, according to Helloworld’s chief marketing officer Kim Portrate.

The campaign’s reach was enhanced by a partnership with Adshel, with Helloworld becoming the launch partner for the company’s real-time outdoor “live screens”. Under the deal, the #helloworldrelay images were live-streamed to 270 screens around Australia exposing them to 4.1 million people.

Speaking with Travel Weekly, Portrait explained that the campaign was about far more than simply generating beautiful and inspirational imagery.

“We were firstly looking for a way to increase awareness of our brand, but to do so in a way that showcased our expertise,” she said, adding it was specifically designed to reinforce its “Experts in Everywhere” tagline which was unveiled at its Owner Managers Conference in October. To that end, once the destinations were selected and the relevant partnerships put in place, Helloworld chose agents from within its ranks to design the “perfect itinerary” for those locations.

“So the images that we collected on the day were sourced from places featured in our expert agents’ itineraries and from the amazing things to do in those places that our experts know about.”

The relay was also used to generate interest ahead of the company’s global sale which ran from September 30 to October 6. As a result, the success of the campaign will be gauged in a number of ways.

“We’ll measure it through the increase in followers and fans, brand awareness and, as a retailer, sales are obviously a big part of it as well,” Portrait confirmed. Although evaluation of the campaign still has to take place, the initial signs are good. “We’ve definitely seen an uplift.”

The campaign is part of a wider social media strategy for Helloworld. “We know travellers are using social media to become inspired, to look, research and then book,” Portrate said. “Having an active presence in social media can help establish our brand position as experts, grow brand awareness and increase customer engagement.”

Helloworld is just one of a number of companies tapping into the growing potential of social. P&O Cruises recently announced that singer Jessica Mauboy and actress Kate Richie would become its newest godmothers and would officially name its latest ships Pacific Aria and Pacific Eden via Twitter as the two ships sail either side of Sydney Harbour’s Fort Denison on November 25. The naming will also be posted on the godmothers’ Facebook and Instagram pages and shared across P&O’s own platforms.

“We were looking for a different way of getting the news out there and we thought that being the first cruise line to name it on Twitter would be an interesting angle,” P&O Marketing Manager Simon Cheng told Travel Weekly. “We’ve always had a big focus on social media and on evolving the brand to be in line with modern Australian tastes. We want to modernise Australian cruising.”

The cruise operator also recently heavily invested in social media marketing with the unveiling of a series of video clips starring Hollywood actor Owen Wilson to promote both Aria and Eden which were distributed solely via social media. The investment appears to be paying off, converting customer engagement into sales. Users of P&O’s Facebook page are twice as likely to make a booking, according to Cheng.

Meanwhile, over at The Travel Corporation, Contiki has long been very active on the social media front. This year has seen the youth travel specialist forge ahead with its Legends campaign which follows key influencers as they helped Contiki customers live out their dreams of becoming king for a day, diving into the Mediterranean or bring their own unique blend of dance moves to the streets of Europe, with the videos shared through social.

“Our entire marketing strategy is built around producing shareable content which is emotive, engaging and funny then using social media and social influencers to amplify this,” managing director Katrina Barry told Travel Weekly. “The key thing is that Gen-Y invented social media, and Gen-Y and Millennials are our target market.”

But while many businesses, from larger groups to smaller independents are getting on board and engaging with their customers via a number of different platforms, more can be done, according to Australian Federation of Travel Agents chief executive Jayson Westbury.

“The online space evolves so rapidly that it requires both a commitment from a business to continue to stay abreast of those changes and invest in training their staff,” he told Travel Weekly. “Whilst the online space can be powerful in creating positive brand awareness, if there is not a clear strategy, usage guidelines and robust internal processes like a compliant handling policy to back up the messages you spruik then it can also quickly become a brand’s downfall. News spreads fast but bad news spreads even faster!”

The message for smaller businesses out there is don’t panic. It’s possible to reap the benefits of social media without the marketing budgets of larger companies – that’s the beauty of the beast. But you will need a strategy in place, made up of simple ideas such as making sure to post every day or using compelling content.

Fortunately, there are plenty of free resources to enable businesses of all sizes benefit from the influence of social. For example, AFTA offers tools and training to help its members surf the wave. Digital and social media are often covered in its free monthly webinars with content experts frequently invited to speak.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained. You may not be able to kickstart an entire relay à la Helloworld, but you can sure as hell enter the race.