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The travel and tourism industry is well suited to the Instagram environment. Promoting your tourism business on Instagram is easy since you can show photos of locations and accommodation to show potential clients what they can expect at a particular destination.

When you are redesigning marketing campaigns, make sure to include Instagram, as a large portion of your marketing can help drive up interactions and sales, especially among the younger generations. Growing your Instagram account is essential to a successful marketing campaign.

Here are some ways to grow your Instagram account for your travel and tourism business.

Use influencers

Influencers are like the brand representatives of Instagram. Different influencers support different niches and choosing the right one can drive up traffic. Influencers often have a large number of followers, so using them to promote your brand and your Instagram account can help both to grow. However, you need to make sure you choose the right influencer.

Some of the best travel and tourism influencers include Discovery Networks, National Geographic, and Beautiful Destinations. You can approach these famous influencers to help promote your travel and tourism brand on their Instagram. Promotions include facts about the destination that could draw visitors to make bookings for travel and accommodation in that location.

You could also approach famous hotel and accommodation booking brands such as Airbnb or Trivago to help promote your brand through their social media campaigns. Using industry-related influencers is as important as choosing popular influencers to support and promote your brand.

Diversify your content

Posting pictures to your account is what will draw people to follow you. However, posting too many similar pictures may become boring and repetitive, resulting in your account losing followers. While you aim to promote your destinations and packages, it is important not to be overly repetitive.

Sarah McGrath, who works as a digital marketing specialist for an essay writing service(opens in a new tab) that provides the best essay writing(opens in a new tab) and dissertation help(opens in a new tab) to university students, cites some good examples here.

Contiki(opens in a new tab) and Abercrombie and Kent(opens in a new tab) are two travel companies that have leveraged the Instagram space to build their identity while promoting their brand.

Both accounts post diverse content that promotes their ability to see you abroad while drawing people to different destinations. The content of their images includes landscapes, wild animals, and images of local people participating in cultural customs.

Include authentic experiences

Airbnb ran an internet takeover in 2016, in which it requested its followers to create content for a campaign called Experiences(opens in a new tab).

The mission with Experiences was to showcase different locations and cultures through locals’ experiences of the location. Other brands that encouraged customers to document their experiences include Norwegian Cruise Lines, Texas Tourism, and Southwest Airlines.

Through customers including their unique experiences, brands are able to provide an authentic review of a location and this draws in more visitors. Followers and fans are likely to prefer brands that highlight the realities of an experience rather than promoting and selling an unrealistic dream.

Make sure content is seasonally relevant

Travel is largely influenced by seasons. Your content should align with seasonal travel trends. Promoting ski resorts in winter and beach resorts in summer shows that your brand’s account is run by humans who are aware of the seasonal needs your customers may have.

Japan Tourism implemented a great promotion tool when trying to highlight Japan as a ski and snowboard destination. Through social media promotion, they designed and released a game called Powder Dash that showed what visitors could expect when visiting Japan in the winter.

Images must be high quality

Instagram is a visual promotion that reflects your investment and quality. When you post images to your account, they should be high quality, clear, and easy to understand. This step is extremely important, especially as Instagram is predominantly a mobile app.

In the interest of saving space and maintaining load times, your images are severely compressed upon upload. When you look at Booking.com(opens in a new tab) Instagram, for example, you can see how essential it is to have high-quality photos. Their message is conveyed easily through their images.

Space out your posts

It seems logical that frequent posts generate more traffic. However, overwhelming your followers with content might actually frustrate them and even cause them to unfollow you. The Instagram algorithm ensures that the people who interact most with your account will see more of your posts.

A good rule of thumb is to post once a day or a few times a week. Posting too frequently can get annoying and boring. Even in the height of the travel season, airlines like KLM only post to their account a few times a week, ensuring they convey their message while not overwhelming their followers.

Hashtags matter

Brands like Norwegian Cruise Lines and Intrepid Travel have developed a standard hashtag to be used in conjunction with their brand. When people want to post images of themselves using these services, they can add the company’s hashtag which makes it easier for others to find the brand’s account.

Developing a brand-linked hashtag(opens in a new tab) helps to build a brand identity and make it easy for new followers to find you. It also makes it easier for people who already use your brand to promote the brand and draw traffic for you.

Get your followers involved

Followers enjoy being included in every aspect of your account. Like the Airbnb Experiences campaign, you can get followers involved by running competitions and asking them for their best photos of a certain location or feature. You can also have followers help promote your brand through correct hashtagging and by including their content in your posts.

Strike up a conversation

Airbnb seems to be at the forefront of great strategies that can be used when growing a tourism brand. Airbnb offers round-the-clock live support and chat, making sure customers are included and appreciated every step of the way.

Responding to comments and private messages includes the user and helps them develop a positive perspective of your brand, increasing the chances of them promoting it. This can grow your following because many others will trust the recommendation from someone they know.

Cross-post

One of the easiest ways to draw in followers to Instagram is through cross-posting. Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter allow for seamless cross-posting with the click of a button.

While the audience on each platform may not have access to the other platforms, a significant number will. By cross-posting, you can draw followers from Facebook or Twitter to your Instagram profile.

You should also strike up partnerships with other brands when you aim to cross-post. Often, airlines like British Airways will run a promotion with a hotel brand. Cross-posting with a partner company allows visitors to plan a trip from start to end all in one place. These partnerships drive traffic to both brands and allow you to take off when partnered with a bigger brand.

Conclusion

Growing your travel and tourism Instagram account is a relatively simple process. By posting the right kinds of pictures at the right times, you are likely to draw in a good audience. Your audience needs to feel appreciated and included, and there are a variety of tools available on Instagram to help you achieve this.

Influencers, content diversity, and correct hashtag usage can ensure your account is easy to find, relevant, and interesting. Drawing in followers through successful marketing campaigns can ensure your account grows. As a result, increased Instagram popularity can easily translate into conversions that drive up your profits.


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