How to promote travel business on instagram

5 Instagram marketing tips for the travel industry

Two-thirds of 18 to 34-year-olds admit that the ‘Instagrammability’ of a location is the single most important factor when booking a holiday

Few industries are more tailor-made for Instagram or the snap-happy, tech-savvy consumers who make up its user base than the travel industry.

Think about it: before we venture abroad or to a far-flung region of our own fair isle, we visualize the enjoyment such a place will offer. From white sand beaches to aquamarine waters, snow-blanketed ski slopes to the bright lights of a modern metropolis, we see in our mind’s eye what is to come. An image that jives with our own perception, or plants a fresh seed, inspires thoughts about the experiences we will have and the memories we will make.

According to a recent survey by Expedia, two-thirds of 18 to 34-year-old’s admit that the ‘Instagrammability’ of a location – that is to say, its suitability to be photographed and plastered on social media – is the single most important factor when booking a holiday.

How to increase your Instagram followers

Instagram is one of the most influential social media networks. With product payment integrated into the platform, increasing your following can lead directly to boosts in sales. Follow this Quick Win to learn our top tips for boosting the size of your profile's following.

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That might be hard to believe, but for the one billion monthly active users on the platform, Instagram is, quite simply, a huge part of their lives. It’s used as a mood board, a photo diary, a daily companion, and if you operate in the tourist industry, you’d be well advised to take note.

In this blog post, I’m going to share five Instagram marketing tips for the travel industry.

1. Leverage social influencers

Influencers are great for earning likes and connecting with people who treat the words of their favourite Instagrammers as gospel. Influencers, by their very nature, have huge fanbases and can thus help you get the word out and create a viral effect.

This holds true whether you’re promoting exclusive content, touting a special deal or recommending an experiential travel experience (mountaineering, skydiving, culture tours etc.).Commissioning a high-profile influencer to post on your behalf or to share posts you have created, is a wonderful way of gaining exposure with your target audience.

Skyscanner is an example of one company who, now and then, hand over the reins of their account to a high-profile influencer. Here’s a look at the start of a recent Instagram campaign they held with micro-influencer Robert Schrader; he took over the Skyscanner account for a few days to show their followers some lesser-known but very beautiful locations in Thailand:

They also ask followers to tag their holiday posts with specific hashtags, to be in with a chance of being featured on their feed. Incidentally, this is a great way of letting your audience do your job for you: because you can repost beautiful images rather than dream up your own. These traveler-supplied images may also resonate better with the audience, as they are perceived as being more authentic.

Of course, it’s not a bad idea to use a social influencer who has some connection to travel; having said that, any influencer who can help you realize your vision and promote a high number of meaningful interactions is worth considering.

2. Share varied content consistently

Needless to say, travel companies should be concerned with posting highly visual content on Instagram: impeccable high-res imagery that gets your audience to pack their suitcases. Beautiful, inspiring imagery from talented professional photographers is what’s necessary, as authentic yet simple shots can also do the trick.

However, it's important to remember that the content should also be diverse. Even pretty images of mountains and seascapes can become boring after a while, so remember to juxtapose inspirational quotes or other content that reflects your values and brand identity.

This is a platform where individuality is, of course, key, so think long and hard about whether the pictures you’re posting fit with your brand image. Emphasize what makes you different, deploy relevant hashtags (and encourage your followers to use them, too) and continuously promote the 'feel-good factor'. Accounts showcasing game-changing content include Royal Caribbean International, Lonely Planet and Airbnb.

3. Leverage Instagram Stories

You can promote incredibly polished marketing content via regular Instagram posts, but for something a little more authentic, Insta Stories is where it’s at. Stories has rapidly become one of Instagram’s best-loved features and it offers an opportunity to achieve brand awareness while giving followers a unique look at what it is you’re offering. Stories can be up to 15 seconds long, although live videos can last up to an hour.

Incidentally, you can tie this tip in with the first tip, namely by getting credible influencers to stream real-time holiday adventures, taking trips and seeing sights you hope will resonate with the viewer.

Of course, to get a top influencer on board you’ll have to comp them on the trip; or pay a hefty fee for letting them host an Instagram Stories takeover on your feed. Naturally, you’ll want to determine a minimum number of Stories you want them to post within the allocated timeframe, in order to create buzz and maximize engagement.

For an example of Instagram Stories done right, check out Ryanair’s feed. At various times they’ll dedicate Stories to city breaks, street food, major events, and specific desirable destinations.

4. Utilize IGTV

Launched in 2018, IGTV is a long-form vertical video platform that helps you better communicate your message to your Insta followers, and grow your audience in the process.

Unlike the brevity of Stories, IGTV videos can last up to an hour, giving you ample opportunity to showcase your offering: the chance to have an awesome holiday, for instance. IGTV can be accessed from the regular Instagram app, although there’s also a dedicated IGTV app too, and developers have worked tirelessly to ensure the platform provides a more polished end product than the likes of Facebook Live.

The key to maximizing the platform, of course, is to curate engaging and appropriate content suitable for the longer format: extended travel guides, travel tips videos, videos focused solely on local foods, and so on. Get it right, though, and the rewards could be huge. This type of content is hugely popular on TV, YouTube, and other established platforms so there is huge potential for travel brands on Instagram.

5. Create a social media calendar

At certain times of the year, you’ll want to focus on certain types of content. As a travel company, this might mean you focus on winter breaks during winter, city breaks in spring and autumn, and beach destinations during summer. By creating a social media calendar and taking note of bank holidays, festivals, sporting events and the like, you can ensure your content is timely and relevant, and thus more likely to engage.

Plus, it’s not just about planning for holidays; planning your content in advance will allow you to create better, more engaging content for the simple reason that you’ll have more time to both plan and to create your content.

Conclusion

Travel companies who succeed on social media, and particularly on Instagram, understand that it’s about more than displaying picture-postcard images. It’s about inspiring travelers and those who, chained to their desks, are idly scrolling through Instagram as a means of escapism. It’s about selling a vivid dream.

Make social media an integral part of your digital strategy, focus on creating immersive, inspirational content and you can help travelers discover new, exciting destinations and become a trusted voice in the space.

13 Ways To Get More Instagram Followers For Your Travel Business

Instagram is a place where people go to explore their interests and make visual connections. With over five hundred million worldwide accounts that are active on it on a daily basis, its popularity is not in question.

With such a large number of accounts (people and businesses) making connections and searching for visual inspiration, the potential for your Travel Business to build a huge Instagram following to market your travel offering to is there.

The foundation for building your following begins with putting together some amazing content that is worth sharing. Once you have some content curated and a business profile set up, our tips below provide some insights on How To Get More Instagram Followers For Your Travel Business.

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How To Get More Instagram Followers For Your Travel Business

Content Is Key

Having amazing content to share, specifically photos or video clips is paramount to get more Instagram followers. It is a visual platform and you need to wow everyone with your imagery.

Make use of Instagram’s photo editing tools to optimize your pictures and videos. Hire a photographer to take professional photos to use as promotional imagery of your travel offering. Do not forget to geotag the location on the images or videos as this is a searchable feature along with hashtags.

Additionally, give your tour guides or people on the ground a good quality phone or camera that takes great pics so they can capture and create great stories. After all, they are creating the experience for your clients and are placed to capture the Instagram worthy moments.

Create A Brand For Your Business Account

People follow and support businesses that align with their own ideals and values. Decide who your target audience or market is, and then shape your business travel brand accordingly. Think about the images that you post on Instagram and evaluate the message that they portray to your followers.

For example – Conde Nast Traveler identifies itself on Instagram as a magazine. Their brand and imagery are synonymous with high-quality travel images that you would expect to find in a magazine. Their posts generally tell a short story and portray a particular lifestyle associated with the imagery.

Use The Stories Feature

Instagram’s Stories feature is a great interactive way to give your followers a bit more insight into your business and your product. Use this feature to provide an interactive short video clip of your travel destination, or give a short commentary on what your clients can expect from your up and coming tour.

Use the storytelling tool to have fun and let the essence of what your company is about, shine through. Stories are a way for your clients to get to know you and your travel product better.

#Hashtags

As you know, hashtags are a searchable feature on Instagram. But how to get more Instagram followers by using hashtags though? Well, start by creating a hashtag for your travel business’ name and use it on all of your posts.

You can also create an Instagram campaign and give it a hashtag to encourage your followers’ participation and increase interaction with them. Promote a particular product and encourage your clients to use the hashtag when sharing their experience on Instagram.

Norwegian Cruise Line has a good example of this – their hashtag campaign #CruiseLikeANorweign has thirty-one and a half thousand posts. That is thirty-one and a half thousand posts that promote their brand and give their business visibility on the social media platform.

Create An Instagram Take Over Campaign

Offer an influencer, guest writer, or client the chance to Take Over your Instagram account for a stipulated amount of time to share a number of Instagram posts that focus solely on your travel offering.

The idea is for the person to share their experience of your travel offering on Instagram in a bid to generate interest and get more Instagram followers for your travel business.

The focus on your travel offering will give your followers (and potential clients) a real look at your product outside of the usual sales brochure write up.

Share Your Clients’ Content

With their permission of course. Check your hashtag campaigns to see what pictures your clients are posting and then select and share their already optimized content with the appropriate accreditation to your own account to promote your travel product.

This is similar to the Take Over campaign in the sense that the imagery provides your followers with a review of your travel offering so to speak. Any content that depicts your values and portrays your product in a positive manner is worth sharing.

Engage With Your Followers

Everyone enjoys recognition, so win your followers over by commenting on their posts. Answer any questions they may have on your offering and be responsive overall.

People like to know that there is a person on the other end of the line so it works in your favor to be personable and relatable towards your followers.

Address Any Negative Posts

In the same way that you would be responsive to a positive commentary, it is also important to address any negative posts that you receive on Instagram in an open and empathetic manner.

As we know, Social Media has an extensive reach, so be proactive in your responses to avoid small issues from spiraling unnecessarily.

Publish Content Frequently

You need to publish high-quality fresh content frequently in order to build an Instagram following and get more followers for your travel company.

Devise a daily, weekly and monthly content plan and schedule this into your calendar for posting. Consistent sharing increases your visibility and lets your followers know that you have a lot to offer them.

Times Of Publications

Use social media managing tools such as Hootsuite to schedule the timely release of your posts across all of your social media platforms. Identify any upcoming holidays or events in your calendar and schedule your Instagram posts in advance to manage your workflow.

Depending on which tool you use, some have additional capabilities such as being able to identify trending topics and offer insights into how your posts are performing. This allows you to stay on top of what is popular with your followers.

Who Are Other Accounts Following?

Instagram is a social media platform so take note of travel trends and identify popular and influential figures in your industry to remain relevant and promote your brand.

Take a look at the accounts that other travel businesses in your niche are following, and asses which ones are doing well and why. Follow them to see how to get more Instagram followers, and interact with them to promote your own visibility.

Sponsored Adverts On Instagram

Instagram for business accounts has its own version of sponsored adverts that you can use to promote your travel company and get more Instagram followers. There are several formats that you can use for your adverts – photo, video, carousel ads, and stories ads.

Each of them drives visibility for your travel brand on the platform and you can choose how long or frequently your ad campaign runs for depending on your budget.

Measure The Effectiveness Of Your Campaigns

Instagram offers an Ads Manager tool that lets you plan and set your campaigns and track their performance either from your desktop or mobile device.

Create competitions or promotions on your Instagram account and ask your followers to quote a promo code when making their booking or claiming their prize. This will allow you to track the success of your campaign as you will see how often your promo code is hashtagged and shared.

Using insights such as these will help you to track what is working on your Instagram account and help you to improve and adjust your offering for future campaigns

Summary

With a bit of time, effort, and insight into how to get more Instagram followers, this open and interactive visual social media platform really can be an ideal marketing tool for travel companies to use to promote their business.

The key takeaway for travel companies on the platform is to build a following and be an online presence who interacts with followers and curates amazing content. This adds value for your followers and will establish your brand as one worth following.

Use the Instagram platform along with the other social media giants and travel marketplaces to promote your travel business online. Check our free resources for other marketing tips and guides to promote your travel business.

About the author

Keri Pfeiffer

Keri Pfeiffer has been in the travel industry for 4+ years working as the Head of Account Management for WeTravel. She has consulted with hundreds of businesses to scale up their operations using technology. Additionally, she is a certified yoga teacher & has traveled to more than 55 countries as a digital nomad.

Travel agency on Instagram: how to promote

The presence of a travel agency online is only the first step towards the development of an online business, and promotion in social networks plays a significant role in this. Today we’ll talk about how to properly maintain an account on Instagram and what to look for.

Formation of a promotion strategy

A promotion strategy in social networks can only be based on a complete understanding of the brand's global mission, its values and priorities. Make sure this question is closed for your company.

Next, the brand must determine why it needs to be on Instagram. Perhaps the main goal is to increase sales, or maybe increase and / or expand the target audience. The goal will dictate a certain pool of tasks and tools that will help to implement these tasks.

The next step is to study the target audience. If a company develops a high-quality promotion strategy but directs it to the wrong consumer group, the result will not meet expectations and will not pay off the invested resources.

Companies need to clearly define the target audience and create a consumer profile. It is important to take into account the needs, desires and interests of the audience.

Finally, the brand needs to analyze the environment on Instagram - to study the social networks of competitors, to identify their advantages and disadvantages, and the uniqueness of their selling proposition. After that, it is necessary to form your own USP, based on internal (mission and values of the company) and external (competitor analysis) factors.

What to look for

For several years now, the main task of Instagram accounts is not to collect likes, but to engage the consumer. There was a need to build gamified content. In other words, brands need to make posts that the consumer can respond to.

Engage your followers in communication

Modern Instagram tools allow you to create interactive content, especially in stories. You can create stories with quizzes, polls, emoji sliders, and so on.

These tools not only help keep you engaged, but also collect feedback. For example, using a survey or a free response window, subscribers can tell what the account lacks or what offers they find particularly useful and interesting.

Gamified content helps not only keep subscribers engaged, but also collect feedback.

Share useful and interesting content

In addition to entertainment, users can use Instagram to learn something useful. In this case, you can publish posts with tips or entertaining information. Practice shows that an Instagram account containing only direct sales will never be able to hold the attention of consumers.

Be diversified and look for new topics

You should think about what will be in your account, in addition to offers for tours. If you provide additional services (for example, visa processing), dedicate a post to them. If you know everything about excursions in some city, then tell us about them. If in personal communication you tell a tourist which beach is better to relax with children, then tell your subscribers about it. Get them hooked on your Instagram.

Develop a visual style

Do not forget that Instagram is primarily a visual social network. The quality of photo content plays one of the key roles here. Companies should stick to a consistent look, preferably in the brand's color palette.

The gallery should catch the eye, cause a desire to take a closer look at the pictures and captions - this will distinguish the account from competitors and increase page traffic.

The company should develop a unified visual style for the account in order to stand out from competitors and attract the attention of users.

Get ready to chat

Instagram is a live social network where communication with people plays a paramount role. Interaction with subscribers should be carried out not only through gamified content, but also in comments - through personal messages in direct, under posts. The question can be asked everywhere, and you should be ready to answer it.

Be mindful of periodicity

A content plan and deferred posting services will partially help with regular posting. If you have content ready for the week, posts are planned, you can safely deal with texts and pictures for subsequent publications.

However, creating stories, processing comments, and incoming requests will take time during the day, so think about who among the employees can devote at least half an hour to an hour per day to the account.

What promotion methods exist

All promotion methods can be divided into three main groups.

Free

The most pleasant for the brand, because they do not require costs. Among the free tools, hashtags stand out in particular. It is necessary to decide which tags are close in subject matter and field of activity, as well-chosen tags will be able to attract the target audience to the publication.

Easier account navigation

Even if you use photo captions (posts containing text on photos), finding the right post can take a lot of time. Add special hashtags for each category. For example, #*name of travel agency*_beaches. Fix a list of existing hashtags in highlights and make it easier for subscribers to navigate through your account.

Another tool is geolocation. Many users specify the location when uploading a photo. Most likely, the user will look for a travel agency in the city of residence. Geotags will present the brand on the location search page.

Add special hashtags corresponding to each category and make it easier for subscribers to navigate through your account.

Collaborations

Collaborations can be a relatively free method of brand promotion (for example, if you agree on mutually beneficial terms), but requires careful selection of a partner. Among the tools are joint live broadcasts, contests with companies, experts and bloggers. The main condition is that the partner must be connected with the target audience of the brand.

Paid advertising

Paid advertising is, of course, much more effective than free advertising. The quality and cost of promotion depend on which method you choose. One of the most effective is targeting. The main characteristic of targeted advertising on Instagram is the ability to select the audience for displaying messages.

Also, among the tools of paid advertising, one can distinguish advertising from bloggers and in public.

Be patient

"Gray" methods of promotion have long been recognized by the social network as spam and are immediately blocked. The company will not be able to buy regular and engaged subscribers in one day. For these purposes, the brand needs to think over a marketing strategy on Instagram.

Those who are going to sell travel should not neglect such a powerful tool as Instagram. Using promotion tools will help attract the target audience, and a unified visual style, regular posting, competent targeting and interesting partnerships can ensure stable growth of the account even with a small budget.

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Travel agency promotion on Instagram: instructions for promotion

Instagram, like no other platform, is better suited for promoting the tourism business. Because travel and recreation is, first of all, a beautiful picture. Beach, mountains, beautiful hotel rooms. This is what attracts a person planning a summer vacation.

Yes, competition is unavoidable and we need not only a beautiful visual, but also attractive conditions, especially prices.

Program for promotion on Instagram - SocialKit:

Collecting and filtering the target audience
Masslooking, massfollowing, massliking
Delayed posting of photos, videos and stories
Mailing in Direct, autoresponder

Registration >>>

That is why it is important to competently approach the promotion of travel agencies and tours on Instagram. They are about this, and will be discussed in our today's article.

Travel agency promotion strategy

Seasonality

The main factor to consider when promoting a travel agency is seasonality. Depending on the directions you work with, peak periods and decline times may be different. Figuratively speaking, if your specificity is the mountains of Austria, then you should not expect high sales in summer. During the summer holidays, the demand for seaside resorts is expectedly higher.

At the same time, it is possible to identify the main time periods when the demand for the services of travel agencies is growing:

summer;
New Year;
May holidays.

Preparations for these periods must be made in advance. The main thing is to have time to process the entire flow of incoming applications and requests for rest.

During the off-season, you need to learn how to work with low demand and attract customers with delicious offers, last-minute tours and more.

How to promote tours on Instagram

Basic rules for registering a travel company account

Login. We write the short name of the company in Latin. For example, oasis_tur. Accordingly, if your company is represented in several cities, write the city.
Avatar. The company logo can be used as an avatar. In this case, you need to use a well-recognized element. If your logo is a long inscription, then it will either be cut off or will be unreadable as an avatar.
Title. Specify the name and priority direction. For example, OASIS TOUR: Egypt, Turkey
A section about yourself or profile description. Carefully think over the text about yourself and what is better to write here to increase sales. The main thing is to divide the text block into small sections using emoji. So it will be much easier to perceive information. You can duplicate the phone number and write a call to action if there is room.
Contacts. To use contacts, don't forget to switch to a business profile. And in the settings, specify the phone and mail for communication.
Actual stories. Immediately create a section of pinned stories and put there the answers that customers most often have. Prices for tours, reviews, what is included and more. Keep the information in this section up to date.

Next, we move on to filling the account with content and promotion.

We create unique content

The key to success on Instagram is unique content. It is best to post your photos and videos from various tours. You can also use user-generated content, but only by prior agreement with the client. It is these publications that will be most effective.

Don't use formulaic content, such as standard ad copy saying "We have the best prices" or "We are professionals with 10 years of experience." Interest in such publications will quickly dry up, and as a result, you will lose an active audience - those who read and comment.

Design of posts

It is better to make pictures square. This will eliminate the risk of cutting off an important part of the image.

Captions can be placed directly on pictures in the gallery. But you need to make sure that the text remains readable. To do this, make plain contrasting substrates under the inscriptions. But at the same time, do not place too much information on the pictures. Write only the country, the number of days and the price. The rest is indicated in the description under the photo.

Under each post we write Contacts - not only a phone number, but also other ways to contact you. Many users prefer chats/emails to talking on the phone. This is convenient - at any time you can refresh the correspondence in your memory, no money is spent on a call, everything is "quiet and without unnecessary noise" if colleagues are nearby.

Add hashtags, they still work. In each post, you can write 30 hashtags and this opportunity must be used. People search by hashtags, for example, Italy. They see photos with Italy and an attractive price offer in the feed and click to find out the details. It is best to write hashtags in the first comment under the post. That is, in the description of the picture we write only about the tour and contacts, and the hashtags are already indicated in the comments below.

Ideas for posts and stories to sell tours

Choosing the right topics for posts is important for a successful Instagram campaign. We bring to your attention 8 win-win ideas for posts.

Hot tours.

Recommendation of hotels and other places where you can stay for a holiday. It can be divided into budget and elite.
Posts with typical or original food from different countries - the topic of food is very popular on Instagram.
Original quotes and expressions about vacation.
Thematic collections of tours by country, region or season.

Working days of the company. For example, employees at work, on vacation, at an exhibition, etc. This gives the account a personal touch, makes it closer and more alive, and increases the credibility of the company.
Thematic photos. For example, sea, beach, yacht and so on.
When the audience expands, feedback - a dialogue with customers - will be a good idea. Ask subscribers questions, give them the opportunity to chat with each other.

For example, do they bring shells from the sea or how old were they when they first went to the sea. It is better to write the question directly on the photo on the substrate.

Methods for promoting an account and attracting followers for a travel company

Masslooking

One of the latest promotion trends on Instagram is mass viewing of stories. The scheme of work is simple, set up masslooking in the SocialKit program and launch it on your target audience.

People see that someone is interested in their story and can show mutual interest. As a result, they will go to your account and see the information with your offer.

Tracking messages

Remember, in the section about seasonality, we wrote that during the peak period of demand, the main thing is to have time to answer everyone. But how to do it on Instagram, where there are no convenient notifications and you need to constantly switch between accounts?

Very simple. With the help of the SocialKit.Online online service. In it, you can add the required number of accounts for tracking messages, as well as set up work with Direct via PC.

Mass following

Recently, this tool has become more and more difficult to use.