Instagram is one of the most preferred social media platforms for people from different walks of life. It is also the place where brands engage with their existing and potential audience.
If you are in the travel industry, Instagram offers a great platform to market your brand. It is the perfect place to pursue travel marketing. The visual platform allows you to showcase exotic places, scenic attractions, hotels, markets, and more from your perspective.
As people use Instagram to discover more of the beautiful destinations from around the world, you can leverage the platform to get yourself noticed and promote your products and services to your target audience.
If you won a travel related business and looking for better ways to promote your business. Here are some tips for making Instagram work for your travel business:
Share Crisp Travel Content
Travel companies should focus on creating highly visual content. It should come with high resolution imagery to get your audience to pack their suitcases and book their tickets. Inspiring and beautiful images from professional photographers is required. They should appear as authentic as possible.
It is important that content should be diverse; pretty images of mountains can become boring after some time. So, remember to mix it up with inspirational quotes and keep juggling it with content that reflects your brand identity.
Create a Social Media Calendar
At a certain time of the year, you would want to focus on a certain type of content that focuses on achieving your content marketing goals. As a travel company, you might want to focus on breaks in spring and autumn, beach destinations during summer, and winter breaks during winter. By having a social media calendar and taking note of the holidays, festivals and events, you can ensure that your content is relevant and is thus more likely to engage your audience.
Having a Unique Brand Identity
You need to create a strong brand identity, which is a mix of the fonts, colors, and assets that perfectly match your brand’s tone. By having a clear concept in your mind, you will need to bring in the same visual style in all the posts you make. Your business needs to achieve a distinct visual presentation in order to make your presence felt in front of the audience.
Use Relevant Hashtags Related to Your Brand
A good way to become a recognizable brand is to create a hashtag for your company. It can be your name or experience. It can even be a word to help you make it memorable. These hashtags can be used to host giveaways and start competitions.
Hashtags offer the advantage to connect with your audience. They can also be a great way to collect user-generated content which you can share on your profile. Some of the popular travel hashtags include #travelgram, #travelphotography, #traveltheworld etc.
Create a Well-curated Feed
When it comes to travel, you need to leverage visual content properly. The photos and videos need to speak for your brand and play an essential role in attracting customers.
So, it is important to fine-tune your content. Use high-quality images, videos, and proper photo editing with the aim to attract an audience. Instagram offers filters and themes to help you add a voice to your brand.
Instagram as a Guide for Your Audience
Use Instagram photos and videos to educate your audience about hotels, homestays, and destinations worldwide. Complement the visuals with informative captions to guide your audience. Keep them hooked to your brand with interesting information. The more relevant and fresh your content is, the easier it will be to engage your audience.
You can experiment with different formats and features on Instagram, apart from sharing captivating photos. You can also use Instagram Stories, Live, and Reels to give your audience a tour of various destinations.
Collaborate with Instagram Influencers
Influencer marketing can work wonders. It can help in generating engagement and has the power to impact people’s choices. Whether it is an experience or a destination, you can rely on influencers to create impactful content. As influencers are also content creators, you can rely on them to convey your message to the target audience.
Run User-generated Content Campaigns
You can create an authentic experience using user-generated content(UGC). Featuring UGC from tagged photos can be great. However, do not forget to give due credit to the photographer. UGC helps establish a sense of trust among the audience and makes your brand look authentic. You can also create branded hashtag campaigns and ask your audience to share content related to the hashtag.
Monitor Analytics
You need to measure how your posts are working and how effectively your campaign is running. To do so, you can analyze your posts using a proper social media analytics tool. It will help you uncover important insights about your posts and help you track overall engagement. At the same time, it will allow you to dig deeper and conduct story-wise analytics.
Run Virtual Tours
IGTV offers you long-form vertical video to communicate your message to your followers and grow your audience. Unlike stories, IGTV videos can last up to hours for you to run virtual tours of a place. They present an opportunity to showcase your offerings and present a more polished product. The key to maximizing your potential as a brand is to curate more engaging and appropriate long-form content. This includes extended guides, travel tips, and videos focused upon local cuisine.
Conclusion
The companies which succeed on Instagram understand that it is much more than just posting postcard images. It is all about leveraging the platform to inspire those who are scrolling through Instagram looking for a getaway. As you look to sell a dream, make sure that Instagram is an integral part of your online strategy. Focus on creative immersive content to help travellers discover new and exciting destinations.
