The travel and tourism industry is cut out for all those who are users of the social media platform Instagram. To excel in the current climate of the travel sector, one must be sufficiently able to muster an Instagram marketing checklist. This is because, in recent times, the power of social media platforms like Instagram has taken over the space of popular curiosity.
If we think about it, we will understand how travellers visualise a place before venturing over there. This is where Instagram steps in by allowing people to have a great idea of a destination prior to the actual journey. Be it azure skies or snow white snow, the striking pictures one gets to see on Instagram gives us a taste of things to come.
The power of Instagram over the current crop of young travellers can be gauged from a handful of surveys undertaken by various outfits. One of them states that almost 70 percent of the population falling within the bracket of 18 and 34, choose a holiday destination based solely on its ‘Instagrammability’. In other words, the young generation looks for places where they can click fantastic photographs to be posted on social media platforms such as Instagram and Facebook.
With more than one billion active monthly users, Instagram has most certainly become a game-changer in the travel industry. Used variously as a day-to-day companion, a scrapbook of sorts, a photo album, and at other times as a mood-enhancing board, Instagram has surely become an integral part of a large chunk of the populace. So it goes without saying that if you happen to be associated with the travel sector, you will do good by paying heed to its grasp over the public imagination.
In this Pathfndr article, you will read about five pointers to fill up an Instagram marketing checklist for the travel and tourism industry. Even though this list is not non-exhaustive, you will do good by going through them diligently. You never know which point gives you a chance to improve and upgrade your travel operating business.
Use the Power of Social Media Influencers to Your Advantage
Social media influencers hold great sway in the public discourse platform these days. If you can rope in a handful of them to your cause, you will see your business reaching new heights in no time. Instagram stars having millions of followers can not just raise your portfolio over the internet, they can also manage to connect you to a host of fresh clients.
By generating more likes and posts of travel content related to your travel business, Instagram influencers could spread the word about your travel agency far and wide quite fast. Instagram celebrities themselves have a large fan base. And if they are brought in to work for you, the results could be highly profitable for your travel business. From your end, you can rope in the internet’s favourite Instagrammers to reach out to a wider audience.
Suppose you are on the verge of coming out with a new promotional tool and want to invest carefully in its resounding success. By inviting an Instagram influencer, you will be better equipped to promote the same exclusive travel content. Be it the recommendation of a unique travel experience – culture tours, rock climbing, scuba diving, bungee jumping, and the like, with the active involvement of a travel influencer, your effort will more likely see the light of day.
The Instagram influencer will simply post and repost the information you have created on your behalf, and expose your business ideas to a much broader audience. So, take the useful step and commission a widely known Instagram influencer to promote the work that you are doing for the growth of your travel company.
To give you a better picture of how this is done, let us take the case of travel agency cum metasearch engine Skyscanner. This Scotland-based travel company periodically invites social media influencers to lead campaigns on their behalf. This has world wonders for Skyscanner which has seen a jump in its number of users. Once a real person, in this case, the Instagram influencer, posts stellar images of places anyone would love to visit, netizens get a more authentic feel about the whole endeavour.
Consistently Share Diverse Travel Content
In order to stay ahead of the curve, travel agency owners should prioritise posting high-quality travel content on their online portals on a regular basis. They should also make it a point to keep a large part of that content visual. Impeccable high-resolution photos can work like magnets in pulling potential clients onto your travel site.
If you can manage to hire professional photographers to capture inspiring pictures of all the places that your company covers, then the chances of an increase in traffic to your travel portal always remain high. As long as the content that you are constantly uploading for the viewership of your customers looks motley and variegated, you will be able to hold on to the interest of people’s attention. Along with striking pictures, ensure that the content has room for the reflection of your travel agency’s identity and values.
Since your travel content will showcase your individuality to the whole world, take the time to make sure the beautiful shots fit the image of your brand. Always emphasise the aspects that make the travel agency that you run unique in every way. Take the help of useful and relevant hashtags, and motivate your followers to make use of the same.
Popular brands such as Airbnb, Lonely Planet, and Royal Caribbean International incessantly invest time and resources to promote the feel-good factor of travelling through the storytelling capacity of photographs.
Tap into the Potential of Instagram Stories
Most of us are aware that it is rather common to promote travel content via Instagram posts. However, to generate something that is even more authentic and real, you have to consider tapping into the potential of Instagram Stories.
Arguably the most loved feature of Instagram, Insta Stories gives one the occasion to both attain brand awareness and give a glimpse to clients of what it is that you are extending out to them. Insta stories can either be 15 seconds in length, or they could be almost an hour long.
Make Use of Instagram Video
The next point in our compilation of the Instagram marketing checklist concerns the smart usage of Instagram Video. Instagram Video, which was launched in 2018 as ‘IGTV’, happens to be a long-form vertical video platform that aids a travel agency to better liaise your message to the followers on your Insta account.
This ultimately allows you to grow your brand and number of Insta followers. What works to the advantage of Instagram Video is that you can put up videos that are up to one hour long using the same medium. The extended video lengths will give you enough scope to show people what your services are all about. What works in favour of Instagram Video is that it can be easily accessed from the standard Insta application.
Maintain a Social Media Calendar
As the head of your travel agency, you would want to change your strategy for the travel content you are producing from time to time. In other words, you would want to concentrate on decking up tour packages specific to particular times of the year, such as a ‘winter getaway tour’ during the months of December and January.
Likewise, your company may offer a great ‘Beach Trip’ package during the summer months, and so on and so forth. Under these circumstances, it will serve the company really well if you keep a social media calendar. You will be required to consistently take note of the sporting events, bank holidays, and miscellaneous fairs and festivals, and build your content accordingly.
If you look ahead with your content creation well in advance, it will result in a higher quality of content. This will be the case mainly because of the extra time and proper planning that you would be able to put into your work.
Instagram Marketing Checklist: Rounding Up
All those travel agencies out there which are successfully employing social media marketing to take their business forward know that it is not just about posting exceptional pictures on Instagram. It takes more than simply putting up spectacular photos on your travel company’s Instagram page to inspire would-be clients. It is more about the art of storytelling that actually hooks an online browser to your content.
You have to know how to sell a dream to a client by instilling in your travel content traits of a higher order. You can reach this level of expertise only by making social media marketing an indispensable constituent part of your overall digital strategy. Once you master the art of creating awe-inspiring travel content on a hugely popular social media platform such as Instagram, you will notice yourself transforming into a commanding voice in the space of online travel marketing.
Now that you have finished reading this blog on the ‘Instagram marketing checklist’, feel free to keep exploring travel-related topics on the Pathfndr website. You may also take a shot at using Pathfndr’s revolutionary AI-powered travel operating system to take your travel business to the next level.