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When it comes to marketing tourism, what better way to promote your destination than to have amazing photos! A picture often times can tell the whole story. Now, I know, sometimes a great caption may lead to further engagement but, man, a photo can really draw someone in.
And we know that with trying to engage and capture attention, especially when it comes to social media, we literally have just seconds – often less than that to get a reaction.
We’re all familiar with the app Instagram. It’s one of the most popular forms of sharing photos socially right now. Yet so many DMOs and tourism entities that we come across are not effectively using this platform. There really is no reason that this humble app shouldn’t be part of your tourism marketing plan.
Don’t be scared – it really is a pretty straightforward platform. Here are a few tips to make Instagram work for you:
- Crowdsource your photos.
Create a social media strategy that enables your fans to act as your marketers. - Pay attention to hashtags.
Instagram has a variety of common hashtags that encourage sharing among users. One of the most popular, by far, is #tbt or #throwbackthursday where users post older photos on Thursdays.Use of this hashtag can be a great marketing tool to reflect on the nostalgia of a different time – especially since so many people have vivid travel memories. There’s plenty of other trendy hashtags too so just keep an eye on what your community is using. Here’s just a few ideas of what you could look to incorporate into your plan. - Share pics of things make your destination unique!
Everything can’t be photos of sunsets or beaches. And those won’t necessarily help your brand or destination stand out in the crowd. - Educate your audience.
Instagram isn’t just about gathering likes and follows. Like all social media platforms, the ultimate goal is to grow your audience and generate more traffic.Sharing beautiful images is a great way to showcase your destination and inspire future visitors, but it’s also important to help nudge them to think about traveling to your destination. One way you can help this process is by focusing on educating your audiences with key pieces of information.Rather than share a photo of a lake with only its name and location, mention a unique fact about it. Maybe it’s great for fishing or swimming. Maybe it hosts an annual festival. Maybe it’s a hidden gem that most visitors would be surprised to learn is easily accessed from a nearby city.
So, if you are not currently on Instagram, consider creating an account. It’s a lot of fun and you’ll see that travelers will be engaged – that is if you’re photos help lure them in!