You absolutely must have an Instagram account if you are in the field of marketing for travel and tourism. In point of fact, sixty percent of young people who travel and use social media are active on Instagram, and forty-eight percent of people who use Instagram use the platform to discover new travel destinations and locations to explore*.
Why Marketing Professionals in the Tourism Industry Need an Instagram Strategy?
Because travel and Instagram have become so closely associated with one another, Instagram has recently introduced new features(Open Link in new window) that give businesses the ability to add “Book” and “Reserve” buttons to their feeds. Look at a picture, and then make travel arrangements all inside the same experience.
Because Instagram is always adding new features, travel companies absolutely need to evolve their content strategies or risk falling behind the competition. Tourism and location-based firms have benefited greatly from the introduction of features like as in-feed booking, carousel multi-image posts, Instagram Stories, swipe up shopping/web links, and strong advertising possibilities. These features give more opportunities to connect with and interact with travellers. Consumers continue to have a voracious desire for visual, which is reinforced by the effect that Instagram has on decision-making.
The Reasons Behind the Creation of This Report
Because Instagram plays such an important role in the social strategies that we develop for our tourism clients, we have conducted an in-depth analysis of the factors that contribute to a tourism brand’s success or failure on Instagram. In our most recent study report, titled “Instagram for Tourism Marketing: How States Are Amping Up Their Marketing,” we will be making public the outcomes of our investigation.
Convince & Convert analysed the Instagram feeds of all 50 states in the United States, as well as the District of Columbia, during the first half of 2018 (January 1–June 30), with the assistance of Crowdriff and the data obtained from Rival IQ (Open Link in new window). We examined every aspect of the Instagram account, from the aesthetics of their posts to the content of their Stories and campaign activations, and everything in between. There was a lot of content for us to analyse, with more than 7,000 posts shared by 49 U.S. states and Washington, D.C. (That’s not a typo; one state still doesn’t use Instagram!), not to mention the usage of Stories, Highlights, and IGTV. We also found that one state still doesn’t use Instagram.
As a result of this study, we were able to identify several benchmarks of excellence as well as chances for tourist firms who want to boost their game on Instagram.
Although the focus of this study was on the marketing of tourism and the Instagram accounts of state tourism offices in the United States, many of the findings and recommendations can be applied to other fields of endeavour as well. The research is helpful for those in the IT industry as well as those in the tourist industry.
How many states are now running promotions that include competitions and freebies, and which state has hosted the most contests overall (the answer may surprise you)?
The seven most important factors that contribute to the popularity of travel-related photos on Instagram
The sort of Instagram photo that gets the most likes and comments – this feature appears in 96% of the photos that get the most likes and comments.
A tried and true method for creating irresistible and compelling Instagram posts for tourism
The following are my top three most interesting takeaways from the article “Instagram for Tourism Marketing: How States Are Amping Up Their Marketing.”
1. User-generated content is at the top of the list of posts with the most engagement.
Out of the top 100 posts that we found to be the most engaging, 92 percent, or 98 out of 100, were user-generated content that was re-published by the state’s account. Wow! Your strategy for promoting tourism should immediately incorporate user-generated content (UGC), if it hasn’t before.
2. The most popular official hashtag for the state of Michigan is #PureMichigan.
Doesn’t it pique your interest to learn more about what makes the Great Lakes region so breathtakingly beautiful?
Only two of the official promoted hashtags do not include the state name or abbreviation. Of the fifty states, all but one have an official, branded hashtag such as #PureMichigan, and of those official promoted hashtags, only two do not include the state name.
3. When it comes to engagement, South Dakota is at the top of the list with a 5.25% engagement rate per post
Mazel! Fans of the state of South Dakota, home to Mount Rushmore, are devoted and engaged, despite the state’s low population density. South Dakota came in first place, beating out Alaska (4.93%), New York (3.04%), and Virginia (2.39%), with an average engagement rate of 5.25% per post.
A Brilliant Instagram Strategy Will Help You See an Increase in Customers, Reservations, and Appointments
These are only a handful of the interesting facts and discoveries that can be found in the study. You can view all of the data you need to optimise your Instagram efforts in 2019 by downloading the whole report right now.
What do you think of the report? Email me.
In the following month, we will talk about how to organise contests on Instagram for tourist purposes. Keep an eye out.