Instagram in Tourism Marketing

Photography and travel are old partners in crime. Photography plays main role in tourism promotion on one hand while on the other camera is the key weapon of modern tourist, even if only at the time of travel (and probably birthdays).

Social media channels, especially Instagram, are enhancing this natural alliance but also changing its very nature. People are turning to social media influencers of all kinds and to their real and social media friends for inspiration, recommendations and real experiences regarding travel destinations. Official communication and expensive catalogue photos which mainly portrait dreamlike destinations and hotel rooms can be a source of disappointment while a real life experience of a friend is much more realistic inspiration.

The very same situation at the same time offers huge opportunities for tourism industry, especially for destination marketing. Putting a destination on the map and on the wish list of a potential visitor was never easier, using social media channels and user generated content.

Instagram has 500.000.000 users and more than 60% of them log-in daily. It is equally spread among all income groups and has 7 times higher interaction rate than any other social media channel. People are using hashtag search to find new destinations and are actively tagging friends on posts which inspire them or represent a part of their memories. Even more, a lot of users are choosing their next travel destinations according to what would they be able to post from there.

Selfies in the front of tourist attractions are probably still leading the way but there is also a huge portion of people who are looking for new vistas, different perspectives, abandoned urban parts and are willing to travel all day round just to collect a good amount of potential posts. Good photo opportunity lies everywhere.

Everybody who wants to seize these new opportunities for promotion must take into account the wholeness of the changing environment. Instagram is not just another channel to post the same stuff. Photos of good quality are the necessity even if they are user generated. A lot of specific work should be undertaken and specific rules of the platform and of the functioning of the community taken into account to build a successful campaign.

@igslovenia is operating for four years now in this environment and the team has learned a lot. Our vast experiences from marketing, media, advertising and other social media channels are excellent ground to build on. We have been watching the development of the Instagram influencers and building a very strong community of Slovenia lovers, organising instameets and participating in them, observing behaviour of the users and the best practices of the profiles. With 41K+ followers and close to 250.000 tagged photos to #igslovenia hashtag which we established we can help others to understand the environment and develop a sound strategies for their needs and resources available.

In cooperation with Marketing magazin we organise a very special educational event dedicated to the usage of Instagram in tourism and destination marketing. Everything what is needed to know about Instagram, best cases from around the globe, assessment of the situation in Slovenia and developing a strategies for success are going to be the main topics of the seminar given by @igslovenia founders Sanja and Zoran Leban Trojar. There will be also a special guest, an acclaimed landscape photographer Luka Esenko, who is going to talk about photo tourism segment and about his SNAPP Guides, an app for photographers.

Use this opportunity and join us on October 6^th at 10 a.m.. More details about the event!