How the travel industry uses Instagram to maximize engagement and drive website visitors

How the travel industry uses Instagram to maximize engagement and drive website visitors

REPORT PERIOD: MAY 01 - JUL 31, 2016

Hawaii, Michigan, New York, Florida, California, Colorado, Texas and Georgia. What are these DMOs doing to maximize the impact of their social media properties? This report covers it.

10 Oct 2016

ZuumSocial.com

http://zuumsocial.com/?utm_source=elearningu&utm_medium=pdf&utm_content=instagram&utm_campaign=webinar

OutlineInstagram is exploding. Projected 15% growth this year, compared to 3% for social media overall. In hitting 400 million users, it just surpassed Twitter and is growing faster than Facebook did after 5 years. For many brands, Instagram is now their 2nd most important network. For the travel industry -- which relies heavily on beautiful imagery of unique places -- the impact of Instagram is even greater. So let’s take a closer look at the activities, and what brands are doing to drive engagement and site visitors.


1. Industry benchmarksa. Fan growth, posting volume,

engagement rates and levels.2. Top posting themes

a. Leading topics used by industry overall, as well as top brands.

3. Top campaigns and posts a. Breakdown of top content with

performance overview, posting calendars, and key topics.

4. Driving website traffica. Challenges and solutions.

5. Summary of Trends

Industry Benchmarks


Leaderboard comparisons of all brands across a series of benchmark metrics

Global Fan Leaderboard

Instagram is the second largest network based on average number of fans per account. Top Instagram account PureMichigan has more followers than 2 of the Facebook accounts.Facebook is by far the leading network for fans and followers.


Global Fan Growth Rate Leaderboard

This is one of the big stories behind Instagram: It’s continuing rapid growth. Average Instagram follower growth for this group of brands is 20%, while only 2.4% for Facebook, and 6.3% for Twitter. No Instagram account is below 7% fan growth for these three months.Peak is I Love NY, at over 37%.


Global Engagements Leaderboard

Combine the rapid fan growth on the previous slide with this level of engagement and you can see why marketers are excited about Instagram.7 of the 8 states featured have more engagement on Instagram than on Facebook.That’s despite the average Facebook page having over 5 times the fan count as the average Instagram page.


Global Posts Leaderboard

Instagram posting volume is rivaling that of Facebook.Twitter is still the ‘high volume’ network in this industry. Average of around 40 posts per month. 1.3 times per day.


Instagram Leaderboard - 2016

Pure Michigan has gained more new followers during this period than I Love NY has total followers. There’s a wide range in posting volumes and follower count, while the engagement/fans ratio is fairly consistent between 1.8% and 3.5%.


Instagram Leaderboard - 2015

Year over year change in account averages

Followers: +122%

New Fans: +53%

Follower Growth Rate: -43%

Posting Volume: +11%

Total Engagements: +41%


Video on InstagramFor this reporting period of May - July 2016, we’re not seeing large amounts of video on Instagram. Only 40 of 927 posts, which is just over 4%.Of course, video typically has higher production costs, which will naturally hamper its use. Colorado, on the other hand, posted 19 videos over these three months. Far more than any other brand -- over 8% of their total posting volume.


All Brands

Colorado

Top Posting Themes


Comparison of the most common topics the brands are posting

Top Themes - All BrandsShowing topics mentioned at least 10 times by all brands in this analysis. Hashtags often represent campaigns. #ColoradoGram and #PureMichiganLakeEffect are examples of posts based on a common theme. Many brands will have a universal hashtag, as well. One applied to virtually every post, as with #TexasTodo and #ExploreGeorgia. Here, hashtags are used as a type of brand tagline.Topics, hashtags and URLs are good identifiers for analyzing your competitor’s activities.


Top Themes - HawaiiProminently featuring photographer Pete Halvorsen, a leading travel photographer, is a good way to generate high quality content.Beyond that, there’s a lack of hashtag use, which indicates there could be more campaign opportunities.Campaign themes tend to work for brands by building up a familiarity and sense of expectation among readers. They also help keep a brand’s messaging along strategic themes.


Top Themes - MichiganCompared to Hawaii, Pure Michigan is posting a broader range of topics. Part of this is due to a higher posting volume. However, the use of hashtags communicates the nature of different posts, and gives the user an easy way to access more of the same. Here, PureMichigan uses hashtags to introduce new destinations (#findyourpark), announce activities (#michigangolfmonth), and identify community-generated content (#photooftheday).


Top Campaigns


Four of the more strategically interesting campaigns by these brands

New York’s #WaterfallWednesday

#WaterfallWednesday is a clever way to draw attention to a beautiful and distinct feature of the state. It’s a fresh take on the Day of Week theme, a common but effective approach.


Day of Week posting generates a recurring theme. Something the audience can enjoy and ideally look forward to.


New York’s #WaterfallWednesday

Michigan’s #findyourpark

Highlights various state treasures with a sense of discovery. The posts demonstrate the campaign’s capacity for establishing an identity for the different state parks. Note how the images are in both portrait and landscape orientations. Instagram moved outside the square format in August 2015.


Michigan’s #findyourpark

Not enormous posting volume (6), and seems like they could get more out of the direction.The Related Terms word cloud chart features the campaign’s leading topics.


New York’s ISpyNY

A photo contest.User generated content creates a stronger sense of community, and also provides an ongoing stream of nice images.Periodically in posts, they mention the contest and how to compete.


New York’s ISpyNY

This is a recurring theme posted like clockwork every week. Creates a consistent content calendar slot and the weekly contest is something followers can participate in and look forward to.


Hawaii’s “PeteHalvorsen”

An Account Takeover. Handed Instagram account over to a professional photographer.Opportunity to generate appealing images that give a new angle on a destination besides natural beauty.Brings a more culturally rich sensibility.


3 day posting spree generated a lot of content in a short period of time. Every account post during the 3 days was from Pete.


Hawaii’s “PeteHalvorsen”

Post Types


Categorizations of the different posting tactics taken by these brands

Individual Recognition

Recognize and acknowledge top influencers, key employees and community members.


Photo Contest

Common tactic, but suits this industry and social platform extremely well.


Day of Week

Creates a recurring theme. Something the audience can enjoy and ideally look forward to. Also provides structure to a content calendar.


Poll

Often used casually, but can be used for gaining insights and preferences.


Quiz

Nice how once the question is answered (theoretically ending the discussion), the conversation shoots off into different directions.


Account Takeover

Most commonly used with photographers and celebrities.


Awards

Builds local pride and boosts team morale.


Destination

Building awareness of lesser known destinations adds depth and diversity.


Seasonal

Identifying the image as last year’s event makes it more specific and relatable.


Sunset

It needs its own category.


Driving Website Traffic


Some of the leading tactics being used

Paste link into post

Currently not possible to insert clickable links in an Instagram post.Can paste in URLs, like the post to the left. However, they won’t be clickable or selectable.So keep URLs to a manageable length.


Profile link to website

Can include a link on the account home page.


Profile link forwarding

Post references the link in the brand’s profile. That link is specific to the post topic, and directs to the right URL. Good way to add more direct action capabilities to a post. URL can be changed with each post, daily, weekly, or with campaigns.


Referencing website content

Used for referencing off-Instagram destinations. Users then access the content via direct link to website, or search.


Posts about promos, sales and offers

Most brands aren’t approaching Instagram as a direct response platform.Instagram is not set up for linking, and it’s a key part of the site experience.


It’s pay-to-play if you want direct links

Instagram paid advertising does offer a clickable link which can be used to drive visitors to specific actions.


Summary

❖ Instagram continues to provide strong levels of growth and engagement.

❖ Video is not used to a large degree. Opportunity for content distinction.

❖ Hashtags can provide impact and clarity to your messaging. They’re also good for analyzing competitor activities.

❖ Instagram is more of a branding and engagement platform than direct response. That should drive how brands approach their content.


How the travel industry uses Instagram to maximize engagement and drive website visitorsThis Google Slide is downloadable in either PDF or PPT.

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How the travel industry uses Instagram to maximize engagement and drive website visitors

Data & Analytics

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