3 Ways for Travel Agents to Boost Their Instagram Presence

Idyllic vistas, Pinterest-worthy vacay snaps and destination inspiration for days: You’re posting it all on your travel agent Instagram account, but for some reason engagement is still low and sales are not where you want them to be.

If you’re feeling stranded with your Instagram reach and presence right now, you’re exactly where you need to be! I’m going to give you my top three tried-and-tested strategies, helping you reconnect with your audience and progress the whimsy and wanderlust into beautiful bookings.

Contents

Behind The Scenes Updates

Show The Human Behind The Account

Be A ‘Realfluencer’

Takeaways

Useful Resources

1. Behind The Scenes Updates

People are inherently nosy, and any snapshot of what’s happening beneath the shiny blue surface of your Instagram seas will go down a treat.

Sharing posts that go deeper than just showcasing destinations helps your audience to see that you’re actively working and know what you’re talking about – important factors to build that trust.

Without trust, there’s no booking – you wouldn’t want to let a stranger plan your holidays either! Here are some ideas to get the tide turning:

• Share itineraries and bookings you’re currently working on. Without giving away any sensitive or personal information about your clients, you could talk about what you’re planning for them in terms of where they’re going, which hotels you’re looking into, and how you build out their itinerary.

• Recent bookings – do you have excited customers whose holidays are firmly in the diary? Share some of their plans to inspire others.

• Offers that have recently landed are always a quick win for attracting your customers’ attention. Showcase a hotel or company with an amazing deal you can book for them, and make it totally irresistible.

• Your workspace. Even if it’s not picture-perfect or Instagram-aesthetic, people want to see where the travel magic happens! This could be as small as where you’re working from right now, whether that’s snuggled up on the sofa or by a rooftop pool somewhere.

• A day in the life is a clever way to integrate what you’re doing on a daily basis while subtly selling at the same time, bringing your audience into your world and giving them more information about the process and what they can expect when they work with you.

2. Show The Human Behind The Account

   
   

Faceless marketing accounts definitely made a splash when they suddenly came onto the scene, but as a travel marketing pro, I’m going to tell you the truth…this doesn’t work for most travel agent Instagram accounts! In a digital-dominant world, showing your human side is so important – you are your own YOUnique selling point, so don’t forget to connect, connect, connect!

• Talk about trends and experiences in a reel video. It doesn’t need to be fancy or polished; it just needs to show you and what you think so people can decide whether they resonate or not.

• Share what you love about what you do.

• Reintroduce yourself for anyone who has newly followed you.

• Talk about how you got into travel agency work and share your business journey up until now

• Reveal your interests – outside of travel too!

• Motivate your community by sharing inspiration and quotes you love about travel. Everyone loves a quote, and they’re super shareable too, which puts you in Instagram’s good books.

3. Be A ‘Realfluencer’

As a travel agent, you might be jetting off on FAM trips or unforgettable adventures of your own. Don’t forget to think like a travel influencer, documenting, vlogging and blogging your trips and inspiring your travel community.

You don’t need to seek out the most Instagram-worthy spots and queue up for those iconic photos (cough cough, Bali swing, cough cough); just show what you’re really getting up to. Sometimes the attainable, realistic vibes are more powerful than the curated ones!

In a coconut shell…

Don’t be afraid to show the real you! People want to connect with you and experience the same person online and when they speak to you in real life.

Mix up your destination spotlights and promotional content with posts that show your human side. Picture-perfect is not the goal.

Always share with a purpose. Think about why you’re sharing something, e.g., because you want an enquiry from it or just because you want people to know you better.

Aloha Resources:

It’s never too late to dive in and bring something new to the way you market your travel agency on Instagram.

Download my free e-guide (with a cheeky freebie!) for all the key trends shaping the travel industry this year, plus a marketing workbook to help you plan your own strategy with none of the overwhelm. Grab yours for £4.99 here.

Want to join your very own little travel agents’ community? Join my So-Shell Tribe.

Happy Posting!