THE UNDENIABLE IMPORTANCE OF INSTAGRAM IN TOURISM MARKETING

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THE UNDENIABLE
IMPORTANCE OF INSTAGRAM IN TOURISM MARKETING





In the year 2013, it was
Instagram - the quirky




social
network sharing photos and videos - that





hit the charts big time. A
report presented by




Simply
Measured showed why Instagram




ma
tters, and since it came out, the number of





marketers taking interest in
Instagram has been




on the rise
dramatically. The fact of the matter is





that, in 2013 alone, nearly 71
percent of the




biggest brands
used Instagram to market their




p
roducts, services, or brands. At present, the





fastest growing social media
site is giving tough
competition to
Pinterest, as well as Google.
Instagr
am is a very important platform for nearly every
kind of marketer, especially for those involved
in
tourism marketing. As the platform
allows marketers to collect content created by
consumers and use
the same for the
purpose of promotion, using it the right way can
bring good news to almost any travel

company.
Authenticity
matters
Visual content has
traditionally formed the base of online tourism
marketing. But, presenting to
consumer
s the same old polished tourism images to promote
a particular destination or hotel is not the

best way to do things anymore. These
days, a marketer needs to be able to sell that
which is authentic,
by using
attractive visual content.
A number
of popular destination marketers, including
VisitBrazil, VisitNorway, and VisitDenmark, have

already recognized the importance of
this trend. They can be found to integrate
Instagram photo
streams into their
sites in prominent ways.
The power of
videos
The Traveler Study of 2014,
conducted by Google, showed the world that online
videos play a critical
role when it
comes to inspiring seasoned travelers with the
help of tourism online marketing, by fueling

their decision making process in a
positive way. Lexus, the famous car manufacturer,
put into practice
some of the
teachings of the study, by creating stop motion
video with the help of user submitted

Instagram images.
Opportun
ities for marketers
Above, only two
examples concerning how Instagrams potential and
image can be leveraged for the
purpose
of creating brand awareness and enhancing profit
in tourism industry have been provided.
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There are other ways of doing the
same, too. For example

? Creating ads from consumers

? Submitting
photos that inspire curiosity

? Recruiting the right employees

? Spreading
awareness regarding fresh offerings

Instagram is certainly not a tourism
online marketing site in its core. It is a social
media network first and
foremost and
everything else later. Yet, it can assure the
scope for using innovative strategies to help

tourism brands make themselves more
appealing to potential customers.