How to use Instagram marketing to build your hotel brand

If you’re not using Instagram for your accommodation business yet, you’re missing out. The platform attracts more than a billion users every month, with 81% of people saying they use it to research products and services.

So what should you be doing to nail your Instagram marketing strategy? Get started with these tips.

Know your Instagram audience and cater your posts to them

The most motivated travellers on your Instagram feed may be different from your most engaging followers on Facebook. You need to know your Instagram audience, and create posts that will appeal to them. 

For example, if you are a B&B or guesthouse that offers farm-to-table cooking, focus on food-related imagery and use relevant hashtags that make it easy for foodies and millennials to find you. 

Whatever your unique proposition may be, your Instagram posts should be distinct and unique, and created to target your Instagram audience.

Use high-quality images

While visual elements play a powerful role on other social sites, images and videos are the sole purpose of Instagram. Grainy, dark or low-resolution images are not only ineffective at getting the attention of your target audience, they also could detract from your brand’s ability to grow on the platform. Any Instagram post or story that you create should be filled with vivid and interesting high-resolution images.

The point is to help your guests visit your hotel right from their Instagram feed, and to encourage them to book with you because of the beautiful experience that you offer.

Let your photos tell your hotel’s story

Instagram isn’t the place to post a simple photo of a generic room at your hotel. Save these informative pictures for your hotel website.

Instead, get creative: post a picture of the welcome sign that greets guests as they enter your property. Explain why it’s there or tell the story of why you chose that sign. Highlight the details, and share the features that you offer at your hotel, but do it in a way that tells a story and shows people what the experience is like at your hotel.

Curate user content for your brand

One of the most common misconceptions about boosting your brand on social media is that the content you post and share about your business is the most important. While it’s critical that you get it right when posting to Instagram, it’s often user-generated content that has the most powerful influence. 

By using brand hashtags, you can monitor all the posts your guests are sharing on Instagram about your property and reshare the best of the bunch. 

Offer a glimpse behind-the-scenes

People love the fact that social media gives them an insight they would not otherwise have. Use your Instagram page to share more about what it’s like to operate a bed and breakfast.

Take photos of your delicious breakfasts and let your followers know what you are serving that day.

Let the gardener show off the latest blooms and the tools they use to keep everything looking fresh and beautiful.

If you get their permission first, you might even snap a few photos of your guests enjoying themselves. Ask them more about their stay, and share their story with the world.

Promote your local area

While you will be using Instagram to promote your property the majority of the time, remember that people are booking your rooms in order to explore the region around you.

Post about a great dish that you can find at a local restaurant that’s within walking distance of your bed and breakfast. Share a shot of the sunset from a gorgeous lookout point. Let people know why your area (and your hotel) are the place to be.

Instagram is one of the leading social platforms for travel brands, and it’s easy to see why. This is the type of social site that users scroll endlessly, because it allows them to escape the realities of their daily lives. 

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