Instagram is a treasure trove for user generated images, which will easily showcase your hotel’s personality and charm. Instagram currently has around 800 million users, 500 million of those being daily active users. Even more interesting is the fact 71% of businesses are using Instagram. Let’s walk through five simple ways to grow your followers and increase your engagement.
Tell a Story by Choosing a Theme
Unlike Facebook and Twitter, Instagram presents you with the unique opportunity to fashion a visual story about who you are as a brand. By choosing a theme for your account, you can provide your followers with a more cohesive tapestry. Here are a few ideas for themes.
Consistent Color Palette
Stick to a consistent color palette when posting photos. This does not mean all of your photos need to be the same color, but each photo could include elements of those colors to tie the entire story together.
If your hotel is located by a beach, blue or light brown would be excellent colors to consistently incorporate. If you are located by a lot of nature and wildlife, perhaps green.
Visual Motifs
Establish an ongoing visual motif with your Instagram account by posting content that consistently aligns with your hotel’s identity, brand, and/or location. It is best to avoid including content that is too diverse or deviates from the overall feel of your account because it detracts from your curated user experience. A good rule of thumb is to have about 80% of your content fall into your theme while the remaining 20% can be more varied.
If your hotel is located in a big city, showcasing photographers’ work of the area is a great way to create a theme. Also, if your hotel is dog-friendly, you have an excellent opportunity to create some dog-themed content. This does not mean you have to abandon photos of your hotel. Those should be sprinkled in as well. Remember, you want to draw people to stay at your hotel when they visit the area, but also catch their eye.