Getting Started On Instagram

Instagram has proven out to be a fantastic social media platform for travel experts! Below you’ll find a how-to guide for getting started on Instagram.

The Basics

Instagram is meant to be used via your smartphone. You can access Instagram from your desktop, however, it’s limited in what you can do with it from your desktop. For example, at this present moment you can’t upload new photos or create posts – you can only do that from your phone.

If you don’t yet have an account, grab your smartphone now, go to the Apps Store (or Google Play Store if use Android), search for Instagram App and install it. Once it’s installed you’ll be able to start the process of creating your account.

When choosing your username, be sure to choose something that represents your brand. Ideally, choose your business name. If your business name is too long or already taken, choose something that represents your brand or choose your own name.

Use your professional headshot as your profile photo. You want to show you’re a professional, you want to build a know, like and trust relationship with your followers (people automatically trust people more when they can see them), and you want to have consistency across your social media networks – so for all of those reasons, use your headshot. It may be tempting to use a beautiful image of a destination, but don’t do it. Use your headshot. On your Instagram feed, you can post as many photos of beautiful destinations as you desire, for your profile photo, use your headshot.

For your bio, use your OMS (or a short version of it), and include a link to your website.

Once your new Instagram account is set up, you’ll have the option to link it to your Facebook account. We recommend that you do that because it allows you to easily share things on Facebook that you share on Instagram, and you can use the “Find Friends” tool to find your Facebook friends on Instagram which will help you get started on creating a following on Instagram.

When it comes to Notifications on Instagram, we recommend that you either select “no notifications” or you only choose a small handful of people. If you simply turn on your notifications then your phone will continually ding which is an annoying distraction.

If you need technical help creating your account, follow Instagram’s Set Up Guide.

For help taking, editing, and posting photos to Instagram, use Instagram’s How-To Guide.



Download your Instagram Profile Image Guide

​Downloadable Guide – Social Media Image Sizing

Tech Tips

Hashtags are pretty important on Instagram because it’s how people and pictures are found. You want to include them in most of your posts, but of course, only include hashtags that are relevant to your post, and you don’t need twenty of them on every post. Choose two to ten hashtags for each post.

The Huffington Post created a list of the 100 most popular hashtags on Instagram. Of course, you can (and should!) use many different hashtags and you want most of them related to travel such as the destinations you book, types of trips you plan, and so on.

​Here is a list of some popular travel hashtags:
​
​#traveling

#travellife

#travelgram

#traveler

#travelpics

#travelersnotebook

#travelbug

#traveltips

#travelguide

#travelworld

#travelmore

#traveldiaries

#travel_greece

#travelitaly

​#travelindia
​
​

​When you create a post, be sure to put a space under your post before you insert your hashtags. Like this…

In order to make that space you, of course, need to hit the return key on your keyboard. If the return key has disappeared, press the 123 key, and then it should reappear. Of course, different phones work different ways. If this trick doesn’t work for you, Google it.

If you have an iPhone you can make hashtagging easier by downloading a special keyboard called Tagsdock, which curates popular hashtags for you and allows you to add them with one click.

There is a fun website called Websta which provides analytical tools for Instagram. For example, you can see how often you have used certain hashtags, which tags have received the most likes and comments (and see the photos associated with those tags), and the top 100 “Hot” tags.

​Websta offers a basic free account and more advanced paid accounts – but the free account is quite useful on its own.

What To Post

Not all of your posts need to be travel related. Your followers also want to get to know you. People buy from people they know, like and trust, so give them a chance to get to know you. If you’re grateful for something today, snap a pic and post it. If you picked up fresh flowers at the market today, snap a pic and post it. If your kid or pet just did something incredibly cute, snap a pic and post it. If you’re out to dinner, snap a pic of yourself and post it.

Here are a few ideas to get you started…



Snap a selfie of yourself being happy and excited and create a post that reads something like….

Just finished creating a divine itinerary for a really fun client that is heading off for a dream vacation in Greece.

#travelagent #travel_greece #lovemyjob



Find a great pic of a destination that you just booked for a client, and post something like…

Just booked this for one of my clients – the Likuliku Lagoon Resort in Fiji! And I negotiated a special little complimentary surprise for my client that she is going to LOVE.

#travelagent #lovemyjob #fijiislands #fiji #Likuliku



Find a super cute picture of a dog or cat being pampered and relaxing, and post something like…

This is how you feel when you’re at a Sandals Resort – relaxed, pampered, and completely taken care of! If you’re interested in learning more about Sandals, I’d love to give you a complimentary Sandals Planning Session, held over-the-phone. Go to: (enter website URL) to book your session.

​#travelagent #sandalsresorts #vacationtime #lovemyjob

A Few More Tips For You

When you want to post a short video, download a free app called Boomerang by Instagram (just search for it in your App Store).

When you want to post two images in one post, download a free app called Layout by Instagram.

​You can plan out and pre-schedule your Instagram posts using the tool Later.com. Even if you choose not to use that tool, we recommend getting on their email list because they send out great tips for using Instagram effectively.

Notes from Instagram Expert Jasmine Star’s presentation at Traffic & Conversion 2018:

If you are serious about using Instagram to attract clients, I highly recommend getting on Jasmine’s list and spending some time on her blog. She is truly an Instagram rock star. Below are some of the highlights of my notes from the 45 minute presentation she did.

You need an Instagram Strategy! “Are you ON Instagram, or are you USING Instagram?” Have a plan!

If you want to succeed on Instagram you have to show up! Post regularly and consistently and with purpose.

Instagram is about the long, long, long game. You won’t see results right away, just keep at it. Remember, post regularly and consistently.

Remember that every caption is your opportunity to reiterate your brand message – your who/what/why….

​At least one a month put up your image with a version of your bio in the caption.



You get clients in 2 ways on Instagram:

How to create the perfect Instagram bio: