As you may have noticed, it’s increasingly common to use Instagram for hotels in Social Media strategies instead of other social networks such as Facebook, Twitter or G +. In fact, according to a study published by We Are Social Creative Agency realized with Hootsuite, Instagram is the fastest growing social network, managing to double its users in just two years. We talked, therefore, that Instagram has more than 800 million active users in a month.
In Spain, the data indicate that 40% of users already use this social network, already exceeding Twitter (39%) and approaching each year to the Facebook data (69%). The total number of active users on Instagram reaches 13 million in our country, which implies 28% of our population, of which 55% are men and 45% are women. However, although users who register show a larger number on Facebook, more people download the Instagram application on their mobile phone.
We must bear in mind that 71% of Spaniards look for products or services online, of which 59% end up purchasing it. On the other hand, “travel” (includes travel and accommodation) represents an annual expenditure by online consumers of 4,274 billion, which implies a growth of 10% over the previous year. Finally, regarding the media advertising, online channels reach a 25% penetration as the first awareness about a product or service to those users who subsequently ended up buying it.
Instagram for hotels. Stories as a strategy
If you’re still wondering why you should include Instagram Stories in your hotel’s strategy, as well as the obvious importance of having a strong online presence supported by the previous data, here is a fundamental factor, which is the importance of the contents of quality. We must find the balance between our desire to sell and the conversations we want to maintain with our public.
Travelers seek new stories and adventures, discover a world of possibilities and start the experience even before leaving home. Create expectations, see something with which you feel identified, get excited, create links, activate memories… In general, the tourism sector is one of the sectors that we can gain more from a social network as visual as Instagram.
In our experience, users want to find experiential content in social networks instead of advertising, which requires a high number of audiovisual content. In this case, we see how stories are clearly drawn in the equation, where we must condense in just 10 seconds an ad that does not look like it, call attention, take care of aesthetics and be a business opportunity. Complicated? Not that much!
Finally, an added value of this strategy is the opportunity to know the statistical data of your stories, even if you don’t sign up as a company account (an action that we recommend) you will know the interest generated by your content since you will know which users are watching your stories. In this way, you will be able to limit and segment your audience until you reach your target audience and get closer to your share of the 4,274 billion euros.
