Welcome to our Instagram Stories and Reels Tutorial for tourism businesses! In this tutorial, you will learn why and how to use Instagram Stories and Reels, how to communicate and engage your audience and what metrics Instagram offers. We have also provided some examples to make things easier to digest!
Introduction to Instagram
Instagram has changed the way we share our lives and network with other people. Instagram Stories and Reels make it easy to use your creativity, interact with people and grow your audience.
What are Instagram Stories?
Instagram Stories are temporary posts that disappear after 24 hours. Stories lets you share photos and videos, giving your audience a piece of your day. Stories are highly involving, with questions, polls, stickers and more. You can make a Close Friends list, that helps you stay connected with your closest friends. You can also save your stories to your highlights on your profile (Instagram 2024.)
What are Instagram Reels?
Instagram Reels are short videos, that can be multi-clipped up to 90 seconds. They allow users to make creative content using different videos, audios, effects and editing tools. Reels are designed to make channels discoverable, to help people find each other. You can also remix other people’s reels by adding your own video next to theirs (Instagram 2024.)
How to use Instagram Stories:
- Open the Instagram App.
- Open the Story Camera by clicking on your profile picture in the left top corner.
- Record your Story by choosing your content from your gallery or record new. Use the icons to insert text, pictures, stickers, music or make it interactive by inserting questions, polls or quizzes.
- Post your story by tapping on the “Your Story” or “Close Friends” at the bottom of the page.
How to use Instagram Reels:
- Open the Instagram App.
- Open the Reels by tapping on the “Reels” icon in the middle bottom of the page and choose “Reel”.
- Record your Reel by upload from your gallery or record a new one.
- Use the right-hand side tools to add effects, music or change the speed.
- When it is done, put your text and /or hashtags to your video and post it.
Instagram Stories and Reels Tutorial for Tourism Businesses
Instagram’s Stories and Reels features offer great opportunities for tourism businesses, the only limit is entrepreneur’s imagination. Unique, engaging and interactive content can be made with both tools.
How to Use Them?
For tourism businesses, Instagram Stories and Reels provide a quick and visual way to reach customers. Entrepreneurs can showcase destinations, services and experiences in line with their brand. Here are a few examples:
Real-time Moments: Stories are perfect for sharing moments happening throughout the day. These could include, for example, guided tours or daily hotel life. This creates an authentic feel and keeps followers updated on what’s happening in the business. In the world of social media, authenticity stands out as one of the key factors in building a sustainable and engaging brand (Socialprogress, 2024.)
Reels Videos: Reels are a great way to create videos that highlight the best features of a travel destination, such as landscapes, attractions or popular activities.
Using Interactivity: Stories offer many interactive features like polls and quizzes. These tools allow businesses to engage followers and get them involved to contents. It’s also an excellent way to gather customer feedback and find out what the target audience is looking for.
Target Group: Who and How Often?
Instagram’s user base is broad, but Stories and Reels especially appeal to younger travelers and social media-savvy individuals who appreciate visual and quick communication (Hootsuite, 2024).
Good content is visually appealing, interesting and short. It’s important to remember that Instagram Stories and Reels are fast-paced platforms – users want to see content that grabs their attention right away.
Some content ideas examples:
- Behind the scenes: show what happens behind the scenes of your business.
- Customer experiences: share testimonials and experiences from real customers.
- Tips and advice for customers: especially useful for foreign visitors coming to Lapland! Offer practical travel tips, such as what kind of clothes to pack.
How Often to Post?
Stories: Daily.
Reels: 1–3 times per week. Reels require more planning and are longer, so it’s better to post them less frequently but focus on quality.
How to Communicate with Your Audience on Instagram Stories and Reels
Instagram offers multiple ways to communicate with your audience and engage them with your content.
Likes and Comments
Likes and comments are the basic form of communication on Instagram. You can like (i.e. give a heart) and comment on other people’s posts, stories and reels. Likes and comments are important because the algorithm will rank engaging content better and show it to more people.
Direct Messages aka DM
Private conversations between two users are known as DMs (direct messages) on Instagram. DM is much like Facebook Messenger. Your audience can also respond to your stories with private messages and ask for more information or share their thoughts about the topic of the story.
Fun Features on Stories
Instagram Stories consist of photos, videos and/or text, but there are many fun features that will make your stories more communicative and engaging! You can tag your location and other accounts and add music and stickers. However, to create more engaging content, try polls, quizzes, reaction buttons and question boxes.
With quizzes you can share interesting content in a playful manner. Polls can let your audience participate in the content making – let them for example choose a topic for your next post. Open question boxes are great for letting your audience tell you what kind of content they want to see.
Live sessions
Live sessions are kind of a variety of Instagram Stories. You can, for example, stream a question hour, showcase your products or treat your audience to a tour of your facilities. The audience can react and comment and get answers to their questions directly from you at once. For successful live session you should be reasonably comfortable with the app and filming.
What kind of metrics does the tool offer?
Instagram has a number of metrics available for professional accounts. You can follow your account performance in general and look at the metrics for specific posts, stories and reels. (Instagram Help Center, 2024.)
Metrics available on Instagram:
- Views
- Accounts reached (includes some demographic information of your audience)
- Interactions
- Follower statistic (growth, demographic info, your followers’ most active time)
- Ad insights
- Overview of the content you’ve published
How To Use Instagram Analytics for Growth in 2024 | Instagram Analytics Explained by Michelle Gifford
Special tips for Instagram Stories and Reels
Use Story Highlights to Keep Relevant Information Easily Available
Instagram is basically a never-ending wonderland of content and sooner or later you have hundreds or thousands of posts in your profile. Stories on the other hand will disappear after 24 hours. So how to keep relevant information easily available so that your (potential) followers visiting your profile will find it?
The answer is highlighted stories in your profile! You publish the stories as usual and then save them on your profile as highlights. Create highlights to answer your company’s FAQs or for example highlight your most important services.
Make Your Instagram Content Recognizable
People watch reels suggested to them by the algorithm, without actively choosing the next one. To make your content stand out, it needs to be easily recognizable and associated with your company. You need something that will instantly let the audience know it’s your reel they are watching. For example, many popular content creators start their reels with a (humorous) catch phrase. Visually coherent content is also a good tip – use your brand colors, fonts or other visual elements consistently.
Examples of best practices
This is the official tourism account for Finland managed by Visit Finland. They share absolutely beautiful images and reels of Finland’s stunning nature and give out great tips about activities and experiences in Finland. The main feature is their visual storytelling, which really catches an eye. This account is all about sharing images, cultural insights, travel tips but also promoting sustainability, eco-friendly and responsible opinions while doing it. I Would really recommend checking it out and maybe even give a follow.
This is an account managed by Travly Network. Travly Network is a platform to help explore different destinations and hotels. They operate Instagram accounts for various countries and this particular account is dedicated to Finland. It showcases Finland’s nature in images and reels. They also give tips on which hotels to choose and share information about activities. The account already has 1,1 million followers.
Our impressions
Instagram is an excellent platform for documenting and sharing personal experiences. It’s also a great tool for any business but especially for tourism business. It fosters engagement through features like stories and reels, helping connect with travelers. The platform enables effective storytelling by allowing post images and videos wherever you are. User-generated content adds authenticity, while targeted hashtags help reach the right audience. Collaborating with influencers boosts visibility, and Instagram’s real-time updates support community building. Overall, we think these features make it a powerful tool and this reality isn’t going to change anytime soon even though other apps like TikTok etc. have tried to claim the throne.
Links to tutorials
How to Use Instagram Stories in 2024 for More Sales & Engagement by marketing by Shelby
Instagram Reels Tutorial (Beginners Guide to Making, Editing, and Posting Reels in IG App 2024) by Octavia Klein
Sources
Hootsuite, 2024. 2024 Instagram Demographics: Top User Stats for Your Strategy. Accessed on 23.9.2024. https://blog.hootsuite.com/instagram-demographics/
Instagram. 2024. Instagram Reels. Accessed on 23.09.2024 https://about.instagram.com/features/reels
Instagram. 2024. Instagram Stories. Accessed on 23.09.2024 https://about.instagram.com/features/stories
Instagram Help Center. 2024. About Instagram Insights. Accessed 23.9.2024 https://help.instagram.com/788388387972460
Instagram Help Center. 2024. Create a broadcast channel on Instagram. Accessed 23.9.2024 https://help.instagram.com/783859809732797/?helpref=related_articles
Social progress, 2024. The Value of Authenticity: Defining Your Own Brand’s Social Media Presence. Accessed on 23.9.2024 https://socialprogress.co.uk/the-value-of-authenticity-defining-your-own-brands-social-media-presence
Travly, 2024. Accessed on 23.9.2024. https://www.travly.com/
Thanks for a great blog that had a lot of information and was nice to read. With these instructions, it’s good to continue using Instagram more deeply. <3 Very good job!
Hello Asta.
Thank you for your kind words! 🙂
I’m happy to hear that you liked the post.