Users who arrive at your tour through social media are more likely to buy it, on average, than users from any other channel. It’s easy to see why this is the case: we prefer buying from people we know, even vicariously, and when you and your VoiceMap tour are easy to find on Instagram, Twitter or Facebook, you’re giving potential customers ready access to social proof. This is especially helpful with new and potentially unfamiliar products like audio tour apps, and when you decide what to post, it helps to remember that you’re trying to convert browsers into buyers.
You’ll find some suggestions below with general guidelines first, followed by content ideas and breakdowns specific to Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. (But they could apply equally to Youtube, Snapchat, TikTok. In fact, that’s the first guideline.)
General guidelines #
- Stick to the platforms you know, where you already have a following. Don’t create a new account on Instagram for the sole purpose of promoting your VoiceMap tour. Sharing a single post about your tour when it’s new isn’t enough. The average lifespan of an Instagram post is 48 hours and Facebook posts have a mere five hour lifespan. Twitter posts last a measly 18 minutes. Posts with plenty of engagement last longer, but you still need to post regularly. This is especially true in the case of audio tours, which sell best when you catch your audience while they’re planning a trip or actually travelling.
- There are scheduling tools that you can use to post regularly. Here’s a guide on how to schedule posts on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
- Avoid sharing the same content again and again. This includes overusing the same image on Instagram or the same link to your tour on Facebook and Twitter. For examples of engaging content connected to a VoiceMap tour, take a look at the content ideas below.
- Include a Call To Action. They’re effective and help convert casual window shoppers into buyers.
- Whatever you share on your business account, share it on your personal account too.
- And don’t forget to tag us in your posts. You’ll find us at facebook.com/myvoicemap on Facebook, at @MyVoiceMap on Twitter, and at @myvoicemap on Instagram.
Content Ideas #
- Make short videos like this one in Adobe Express using audio from your tour, photos, and excerpts from your script and sound bites.
- Publish entire photo albums with locations and people from your tour. On VoiceMap’s own Facebook page, an album of black and white photos from Cape Town has been engaged with by tens of thousands of people.
- Experiment with single images that have excerpts from your script superimposed on them. For this you can use Pablo by Buffer, Canva along a number of other platforms.
- Upload tracks from your tour to Soundcloud to make them easier to share.
- Make longer, more in-depth videos like this one or this one, and take advantage of discovery through Youtube, which is the world’s second most popular search engine.
- Share links to specific locations from your tour, especially if those locations have photos. This is described in more detail here.
- Share testimonials and reviews, especially ones that highlight the experience.
Instagram #
Use captivating photos #
Focus on images that either show off the experience or evoke positive emotions about the destination. Photos with interesting details work well, as do picturesque slices of life. Avoid photos that are too dark or too bright and grubby looking scenes with things like overflowing bins.
Put some thought into the caption #
Your Instagram captions should highlight the advantages of doing a self-guided audio tour. Take this Instagram post for example, it highlights that the tour can be done at the listener’s own pace and on their own schedule. Captions can also highlight what listeners have to look forward to like in this post.
Tag destination or other tourism-related accounts #
Tag other Instagram accounts in your photos, like VoiceMap and local tourism accounts. The easiest way to find accounts to tag is to Google the city your tour is in and visit the top tourism related websites that come up. Open those sites to find a link to their social media pages. Simply click on the Instagram icon to visit their page and then follow them from there. (You’ll usually see it at the top or bottom of the page). Look for websites that have the words “Discover” “Visit” “Travel” “Secret” plus the city’s name in their title. Those types of tourism accounts will often repost and share content created by other accounts. By tagging them in your posts and in your Instagram stories, they’re more likely to share your content to their followers. Don’t forget to tag us too so we can share your posts.
Use hashtags #
Hashtags are more effective on Instagram than other social networks, possibly because it’s so visual, and they really make it much easier for new audiences to find your posts.
Using hashtags is a bit of an art form, but there are nifty guides out there like this one to help you out. Remember to use the hashtags with the most posts related to them. You can also use a hashtag generator to give you some ideas.
Here are some travel-related hashtags that have worked for us:
- #tour (It has almost 24 million posts related to it compared to #tours which has only 3 million.)
- #ig
- #travelgram
- #exploremore
- #travel
We also use the hashtag #VoiceMap. If you use it, we’ll like and share your posts.
Finally, don’t forget to share your post to your Instagram story!
Some examples of the hashtags we use when we post from the VoiceMap Instagram account.
Facebook #
Facebook posts #
Facebook posts tend to be a combination of text, links and images. If you share an image or link, remember to write a caption that highlights the advantages of a self-guided audio tour with a strong Call To Action. Avoid using Facebook for a hard sell and try to be more conversational. Like Instagram, you can tag other pages but only do so if you’re mentioning them in your post.
Engaging with groups #
If you’re already active in a group and it doesn’t go against their policies, then feel free to share and promote your tour with the group. Don’t forget about the rule above though, remain conversational. Some groups will have a weekly thread dedicated to self-promotion. Wait for those threads to post about your tour.
Twitter #
Twitter posts #
Twitter is by nature shorter and to the point. It uses more direct Call To Actions than Facebook and Instagram with a focus on immediacy. Try linking your tour to current events, topics and themes where possible. For example, the 27 September, World Tourism Day, is the perfect time to post about your tour and include the hashtag #worldtourismday.
Posting links or images #
Tweets that include a link or image are more likely to be retweeted than posts without. If your tour has been featured in an article, create a post on Twitter with a link to the featured article. You can find tons of useful guides on how to get the most out of your Twitter posts like this one.
Using hashtags on Twitter #
Use hashtags related to your tour. Don’t try to force a link between trending hashtags and your post – that’s bad Twitter hashtag etiquette. Here’s a guide on how to use hashtags effectively on Twitter.