15 social media tips for tour and activity operators to maximize direct bookings

Social media for tour operators is a necessary tool to connect with travelers, build trust, and ultimately drive bookings. But with so many platforms and strategies out there, how do you decide where to start?

Whether you’re setting up your accounts for the first time or re-evaluating your social media strategy for your tour and activity business, these 15 tips will help you stand out against your competitors and drive more bookings. 

Top social media platforms for tour operators

Social media marketing for tours and activities starts with evaluating the most popular social media platforms available. 

Instagram is one of the top platforms for discovering travel destinations. Through stunning photos and Instagram Reels, Millennials and Gen Z still favor Instagram.

TikTok is known for its viral video trends and while its largest age group is the Gen Z set, it’s popular within the Millennial demographic and stretches even older. As the world leans towards visual search, TikTok is well placed and has made huge ways in travel recently, increasing the demand of destinations.

While Pinterest allows you to follow and engage with users, it functions more as a visual search engine where users save “pins” for later reference. In the travel space, Pinterest is still used for inspiration and discovery of experiences.

Facebook has been around for nearly 20 years and is still going strong. Catering largely to an older demographic, Facebook still has incredible opportunities to engage with your customers through Facebook Groups.

Learn more from Sprout Social’s Social media demographics to inform your 2024 strategy.

15 social media tips to increase tour bookings 

1. Make a plan

If you haven’t mastered or have time for social media, pick one platform to focus on first and grow from there. Use a content calendar (can be made in Sheets or easy to find templates online) to plan content days or weeks in advance, noting key dates or holidays that align with your tours. 

Don’t feel like you have to be a social expert overnight. Start by building the habit of posting first, learning the tech, then once that’s old hat, you can start to increase volume and try out new formats for improved performance.

 

2. Use a scheduler

For many business owners and tour operators, being on social media every day isn’t realistic. Social media scheduling platforms such as Later, Hootsuite, Buffer, and more make it easier to get your content out there when you have the time to do it. 

These schedulers also optimize your content by suggesting the best time to post. Additionally, these platforms allow you to schedule posts across multiple social media channels simultaneously. 

If you’re not ready to invest in a paid scheduler, Meta offers content planning tools for free in their Business Suite.

 

3. Create business accounts for your tour company

Using business accounts for your tour company ensures a polished, professional presence while keeping your personal profiles separate. 

Business accounts also unlock powerful tools like detailed analytics, giving you valuable insights into what’s working. Plus, customers are more likely to trust and engage with your brand through direct messaging on a dedicated business account.

 

4. Set up your profiles

Each social media platform offers unique ways to showcase your brand. 

On Instagram, for instance, be sure to select the right business category when setting up your account and include a link to your booking platform in your bio. You can also use a “Link in Bio” tool to create a landing page that highlights key posts, offers direct booking links, and guides customers to other essential information about your tours.

Consider an engaging logo, cover images, and well-crafted bios to immediately captivate new audience members. Think of your profile page as a mini website, you want to give off the best first impression.

 

5. Post consistently 

We don’t recommend “posting just to post,” but we recommend posting on a consistent schedule. Think of posting often like your digital “Open” sign on your storefront. Customers visiting your page want to know you’re active and engaged with your community. 

Plus, a consistent social media presence helps the platforms know you’re an active account, which can improve your odds of falling into more feeds.

“How much should I be posting?” is one of the most commonly asked questions when it comes to social media management. The answer varies based on your resources and time available. 

If social media is somewhere you want to grow consistently we recommend starting with three days a week and increasing to daily posts when you can. Since booking experiences and tours happens every day, every hour, there is always someone you could be engaging with. This may sound daunting, but can be seen as an advantage to the tour industry.

 

6. Stick to your branding

When creating graphics for Pinterest, Instagram, or Facebook, keep a consistent color palette and font that matches your brand. Over time, customers will recognize your posts from your branding, creating strong recognition when it comes time to book.

 

7. Have fun with video 

Short-form video content is king TikTok and Instagram, which can be annoying to hear, but after 10 years of dominating all social platforms, this is unignorable. 

When creating your content calendar, carve out some time to create videos for your social media channels. Videos do not have to be professionally shot. In fact, it’s the raw authenticity that often draws in views. 

Your customers want to see real-life, behind-the-scenes glimpses of what it’s like on your specific tour. Once you get the hang of it, you can try more elevated video formats and invest in content.

 

8. You can still use photos too

While video, reels, and TikToks are the strongest performing content, Instagram still supports static images. In fact, Instagram recently upped its carousel limit from 10 to 20. 

Carousels, a series of static images or videos that you swipe through, can have a higher reach on Instagram than a photo on its own. (We’ll explore how to measure performance below)

 

9. Use trends strategically

Trends can be a fun way to get in front of your audience, but don’t feel peer pressured to do every trend if it doesn’t feel authentic to your business. Share unique and interesting content that matches your business and you’ll gain your followers’ trust naturally.

 

10. Tell your story

It can be easy to become too sales-y when running a social media account for a business. That feels like the obvious message, but behind every business is a story. Especially in tourism.

To connect with your audience, tell your origin and brand story. How did you start your company, why did you choose to do tours, and what is it about your location, are all ways to stand out from your competition. 

There may be hundreds of similar businesses like yours, but no one is exactly YOU.

11. Engage with your community

Engaging in your community is more than sliding into their DMs. Engage with posts from local businesses to demonstrate that you’re an active and involved part of the community. 

Facebook groups offer direct engagement with a like-minded community. Just be sure that you read the rules and don’t solicit unwanted links! When customers get to know you and your team, they’re more likely to trust your brand and book.

 

12. Use Events

On Facebook, create events around select or seasonal offerings. Do you do something different over the holidays? Create a multi-day event and direct people to your booking links. Events gain traction as more people express interest. 

To take it to the next step, share the link with your email list about upcoming Facebook events.

 

13. Do keyword research

When you think of “keywords” you may think of search engines like Google, but in the last few years, SEO has gone social. 

According to the New York Times, TikTok is Gen Z’s largest search engine. If you look through TikTok or Instagram, you’ll begin to see the breadcrumbs of their SEO capabilities with suggested search terms and linked keywords in captions.

Using keywords to describe your tours and activities in both the caption and in hashtags, will help the social platform share this content in the feeds of potential customers.

Pinterest in itself is a search engine. Create posts and pins  that match search terms to drive more traffic to your site. Stumped on what to pin? Visit Pinterest Trends for even more ideas.

 

14. Invest or explore social media advertising 

Platforms like Facebook and Instagram offer targeted ads that let you reach specific demographics based on location, interests, and behaviors. This targeted approach ensures that your ads are shown to users who match your target audience. 

Investing in advertising can definitely be a true investment and results can vary greatly. Finding a trusted agency who specializes in the tour industry can help your budget go farther. 

Social media ads can be a phenomenal top of the funnel strategy, which spreads awareness effectively. You can also use it to test messaging and videos, to see which creative performs better. 

Additionally, using ads behind promotions, can help the promotion drive even more revenue. 

 

15. Work with influencers 

There are two main ways we see operators work with influencers. One is to collaborate on a piece of content they share with their audience to increase your exposure and drive bookings. 

Secondly, we see them used as content creators, where you invest in the influencer to make content that you share on your platform. This can be especially helpful when it’s hard to collect your own footage of your tour or activity. 

Another approach we’ve seen is to invite influencers to your experience for free. Not only can this result in content, but it also can help spread the word of mouth.

 

Leveraging analytics to optimize campaigns

There is no one-size-fits-all when it comes to social media. Regularly reviewing your analytics provides insight into which content resonates with your audience and helps you identify what your audience wants more of. Do they engage with videos or static posts? Do carousels perform better? And ultimately, are they clicking over from your social media posts to book? 

While you can view each platform’s analytics on the platform, utilizing a social media scheduler as mentioned above will often have an analytics dashboard. 

Key metrics to look for are impressions, reach, engagement rate, likes, comments, shares, and follows. Initially, you’ll want to achieve industry standards. You can find these performance metrics by industry through a quick Google search. 

After that, you’ll start competing with yourself, looking for gradual monthly increases. If you see three down months in a row, then this can indicate a downward trend and invites you to consider a change in your strategy.

Google analytics and booking platforms also give you an inside look as to where your traffic is coming from. GA4 reports categorize traffic by source, such as search engines, social media (organic and paid), and direct links. When you have e-commerce connected, you can track performance by where bookings originate. 

 

Let’s get social

In today’s environment, social media offers abundant ways to be discovered by folks all over the world. 

Social media is an opportunity tour operators should take seriously; it’s an essential tool to connect with travelers, build trust, and drive bookings. By focusing on creating authentic and engaging content, and leveraging tools like schedulers, analytics, and even influencers, you can transform your online presence into a powerful booking engine.

The key is to start small, stay consistent, and be real. 

Don’t be afraid to experiment with new formats or strategies—social media is as much about creativity as it is about connection. As you implement these tips, you’ll not only stand out in a competitive market but also foster lasting relationships with your audience, turning them into loyal customers and enthusiastic advocates for your brand.

Your next booking could be just one post away—get started today!