3.3.3 Instagram STories (3)

EDITING PICTURES AND SHARING


After you have taken the pictures or video you can edit it. By swiping to the left or right you can change the filter. With the smiley icon you can add stickers, location details, weather, time or a hashtag.



After posting the story you can see who has watched it.

User cannot comment on your Stories but can send a message to you. The problem: you will not receive any notifications if you are not following the user. It is recommended to check you Instagram inbox for direct messages.

For business accounts Instagram offers some more statistics:

  • Impression
  • Reach
  • Tab “forward”
  • Tab “back”
  • Leave story
  • Reply


INSTAGRAM STATISTICS FOR STORIES

The most interesting statistics are those with the tab forward and tab back actions. This shows if your story was interesting enough for the user or not.


INSTAGRAM LIVE

One special format of Stories is Instagram Live, the live streaming format of Instagram. The maximum duration of the live stream is one hour. You can start another live stream directly after. The number of viewers is indicated on the upper screen, comments are shown below. Viewers can ask questions during the live stream.

You can save your live stream video afterwards and also share it.


3.3.3 Instagram STories (1)

3.3.3. Instagram Stories


In Instagram Stories you can share pictures and videos that are only visible for 24 h. After that time the pictures and videos are being deleted (if they are not stored as “highlight”). The stories appear above the feed/timeline of the user.

Also companies can make use of Instagram Stories. Stories already generate ¼ of the impressions of company profiles on Instagram. Like in the Instagram feed, Instagram Stories are displayed to the user according to a specific algorithm.  Followers who interact with the content of one profile in their feed and regularly watch the Instagram Stories of a certain profile will see the newest stories of that profile in the first position.



FUNCTIONS


How to record a Story:

  • On the home screen your swipe to the right, then the camera function opens
  • Click on the camera icon on the upper left
  • If you have no active Story at the moment you can also click on your own profile picture to open the Story camera


SHOOTING MODES

Apart from “normal” pictures and videos you can use various shooting modes.

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BOOMERANG

Looping GIF-style video that plays forward and backward repeatedly. You have just a few seconds with this one, but if you time it right, it’s a creative way to capture fun moments.

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SUPERZOOM

The camera zooms automatic on objects and adds dramatic background music.

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FOCUS

The camera identifies the face and sets the focus automatically.

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REWIND

Is just like a normal video, only it plays back in reverse.

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HANDS FREE

Is another way to take a 15-second video, only you don’t need to hold down the button to do it. Just tap it once, and the camera keeps rolling until time runs out (or you choose to stop it).

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TEXT

You can write a text that is posted in the story without having taken a pictures. You have different designs and fonts.


3.3.2 Instagram (5)

INSTAGRAM IN BROWSER


For Instagram there is also a browser version (www.instagram.com) where you can upload pictures.

This web version has still some deficits and does not fully replace the app. One restriction is that you can only upload pictures in the mobile version of the website. Desktop users have to use the Developer Tools of the browser to simulate that the website is displayed on a mobile phone. In Chrome this works like this:

  • Log in to your account
  • Click right with your computer mouse and click on “inspect”
  • Click on Toogle Device Tool Bar and then select the type of phone you want the website be displayed on.


3.3.2 Business Account


A “normal” Instagram profile can be changed in the profile setting to a business account. This is recommended for businesses as it provides statistics and other valuable information. Only requirement is that your business has already a fan page on Facebook.

With the Instagram business account you can create ads directly in the app, like sponsoring posts. Read more about that in the chapter about advertising.



To change your profile into a business account you have to do the following:
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  • Go to your profile and enter the settings. Here you click on “change to business profile”
  • Connect your Instagram profile with the corresponding Facebook page. You have to be the administrator of the page in order to do so.
  • Once your accounts are connected, the data from Facebook will be automatically transferred to your Instagram account.



A big advantage of the business account is that you see different statistics:

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  • Number of subscribers /followers of your account in regards to the past weeks
  • Impressions, reach and profile and website click of the past 7 days and the changes
  • Sex, age and location of your followers
  • Time and days your followers are online

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Apart from that, you can see detailed statistics on you posts like:
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  • Likes
  • Comments
  • Saved
  • Impressions indicated by source (home page, hashtags, profile and other sources)
  • Reach
  • Interactions / actions (profile clicks, website clicks, followers)


Verifying your account is only possible for some public person, celebrities or brands but not for every company.

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HASHTAGS

The significance of hashtags is growing, especially in the tourism industry. They are for example used to collect pictures on a special topic with a certain hashtag. They are the most important instrument to boost the reach of your posts. With special hashtag-campaigns you can brand your company or create unique and distinctive hashtags for customer competitions.

Important is the choice of the right and suitable hashtag. In      general, you should only use hashtags that fit to what is seen on the pictures like a hashtag of a destination.

Hashtags function as keyword and help the user to find what he or she is interested in. For this reasons it is vital to not only select hashtags that are trending or have a great reach but to look for those who are maybe used less but express exactly what you have to offer and how you want to address your clients.

It is certainly useful to use your location as hashtag to reach clients that are in your area.

You can use a maximum of 30 hashtags. Don’t use hashtags like #tagsforlikes or #follow4follow as they only attract spam and bots.


EMOJIS

Of course you can place emojis in the caption but do this rather rarely to avoid looking to childish.

@-MENTIONS

You can name other accounts and profiles via @-mention (= “@” + profile name) in your caption to mark for example destinations or hotels you are talking about.

LINKS

Clickable links are only possible in the biography. In captions you should refrain from using links as the user cannot click on them. Just refer to the link in your bio.

MARK ACCOUNTS


Once you have written a caption you can mark other Instagram accounts on the picture. This works like the @-mentions in the captions. Tap on the picture and add the name of the account.



ADD LOCATION



You can tag your picture with the location where the pictures was taken. This makes it easier for the user to see with one click all pictures that are taken at the same location. You can select locations that are near to you at the moment of posting or add any other place manually.



SHARE POST


When you are ready to publish your post you can decided whether you want the post to be published on Facebook, Twitter or/and Tumblr. Attention: on Twitter the picture is not visible but only a link to the picture.

3.3.1 Instagram (3)

UPLOAD PICTURES


The main purpose and content as well as function of Instagram to upload  pictures and share them with others. You can upload pictures from your phone or take pictures via the app itself. To edit the pictures you can use different filters.



The standard format of Instagram is the square format. The following sizes are recommended:
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  • Picture size: 1080x1080px. The pictures are scaled to 612×612 px and are visible in the feed at 510×510 px.
  • Landscape pictures (in landscape format): 1080×566 px. Smaller sizes like 600×400 px are also possible
  • Portraits (portrait format): 1080×1350 px. In Instagram they are visible as 600×740 px.
  • Thumbnail: 161×161 px. In the profile, pictures are shown in square format automatically.


MULTIPHOTO POST



You can post up to 10 pictures at once. These will then be shown in a slideshow where the user swipes between the pictures. Just select several pictures from your gallery and define the sequence.




VIDEO POST


Instead of pictures you can also upload videos. Videos have to have a minimal length of 3 seconds and a maximum length of 60 seconds. Videos can be shortened in the app directly.

The video plays automatically, whereas the sound has to be activated by the viewer manually by tapping on the screen.


WRITE A TEXT

Captions below the picture have a maximum length of 2,200 characters. The text is cut off after two to three lines and the user has to click on the “more” button to see the complete text. The most important information and “call to actions” have to be placed in the beginning to intrigue the user to read more. The text should at least explain what is on the picture. Hashtag and mentions should only be placed at the end of the text.

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FIND USERS AND GENERATE FOLLOWERS



Instagram is also a social network with a very active community. Connect with other users to build your own community and generate followers. There are several ways to find interesting  users on Instagram.



  • 1. Possibility: Recommended accounts

When you click on the symbol with the person and a plus sign in your profile you see accounts that Instagram recommends to you and which you can follow.

By clicking on the magnifying glass you see popular accounts and images.



  • 2. Possibility: Active search


Via the search function you have also the possibility to look for account names, hashtags or locations. As travel agency we recommend following all users in your neighbourhood that could be potential clients for your travel agency.


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3.3 OTHER CHANNELS



  • 3.3.2 YOUTUBE

YouTube is the largest online video portal worldwide. The company was founded in 2005 and belongs to Google since 2006. This means, every registered Google user with Gmail account, for example, also has a YouTube account.

The page allows users to upload videos and share them with other users, to watch videos published by other users, to subscribe to channels, to comment and to apply ratings. Every minute, about 100 hours of video material is uploaded on the platform worldwide.

YouTube has more than 1 billion users worldwide, i.e. about one third of all Internet users regularly (and passively) watch videos on YouTube. In Germany, YouTube has about 6 million active users, i.e. users who upload videos. For more than half of all YouTube requests mobile end devices are used.

Videos that are up to 15 minutes long can be uploaded. Selected users with verified accounts can also upload videos up to 12 hours Long.

YouTube also allows you to advertise. You may choose from pre-roll ads, i.e. commercials shown before a video starts, ads next to videos, ads in the search results or ads as overlay.


  • 3.3.3 BLOGS

A blog or weblog is a diary-style text published on the Internet that everyone can see. A person or a group of authors, i.e. the blogger(s), publish texts in their blog. This might be personal experiences, new products or just thoughts about a certain topic, for example. Frequently, blog articles are written in the first person singular. Blogs are also frequently used as an instrument of corporate communication. There are no general rules for the frequency of publication of a blog. In many blogs, the articles are published sporadically. Normally, every reader can comment articles so that written texts can be discussed publicly.  Nowadays, blogs have great importance in the tourism industry as well. On the one hand, travellers write about their experiences, on the other hand, blogs are more and more used as sources of inspiration and information about possible destinations. Destinations and service providers can use blogs to contact customers on a personal level and present their services.

WordPress or Blogger.com are known (technical) service providers for blogs.



  • 3.3.4 GOOGLE+

Google+ is a social network founded in 2011 by Google. Google+ adds the users’ friends to “Circles”. This allows you to control what group of friends or circle you share posts with. Relationships on Google+ may also be unilateral, i.e. users can add another user to one of their circles and subscribe to updates. The other user does not have to accept a “friend request” or similar. Users who are added to a circle do not need their own Google+ account. They are informed by e-mail about all news shared with the circle. Contents may be shared publically or just with one or several selected circles.  Furthermore, Google+ allows you to create business pages similar to the fan pages on Facebook. The “Hangouts” function can be used by companies for video conferences with other users. Verification of Google+ pages is similar as for Facebook. Combined with Google My Business, Google+ is relevant for (local) visibility of a company in search engines.

3.3.1 Instagram (1)

3.3 INSTAGRAM



Instagram is a free app to publish pictures and videos. The company was founded n 2010 and was taken over by Facebook in 2012. Instagram has about 800 million active users daily and the numbers are growing every month.

Also for companies, Instagram has become an important (advertising) platform. Instagram has about 25 million company profiles world-wide and 80% of the users follow at least one company. 50% of all companies publish at least one Instagram story per month and one third of all watched stories are stories from brands or companies.


3.3.1 FUNCTIONS OF INSTAGRAM

HOW DO I OPEN AN ACCOUNT?



To open an Instagram account you can use your Facebook account or telephone number or email address. We recommend registering via email address.

Your account name should be easy to read and memorable. Also it should be somehow connected to your travel agency so that users can find you when they look for your company name. We recommend using your travel agency name. The account name can be changed afterwards.

Now you add your account data for your profile such as profile pictures, biography and a short description of your account and a link.

The profile page  (Instagram bio) is very important as it give a short overview who is managing the account and gives the company the opportunity to show their products and services. Keep in mind:


  • You can only use 150 characters
  • You cannot use any formats such as bold, italic etc.

Line break

To add line breaks you either use the return key or write your text in a memo app and copy&paste it back.

Emojis

Your bio can include emojis – just use your keyboard.

Hashtags

In the Instagram Bio you can place clickable hashtags. This is very useful for campaigns.

@-Mentions

In the Instagram Bio you can link to other profiles. You can use this to link to partner accounts or pages of your employees.



SWITCH BETWEEN ACCOUNTS



If you also have a private account and are opening a business account you can easily switch between the two without having to log in every time. You go to your profile, click on your company account name in the upper left and then on “Add Account”. Here you enter the login data of the new account.

To switch between the account you click on your profile name and select the account you want to switch to.


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Company Pages may only be created by employees of the company. An e-mail address of a member of staff is required. Other conditions must be met in addition to create a company profile: You need a personal profile that was created at least seven days ago with your true first and last name and that has a profile strength listed as “Intermediate” or “All Star”. The person who creates the profile also needs several contacts, i.e. have connections with other people on his/her profile, and must have specified the company as his/her employer.


If all the conditions are met, you can create your company’s profile as follows: 

  • Enter the official name of your company and your business e-mail address in the provided fields eg. LCC Sunshine Travel

  • If the provided business e-mail address has not yet been confirmed on your LinkedIn account, a message will be sent to this address. Confirm your e-mail address as mentioned in the message and proceed with the next steps. 
  • Important: In order to publish your Company Page, you have to enter a description of the company (250-2000 characters, including spaces) and provide the company’s website URL.

After having published the Company Page, you can further edit it. Company Pages on LinkedIn can be created and managed in several languages.



3.2.4 DO’S AND DON’TS



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Facebook Promotion Guidelines also require the following:

  • Promotions must include a note with regard to the full exemption of Facebook by each participant.
  • Furthermore, you have to include that there is not any connection to Facebook and that the promotion is in no way sponsored, supported or organised by Facebook.
  • It is not allowed to encourage people to “share this post in your timeline to participate” or “increase your chances to win by sharing it in your friends’ timeline” or “tag your friends in this post to participate”.


3.2 LINKEDIN



3.2.1 WHY IS LINKEDIN THE RIGHT CHANNEL FOR YOU?

LinkedIn is a social network focusing on business contacts. XING is mainly used in the Germanspeaking area, with approx. 13 million users ; LinkedIn is the international equivalent with 500 million members worldwide.



LinkedIn is important for Business Travel. The focus is on networking, just as in Facebook, but mainly B2B contacts, travel managers, etc. Profiles in business networks can be considered a virtual business card.



3.2.2 EMPLOYEE PROFILES


Just as on Facebook, you can also create personal profiles on LinkedIn. And that’s what you should do as travel agent employee. You can also log into LinkedIn using your Facebook profile to skip the entry of login information. Or you enter the required information and create a new LinkedIn account. You will receive a code by e-mail. Enter it in the relevant field. Then complete your profile information and upload a profile picture. Afterwards, you can start searching contacts and adding people to your network.


Your personal profile is used for the following purposes, for example: 

  • Networking with your business contacts!
  • Join relevant groups and be active in these (local) groups on LinkedIn. Use this possibility to generate business in these groups! Groups also show your expertise if you choose relevant ones.
  • Be representative of your travel agency, be present!
  • Position yourself as expert, show your competence.
  • LinkedIn can also be used to recruit new staff.


3.2.3 COMPANY PAGES


LinkedIn also allows you to create company pages. They are less interactive and not thought for direct interaction as Facebook pages. They are used to provide general information and contact data of your company. Employees and LinkedIn users belonging to your company are also shown. And you can post jobs, visualise employer reviews and share news.



  • LINKEDIN

To create your company page, go to the menu bar and click on the tab “work”. On the bottom you find “create a company page”