We had a chat with Craig Rodney, the one man show behind the @SouthAfrica Instagram account, about tourism storytelling on social media, the value of social media as a destination marketing tool, and why it is important for tourism boards and countries to embrace and use social media effectively.
Craig Rodney: I first started using Instagram back in November 2010, shortly after they launched. At first, I thought it was a photo editing app where you could add cool filters and then share to Facebook. It took me a while to realise it was its own social network.
In 2013. I started craving a passion project that showed off South Africa and when I got my hands on the @southafrica username in March that year, my project started. I used the account to share the best photos of South Africa that were being shared on Instagram. My commitment was to find and post one picture every day for 365 days – and that’s exactly what I did.
Three years later - I haven’t missed a single day.
Rodney: Finding photos used to be quite painful, but it has become a lot easier now that the account is getting more popular. The top two ways are by going through all the pictures that tag @southafrica, and also by looking through #ThisIsSouthAfrica.
I also use my personal account to follow as many of the top local photographers as possible because then their photos find me, which is great.
Rodney: The account gets tagged in about 100 photos each day which is enough that I’ll always find great pics, but not so much that I can’t quickly go through them.
Rodney: The hashtag gets promoted every time I post a photo so I think people have become used to using it, and people also enjoy having their pictures featured because they reach a broader audience. So they’ll use the hashtag and tag the account on all their top pics.
As the hashtag grows it loses value though - the more popular a hashtag becomes, the more it gets targeted by spam, so as they grow, they become less useful for finding pictures. As such I prefer that people tag the account.
Rodney: Instagram is 90% an inspiration platform which is what differentiates it from the other social networks. It isn’t going to drive massive web traffic to your site, but it can inspire millions of people if you’re able to connect with them in a meaningful way.
Any products that are inspiration based, especially tourism destinations, stand to benefit massively from building a solid Instagram presence. People aren’t looking for pictures of your fluffy pillows or buffet, they want to be inspired to travel to your area and experience life.
Rodney: From what I’ve seen through the @southafrica account, people are looking for adventure. They want to be inspired to create and share their own stories when they visit South Africa, to experience their own versions of what’s on offer.
I’m always amazed how often people will go way back through the photos on the account and tag their travel buddies and build an itinerary of everything they want to do through the photos. South Africa is a bucket-list destination for many people, and they’ll figure out how to get here if we just show them why they should come and what they should do.
Rodney: If inspiration is a part of your sales strategy then Instagram can be amazing, but if not, you should be critical of what it can do for your business. The only way to link people out of Instagram is via your bio which isn’t a solid mechanism for driving traffic to other sites. You also need to be specific about building an engaged audience that represents your target market. Having a big following is irrelevant if you can’t inspire them to act, or if they’re the wrong people. Now that Instagram has enabled deeper analytics on accounts it’s easier to track this to ensure you’re building the right audience.
