6 Essential Social Media Strategies for Travel Bloggers
All successful travel bloggers use social media to grow their audience. Interestingly, posting travel photos on social media also gives a boost to the travel industry; it’s a symbiotic relationship.
Whether you’re an established or aspiring travel blogger, the following strategies will help you make the most of Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
1. Find Guest Posting Opportunities
Landing a guest post on a popular travel blog is a golden ticket to reaching more people. If you can’t get in with a popular blog, start anywhere you can. Any travel blog with a readership will be beneficial.
Spread your content far and wide to increase your chances of getting shared on social media.
2. Choose a Breathtaking Blog Theme
Photos are the best part of any travel blog; amazing photos will impress readers and could inspire them to visit the same location. When posting your links to social media, those beautiful photos will automatically come up as previews. The beauty of your site’s theme should match the beauty of your photos.
Your blog deserves a theme that will showcase your photos beautifully. You can find several beautiful themes on Blog Starter along with some essential plugins to make your travel blog stand out.
If you don’t have amazing photos yet, use stock photos until you gather enough of your own images to use. Don’t pass up good themes just because you don’t have photos yet.
3. Poll Your Readers for Your Next Travel Destination
Your biggest fans want to be part of your travel adventures. Blogging about your experiences can become a one-dimensional expression, even with comments. On the other hand, involving your readers in your travel decisions makes blogging more of a community experience.
Poll your readers to let them decide your next travel destination and make them feel like they have a say in your next adventure. Pick five of your top destination choices and commit to the one that gets the most votes. If you’re feeling brave, allow write-in suggestions to add to the official list.
If you’re feeling brave and adventurous, let your readers provide all possible options. When the poll results are in, follow through with the most voted location, no matter how silly it might be.
4. Visit a Strange Location (like a Haunted House)
Everyone visits Paris and New York City. Try visiting a strange location or event to capture more attention. For example, find your way to Myrtles Plantation – one of the most haunted houses in the world.
Myrtles plantation has a creepy history and people report paranormal activity like broken clocks that tick, footsteps in the halls, beds that shake, and apparitions of a girl that appear in the windows.
Legend has it, a young slave girl named Chloe was afraid of being sent away to work the fields so she devised a way to make herself a hero. She baked a pie laced with poison and served it to her master’s daughters. She thought the pie would make them sick and she’d be needed to nurse them back to health. Instead, the girls died and the other slaves killed Chloe.
What could be more fun than writing a blog post about your stay at a haunted B&B?
5. Ask Fans to Share Their Travel Stories
Your fans love reading about your travels, but they’d probably love the opportunity to share their experiences, too.
Next time you post on Facebook, ask your fans to share their favorite travel stories. If you get some good stories, ask if you can share those stories in a future blog post. Your fans will be thrilled that you want to write a piece that features their stories.
6. Retweet Other Travel Content
Be generous with the content you share on social media. Follow and retweet other travel blog content when something interesting strikes your eye. Give other travel bloggers a mini platform on your social media accounts.
Travel bloggers don’t need their fans to be loyal to just them. The world of travel is so expansive and diverse that people will follow multiple travel bloggers. It’s addicting.
You might even find some cool ideas for your own future travels. So why not share some of that beautiful, inspirational content with your fans? Your followers want to see gorgeous travel photos, regardless of where those photos come from.
Need a Bonus Strategy?
If you really want to impress your readers, start posting videos to YouTube and embed them in your blog. You can start small and publish short clips, but don’t be surprised if you end up buying professional equipment and become a travel vlogger.
