3-Step Travel Agency Marketing for Small Business Saturday

Hear ye, hear ye! Small Business Saturday is coming up on November 26th, 2022. Maybe you're thinking, "More planning! More work! More time spent on aimless marketing initiatives and less time spent booking! OMG! Holidays! Bookings!"

Don't fear. This year, we're keeping it simple with a few refreshed social media posts you can share on your social media platforms! You can plug it into your favorite social media scheduler and call it a day.

Here's our 3 steps to your last-minute Travel Agency Small Business Saturday.

1. Take a social shareable (or two or three) from HAR. No need to credit us, or worry about altering it. Just take it and run!
2. Go to our travel hashtag buffet to find a few popular travel hashtags and pepper them with a few of your own.
3. Check with Local Networking Groups to Participate in Events/ Promotions

1. Social Shareables from HAR

Usually people "save the best for last," but I'm going to go ahead and put the best right up front: HAR's social shareables. If you do nothing else, do this: Share these social posts in the week leading up to Small Business Saturday. Why? They're eye-catching. They're clever. They take all of 2 minutes to share on your page, and you can even slap on your agency logo if you care to. What's not to love?

2. Quick Hashtag Tips (Psst! You can just copy and paste them to your post)

How do you know what hashtags to use to accessorize your great social posts? We have some quick tips on how to choose which ones to use¹.

1. Don’t Use Every Hashtag:

I am prone to getting hashtag happy on Instagram, but stuffing as many hashtags as possible into a post will bring you diminishing returns and it can look spammy. What’s the optimal number of hashtags to use?

1. Facebook: 1-2 (Make sure your hashtags are specific and relevant to your post)
2. Instagram: Up to 30 (Egads!) According to Sprout Social, Instagram is a "more the merrier situation" when it comes to hashtags. But don't worry, you can copy and paste a bunch we have here and pepper it with some of your own.
3. Twitter: 1-2 Less is more . . . using more than 2 can decrease your engagement, so don't go overboard
4. LinkedIn: 2-3 A few are good and according to Sprout more are fine too, so go with the flow!
5. Pinterest: 0 Mic drop

But which ones should you use? You can mix and match from the categories below!

2. Create a branded Hashtag

Consider creating a branded hashtag. This may not result in unique searches, but it's a good step in developing your brand on social media.

If I started a travel agency called Steintime Travel it could be:

1. #SteintimeTravel (go simple and use your biz name only)
2. #TravelwithSteintime (use your biz name, plus a popular travel keyword)
3. #SteintimeHoneymoons (use your biz name and niche)

3. Niche or destination-specific hashtags

Do you focus on a particular kind of travel or destination? Using that in a hashtag help you target your audience to those who are most interested in what you sell. These kinds of hashtags (even if they're not common) may lead to the most quality engagement.

Here's a few examples:

#[Niche]Travel (i.e. #FamilyTravel, #NatureTravel, #LuxuryTravel, #AdventureTravel)

Of choose to tag specific to your destination (if applicable):

#[Destination], #[Destination]Travel, #[Destination]_Insta #Insta (e.g. #Italy, #ItalyTravel, #Italy_Insta)

4. Top Small Business Saturday hashtags

For Small Business Saturday, you'll want to use one of the hashtags below:

#Shoplocal #ShopSmall #SmallBusiness #SmallBiz #BusinessOwner #SmallBusinessOwner #SmallBusinessWeek #SmallBusinessSaturday #SmallBusinessOwners #SmallBusinessLove #SmallBizOwner #SmallBizLife #CreativeEntrepreneur

5. Top Travel Hashtags

Below are some of the most popular travel hashtags. Pick a few that are relevant to your post. For example, if you’re posting one of HAR’s social shareables, it doesn’t make sense to use a hashtag like #TravelPhotography (even though it's extremely popular).

Here are some travel hashtags that will cast a wider net:

#travel #travelgram #photoshoot #italy #india #trip #wanderlust #vacation #adventure #instatravel #mountains #traveling #travelling #travelblogger #europe #traveler #tourism #traveller #traveltheworld #Travel, #Trip, #Traveling, #Traveler, #TravelPhotography, #Travels, #Traveladdict, #Travellife, #TravelPhoto, #TravelPics, #TravelBug, #TravelAwesome, #TravelPic, #Travelers, #Traveldeeper, #TravellingThroughTheWorld, #Travellers, #Travelmore, #Exploring #Explorer #Wanderer #Wanderlust

Keep in mind that while these tags might be the most popular, they won't necessarily lead to more engagement for you since your post is more likely to get lost in a sea of other Instagram posts. So don't overload your post with the most popular hashtags.

6. Instagram Travel hashtags

Instagram has its own breed of hashtags too. So if you want to get #insta_specific, check out a few of the options below for your insta account:

#igtravel #instatravel, #instatravelling, #travelawesome, #instatraveller, #instatraveltips, #instago, #instavacation, #instanature

7. Use your most popular hashtags in your bio

You can also plug a few of the best hashtags into your Instagram bio. Make sure the hashtags you use in your bio are relevant to your business.

3. Check Local Networking Groups for Events/ Listings

Do you want a little press for your agency? Research local or online guides to see if they have a small business directory guide (in print or online). What are the chances another local travel agent is chomping at the bit to participate?

Use Small Biz Saturday to take advantage of potential lead opportunities like these. Google [your city of residence] small business directories and see where you can plug in hyper-locally.

You're Ready for Small Business Saturday

That wasn't so bad was it! You're ready to go for Small Business Saturday! Do you have any of your own tips and tricks for getting the word out there for your business? Post them in the comments below!

Footnotes

1. Sources: Sprout, and Content Career ↩