Instagram has become a social media phenomenon. The innovative photo-sharing app is considered the fastest-growing social network with the highest level of engagement. Popular with individuals and businesses alike, it's become a necessity for tour and activity business owners to use as part of their marketing efforts.Instagram allows companies to showcase their services and personality by quickly sharing “real time" photographs. This provides opportunities for attracting potential customers and communicating to your existing client base. But surprisingly, there are still many travel and tour operators that don't use Instagram to its full potential.Here are some quick and easy ways to incorporate Instagram into your company's daily activities:

Quality over Quantity: It's all about the photos

Luckily, you don't need to be a professional photographer to post amazing Instagram images. But you do need an impressive and consistent photo “feed" that appeals to your customer. Check out your own favorite Instagram pros and experiment with the many diverse filters before posting your favorites—and if you want to try more fun filters, apps like “Snapseed" offer a multitude of cool options. But quality is imperative to any photo, so be selective when posting pics that capture the essence of your tour company.Quick tip: To lighten darker photos, use the “brightness" button first (before using a filter) as that usually quickly enhances the image.With millions of users worldwide, Instagram allows companies to follow and regularly interact with your neighboring businesses as well as friends and customers. These can include your own employees, vendors, local tourism boards, reporters, area hotels and restaurants. Following other users, as well as liking and commenting on other posts, will result in increased exposure and potentially lead to new customers who discover your company online.Quick tip: Make new connections every day. Through repeated interactions with your followers, you can inspire local friends and businesses to mention and tag your company as well.

Start your activities with a fun hashtag

Kick off your activity with an Instagram shout-out. Let clients know your Instagram handle and to tag you when they post photos.Plus, if you create a clever hashtag to go with each activity, they'll be inspired to post more photos and interact with your company (and each other) more frequently. As an added bonus, hashtags like #WineTastingWednesday and #FabulousPhillyFoodTour enables you to easily track ongoing interactions. If you take photos, make sure to “tag" or at mention your participants to encourage continued social media banter.

Create a clever hashtag to go with your activities to encourage more engagement from your customers

Quick tip: If you have an especially creative and lively group, encourage them to come up with the day's hashtag.

Fun and Games

Another way to engage with your customers and add an extra level of excitement and interest is to host an Instagram photo contest. For example, you can suggest that customers post photos (with creative captions) surrounding a certain theme or place you visit on your tour. The added element of competition can inspire visually interesting shots and clever descriptions, too.Quick tip: Contests can be done daily, weekly, monthly, or whenever you wish.

Analyze this

After mastering Instagram, a great way to monitor your followers, interactions, and overall activity is by signing up for services such as iconosquare. This site provides analytics and even specific tips, such as the optimal time of day to post. (The program offers a free trial for new customers).Quick tip: There are many services like these, so check out your options before choosing one.

Looking for more easy tips on how to use social media to attract new customers?

Check out our blog, How To Create a Strong Social Media Presence.

There's stiff competition for attention in the tour and activity industry. Customers have far more options than time, so to thrive your company needs to provide a customer experience that inspires repeat visits and positive reviews.Customer experience includes the actual activity, but it’s more than just the hour or two they spend with you. The experience begins the first time the customer encounters your company and continues well after they've gone home.Great customer experience involves providing flexibility, increasing options, and removing obstacles. Here are a few examples of how online booking software can help improve the customer experience at every stage:

1. Customers Can Book on Their Terms

Some business owners still make customers book on the company’s terms. “You must call two weeks in advance between the hours of 10am and 2pm.” “You can only book in person.” “You have to send an email.”With online booking software, the customer is in charge of the experience. They can book online, over the phone, or in person. Booking can be on the day of the activity or weeks in advance. But don't think that means your schedule becomes a free-for-all—admins can set parameters for how soon before an activity a booking can take place and how far out your activities are available.

2. It’s Easy to See the Schedule

Online booking software takes the guesswork out of scheduling for customers. The software can show, in real time, what appointments and equipment are available. Instead of calling the business, or going back-and-forth via email, customers can see their options and pick the perfect time. The process is transparent, simple and removes a massive obstacle.

Online booking software shows real time availability so customers can see their options and pick the perfect time

3. Flexible Payment Methods

The days of the “CASH ONLY” sign are numbered. Imagine your customer’s relief at not being confronted with an astronomical ATM fee just to do business with you. Or how delighted they'll be to arrive with the booking already paid, ready to embark on the activity.With the right booking software, customers can pay ahead online, with a card at the moment of sale or even in cash if they really want to. The more flexibility you offer, the better the customer experience.

4. Reminder Emails Keep Enthusiasm Up

Comprehensive online booking software includes the ability to automate emails before and after the activity. Customers receive a thoughtful reminder of their upcoming trip, with some tips for what to expect and what to bring. These emails keep the customer excited for the activity, set expectations and improve their in-person experience.

5. Customers Can Make Changes

The same flexibility the software brings to booking and payment extends to last-minute changes on the day of activity. If the customer wants to add a person to their party or reschedule, they may be able to handle the change themselves through the software. But even if they need to speak with you directly, you'll immediately know whether you can accommodate the change, so customers won’t have to wait while you flip through printed (or handwritten) pages or squint at spreadsheets.

6. Follow-up Emails Continue the Positive Experience

Like the reminder email, follow-up emails can be automatically generated and sent after the activity. These emails give you an opportunity to thank the customer, ask for reviews and offer a discount on their next booking. This level of attention makes the customer feel appreciated and assures them that you value both their business and their feedback.You're in the business of helping people have a good time. The right online booking software support that mission from the moment a customer decides to book with you to the moment they become a repeat visitor, and that's a win for you both.

Relationships matter—especially when your company expands into a new market. When taking that first bold step into uncharted territory, it's essential to create a great first impression to help grow your business. By establishing strong relationships from the start, companies can attract new customers, build solid partnerships and promote themselves professionally.Here are ways that tour and activity businesses can embrace a new venture with enthusiasm and make a big splash within the community:

Get an insider's view via the local visitors bureau

When expanding into a new market, a visit the tourism office and/or the CVB (Convention and Visitors Bureau) should be one of your first stops. That way you can begin to build a mutually beneficial relationship with people who fully understand the area. By leveraging the existing knowledge and know-how of this very experienced and well-connected team, you'll gain a treasure trove of advice, such as optimal ways of attracting both tourists and locals. You can work together to create special discounts and events, and they can introduce you to other local businesses for rewarding cross-promotional opportunities.

Connect with the media and blogger community

Early on, it's a smart choice to schedule a special “media day" and invite local journalists, bloggers and social media influencers to participate in one of your activities at a complimentary or low rate. Then, encourage them to tweet, post or snap the fun. This will generate online excitement about your business while increasing your local reach through first-hand endorsements from well-respected individuals. You can also offer freebies, give-away items, and special coupons for them to pass along to their readers and followers.

Embrace the community

It's a win-win when businesses get involved with local events and charitable organizations. Community relations and philanthropic efforts can also result in increased exposure, as tour and activity companies can foster positive relationships with schools, churches, small businesses and local groups. It's also important to identify a few non-profits and charitable causes that mesh well with your company's sensibilities and vision. For example, your new city may have annual 5K runs, Earth Day celebrations, or perhaps a “pet adoption day" where you can donate your services or offer special discounts to participants.

Hotels and resorts: Gateways to your future customers

A natural match that can be overlooked by many tour and activity companies is working with hotels to increase sales and attract new customers. In addition to establishing strong ties with on-site concierges, it's wise to meet with the sales and marketing team as well, as they can help create packages and programs for guests that include your tour offerings. And be creative—hotels are always seeking to promote and advertise new activities for potential guests.

Social media marketing: More than a hashtag

Every tour you conduct in a new market has the potential to attract new customers as well as return customers. In addition to promoting your usual social media channels, keep the momentum going online by creating hashtags that reflect the theme of your activity and your new market by name. For example, if your company specializes in food tours, you can create a hashtag like: #PhillyFoodieTour2016. More specific hashtags can capture a particular day or event, such as #SaturdayBeerTrailPDX or #NYCGhostTour2016. This encourages existing customers to get involved via social media, attracts tourists visiting the area and can provide you with a record of that day's online and mobile interactions.

Every tour you conduct in a new market has the potential to attract new customers as well as return customers

Make mobile booking easy

Many people search on their phones for last-minute things. In fact, Google even confirmed that more searches now happen on mobile devices over desktop. Optimizing for mobile search can help people find you (for ideas check out our blog on how to make your site mobile-friendly).But don't stop there! Besides searching for things to do, people want to book on mobile too. Make sure it's easy for them to make a reservation via their smartphone by using an online booking system that is optimized for mobile. Check out Peek Pro to see how you can easily increase your bookings through an easy-to-use mobile checkout flow.

Not every customer wants to pay a premium for a tour or activity. Many are simply looking for the best bang for their buck. And at select times—either during the off season or slow weekdays—you're more than willing to offer discounts. To market these deals to those budget-conscious travelers, you may likely throw it up on a daily deal site. But that may not be the best idea.Why not? Well, according to Boston University researchers, daily deal sites can lead to negative online reviews. In other words: Listing your offerings there can do more harm than good. So what's a tour and activity operator to do? That's "easy"—define and implement a marketing and advertising strategy that attracts budget-conscious travelers while maintaining a positive reputation among all customers. That will help you reach this lucrative market without compromising the value of your offerings or jeopardizing your brand.Here are some of the most impactful ways to do just that:

Run Your Own Deals on Social Media

Make your social media accounts, such as Facebook and Twitter, the only source for securing a great deal or discount from your company. You can run limited-time-only offers, seasonal specials or discounts on packages throughout the month or season. Create a sense of urgency by emphasizing that these deals are only available for a short time. Create custom banner ads and posts promoting these special offerings. These can include such things as a photo with colorful text attached to it or something as simple as a "Sale" stock image with details about the offer.Tip: You don't need to be a master of graphic design to create graphics for your social media channels. There are many free tools that can help you easily create all of your social media graphics. A few of our favorites are Canva, available both on desktop and mobile, and Landscape by Sprout Social.And if your discounted offer depends on a promo code, make sure to share it. If you're looking for places to post them beyond your own social media accounts, check out this blog post on where to distribute promo codes.

Cater to Budget Seekers with Localized Blog Posts

If your company maintains a blog, publish a series of posts centered around topics of interest to budget travelers. Ideas on free and low-cost things to do in the area (including a brief mention of any specials and packages your company is offering), tips on saving on gear purchases and ideas for planning a budget vacation to your destination are a few ideas. These posts can be a great way to generate interest in your blog and you can drop the link on social media sites to further promote them.By sharing valuable knowledge about your local area, the posts can pique the interest of a budget seeker without going to the extreme of drastically reducing your prices. These types of posts appeal to a wider audience and can position you as an authority on frugal activities or experiences—without positioning you as a cheap destination—as your readership grows.

Sharing valuable knowledge about your local area can get the interest of a budget seeker, without having to lower your prices

Focus on Value over Price

Whether you offer upgrades on certain booking options, 2-for-1 ticket specials during certain times of the year or seasonal specials, make sure to emphasize the value of your offerings over their price. Focusing less on the what the customer is paying and more on the experience can send the message of a positive experience at a reasonable cost versus positioning your experience as a cheap way to have fun.For example, a rainforest tour operator who offers package upgrades can focus on the value of adding a photo package or bringing a friend for a discount instead of promoting the actual price of each add-on.

The Bottom Line

When you want to target budget travelers for the off-season, use an approach that doesn't risk damaging your online reputation. Being strategic will make your offerings more attractive, whether to locals looking for something to do or travelers who need to pinch some pennies.

As a business owner, the last thing on your mind might be how to use the local media to increase your tour and activity bookings. But it shouldn't be. As a tour and activity operator, you can increase your media influence—and thereby, your bookings—with a few strategic PR (public relations) tactics.Put your company center stage with these simple tips:

What's new? Be a trendsetter and stay newsworthy

Journalists and bloggers are always seeking new, compelling story ideas. When your business is a “new kid on the block," you may be newsworthy, but as time passes, you'll have to do more to attract media attention.As someone who's already close to the tour or activity market, you're naturally on the frontline of hot tourism trends that are worthy of coverage, such as an increase in multi-generational travel or changes in how travelers use technology. By making the media aware of these stories, you can position yourself as an industry “expert."

Create relationships with local media

In the tourism world, it's essential to build on-going relationships with the local media from reporters (TV, print, and radio) to bloggers to social media influencers. Be sure to connect, follow and engage with these trendsetters on social media channels by commenting on their articles—ideally before you ask them to write about your business.If you do reach out to journalists with information, keep your message short and sweet, and be aware of deadlines. If the news is time-sensitive, try to give them a head start. And if a journalist accepts complimentary services (some won't due to ethical concerns), you can invite them to check out your tour or event first-hand so they can share the experience with their colleagues and possibly with their audience.

Build on-going relationships with local media reporters and social media influencers

Show off your knowledge: Be a speaker!

Your local community most likely hosts a multitude of events throughout the year. Volunteering to speak, hosting a discussion or joining a panel will automatically position you in a favorable light as a subject matter expert. If possible, record your speech so you can share it online and use it for marketing your services. Keep in mind that in exchange for speaking, participants are frequently offered the opportunity to “promote" or “plug" their own business.Opportunities like these also give you the chance to interact with other area businesses and organically meet media members, who may be seeking quotes or sources for future tourism stories. For example; Nate Martin, Co-Founder and CEO of Puzzle Break, shares his extensive escape room knowledge with others by blogging and presenting at industry conferences.

Be prepared! Create a professional press kit

Most tour operators understand the importance of a professional, aesthetically-pleasing website to attract customers, but journalists and bloggers often need more robust information than what's normally on a company site. Be prepared for media inquiries by developing a press kit in advance.At the minimum, your press kit should contain: a one-page document with your company's intriguing “background story"; bios of the key players in your organization; and a one-page fact sheet that lists important bullet points about your company (like tours offered, pricing information, etc.). A few fun facts are always a bonus (and often lead to interesting local stories). A link to professional photos, as well as emails and social media handles, should also be front and center.For example; Trapped OKC shares on their about page why they started Trapped and bios of the founders, Michelle and Matt.

Utilize free PR tools.

Even if you don't have the budget to hire a PR professional, you can use a few free online PR tools that will help you directly connect with media outlets. One favorite is HARO (“Help a Reporter Out" ) that allows you to sign up for alerts that assist reporters to quickly connect with sources. Another valuable tool used by many businesses and individuals is Google Alerts, which enables you to set up a multitude of email notices based on keywords of your choosing. In addition, LinkedIn can help you connect with local media members directly, as contact information such as email address and phone numbers are easily available.By using any of these tactics, you can increase bookings by making your presence known in the media.

As a tour and activity operator, utilizing an online booking solution is mission-critical to running your business smoothly. With more than 57% of travelers booking online, you could be missing out on easy revenue and customer growth. However, picking an online booking software that not only works for your business, but also partners with you to help your business grow, is not always as easy as it sounds.

To help you in your decision, we’ve created this simple online booking software checklist:

1. How stable is the company?

Ensuring the company has the strength and capital to be your long-term partner is critical in your decision. Find out who has invested in the company and how much capital has been raised. See if their investors are key influencers in the industry, backed with years of expertise and relationships that can help your business. Ask whether they are profitable, and if they have the cash to invest in growing their team and product.TIP: If the investors have made an ongoing investment in the company to support its continued growth, that’s a strong signal the company has what it takes to be a long-term partner for you.

2. How experienced is the management team and board?

Evaluate the backgrounds of the leadership team and board of directors. Make sure they have the experience needed to help your business succeed.TIP: Look at the LinkedIn profiles of the company’s leadership team. When the founders have invested years into the company, it’s an indication they’re in it for the long haul. Plus, if members of the leadership team have strong career paths at successful companies, these are the types of people who can likely help your business grow and succeed.

3. Is the company investing in continually improving its product and services?

Ask about their level of investment in product development, along with examples of important products the company has released recently. When companies continually add product updates and features, this is a strong signal: Not only are they investing in their product, they’re listening and responding to their customers’ needs.

4. Who is on their team? Is the company growing?

Ask how many employees they have in product and engineering. Also, inquire about the ratio of salespeople to product and engineers. When a company's employee base is product- and engineer-focused, it validates that they are investing in the product.

5. What do their employees say about working there?

Take a look at the company’s culture: Many companies share a behind-the-scenes view on their social media channels.

Now that you have evaluated the company’s stability and experience, it’s time to dig into the product itself:

6. Is the online booking software easy to use?

If a product is difficult or non-intuitive for your employees and customers to navigate, it will never work for your business. That’s why ease of use is top on many businesses’ priority list when selecting a new online booking solution.TIP: Think about how your business runs its day-to-day operations. Look for a system that has a centralized, easy-to-use calendar to keep your business organized. Also, keep in mind how easy it is to onboard new staff.

7. Is the product customizable to fit the needs of your business?

Tours and activities come in all forms. Look for a system that can be customized according to your business’ needs. For example, if you are a bicycle rental company, can the system handle multiple bike rental times and equipment add-ons, such as helmets?

Look for a system that can be customized to your business' needs

8. How will the booking functionality help increase your sales?

Today’s customers book their activities in a variety of ways. For example, some like to pre-book far in advance, while others might book via their mobile phone while traveling. If your system won’t let them book how, when, and where they want to, you are at risk of losing the sale.TIP: Look for software that allows bookings online via your website, your social media channels, and even through a mobile app.

9. How strong is the company’s mobile offering?

Look for a system that has both iOS and Android mobile apps that let you and your staff manage all bookings, reservations and communications via smartphone. Most companies only offer a mobile-responsive or mobile-friendly design, which aren’t optimized for running your business on the go.

10. Does the online booking solution offer customer support and account management?

Just because an online booking system is, well, online, doesn’t mean it has to be online only.TIP: Look for a solution that has a dedicated customer support and account management team to partner with your business in order to help you succeed.

11. Does the business provide additional support with marketing and selling your tours and activities?

Look for an online booking solution that can be your marketing partner. For example, Peek has an OTA marketplace, peek.com to help increase your bookings.

12. How does the software handle customer and staff communication?

Communication is key, but it can take hours to do. By picking a system that automates most communication, you can spend less time in the office and more time doing what you love.TIP: Look for a system that sends emails to your customers both pre- and post-activity. This allows you to identify any additional information needed, confirm the customer’s purchase and ask them for reviews.Don’t forget about guide communication. Look for an online booking software that can help you manage your staff by texting and/or emailing them as needed.

13. What price is right for your business?

Everyone cares about cost, and striking the right balance of affordability and quality is important. You’ll want a system that fits your budget and provides the right functionality—both now, and as your business expands.

14. What are the total costs?

Read the details and do the math on the fees, including all-in credit card fees and monthly fees. Evaluate savings from lower credit card fees, and compare vs. other fees that may be included. Many companies will say they are “free”, but in fact, they pass on the higher fees to your customers instead. Others may have limitations on the number of bookings per month that you can process. Gain a clear understanding of these pricing policies.

15. How should you compare the credit card fees?

Examine the credit card fees in detail. Many banks will charge 2.5-3.5% per transaction. Even if you use Square, they will charge 2.75%. Alternatively, using an online booking software that acts as your processor can drastically reduce credit card fees by as low as 1.99%.

Evaluating online booking solutions? See how Peek Pro can help streamline business operations and grow bookings.