5 Ways Every Operator Can Grow Their Instagram

Social is the new search, as more and more travelers turn to social media for travel inspiration and planning. Here are five proven ways to crank up your Instagram and get more bookings

If you have attended Arival or followed their newsletter, you know that every operator needs to be on Instagram and other social media. This is where travelers – and especially Millennials and Gen-Z – are looking for experiences, as social search becomes a defining theme in 2025. But racking up views and likes and getting in front of the right audience is not always easy. 

Here are five ways you can do just that.  

1. Brand & Brand Consistency 

The way you present your company on Instagram can make a huge difference in the click-through rate to your website and, ultimately, conversions. Branding is crucial. Each operator must ensure consistency in branding to deliver a clear message and convey trust, professionalism and expertise.

Here are some important ways to showcase your branding across your Instagram account:

  • Use your brand logo or avatar as your profile image
  • Include your slogan or other key copy in your bio
  • Incorporate branded highlight icons in your brand colors
  • Pin branded content that highlights your tours and experiences

Take a look at one of our profiles below to see how we’ve incorporated these points.

Many of these designs can be created in Canva, and you don’t need a professional graphic designer to get started. Simply learn your brand’s color HEX codes and create a brand pack within Canva. Brand consistency is a theme you will find in all the additional points below.

Instagram allows you to add a link below your bio section. This is your chance to drive traffic from Instagram to your website, and the higher the CTR (click-through rate), the higher your bookings.

There are several ways to optimize this link space, including:

  • Send clients to a booking page or tour collection page to streamline the customer journey, or even create a custom CTA (call to action) page for your Insta followers.
  • Change the link dynamically based on what you’re posting about. For instance, if you just posted about a specific tour with a promo code, or if a particular tour or post is going viral, link directly to that specific tour page. 
  • Use a service such as Linktree for advanced insights into customer clicks, engagement, and interaction.
  • If you’re using Linktree, update the links dynamically based on your current campaigns and offers.
  • Include a highlighted photo or special offer section on Linktree.
  • Consider providing additional value on your Linktree — such as your latest blog posts, FAQs, or a newsletter signup — but always keep your products at the top.

These tips will help drive conversions from your Instagram traffic and reduce the volume of messages asking for price and tour information.

If you’d like to see how we use Linktree, you can find our page here. To sign up, just head over to their website

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3. Optimizing your Bio section  

Your bio is the perfect place to convey your brand’s message and tone to your audience. It’s also an opportunity to capture their attention with a quirky phrase or guide them to click your link and visit your business. You have up to 150 characters, so make them count! Here are four things you can do right:

  1. Include your catchphrase or a USP (unique selling point) if possible. For example, we use “Seize the day with Carpe Diem”
  2. Sell yourself wherever possible. For example, “Guaranteed FULL, Paris Food Tour” 
  3. If you are running a campaign or promotion, add your Promo code. (Always offer a promo code on Instagram. It helps to track conversions.) 
  4. Use a CTA (call-to-action) or signposting to help push clicks through. For example “Link in BIO” 

Below, you can see an example of the bio from our Rome Cooking School. We’ve included a catchy phrase, our reviews, a promo code, and an address. These elements help customers learn about your business and encourage them to interact with the link below. S

By the way, if you are ever stuck for ideas, try ChatGPT. 

4. Making use and dynamically updating pinned posts 

Imagine Instagram as your digital storefront — the social window into your brand and the audience you want to reach. They say first impressions count, and we personally always utilize pinned posts to dynamically update our brand offers or tell our story. Using pinned posts with imagery and branded graphics works best.

Here are three best practices:

  1. Highlight what’s important — for example, who you are, the tours you sell, and some of your best reviews.
  2. Take advantage of the carousel feature — add multiple slides with additional information, images or reviews.
  3. Include more CTAs to encourage users to visit your website.

Below, you can see an example of pinned posts from our Tipsy Tour Instagram page. Our target audience is a younger demographic, ranging from early 20s to 40s, and we’ve tried to capture this in our imagery and branding.

5. Provide relevant and concise highlights 

Highlights are the circular icons that appear below your bio section and link on your Instagram landing page. However, as of late 2024, Instagram introduced an update adding an additional tab next to your grid (represented by a heart icon within a circle) where you now find your highlights. I often notice common mistakes when it comes to highlights, such as not including them at all or failing to use clear images or branded covers.

Here are four things you should do now: 

  1. Avoid posting too many highlights. Keep it to four to six highlight sections to avoid overwhelming potential customers.
  2. Include customer reviews (images or video interviews), live-action tour shots broken down by tour type (history, food, monuments, etc.), and behind-the-scenes content to show customers your team and community.
  3. Don’t overdo it. Keep the content lean within each highlight. Users don’t need to watch 500 reviews before moving on to the next one. Five to 10 is plenty.
  4. Make sure your highlights have professional, clear covers—either a clean photo or an icon related to the topic.

Below is an example of how we utilize highlights on our Rome with Chef cooking school Instagram account: 

Well, that’s a wrap! The five points above (plus all of the recommended actions in each point) will help set your page up for success. A well-structured and visually pleasing page is crucial on a visual content platform like Instagram. Now go forth on Insta and get those views, likes, customers, clicks, and conversions.

And come to Arival 360 Valencia, where I will be leading an encore session of my Social Media Slam workshop. We’ll pull up live social accounts of tour and activity operators to review and improve in real time. Come along, and bring your Insta handle! 

About the Author

Oliver Green is the co-founder and chief marketing officer of Carpe Diem Tours and Create Circus marketing agency. Founded in 2019, the company runs tours across seven cities in Europe and has more than 700,000 followers across Instagram and Tiktok for  its Tipsy Tour and Carpe Diem Tours brands.


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