Jamie Biesiada
Instagram's recently introduced action button, which enables potential clients to book appointments with travel agents, is shaping up to be a potentially useful lead-generation tool.
The button has some limitations at the moment. First, agents have to have an Instagram Business account to activate it.
"Right now, most of our agents are primarily using their personal Instagram accounts, but we see some slowly shifting over," said Vicky Garcia, co-owner and COO of Cruise Planners. "I think this is another way Facebook, which owns Instagram, will continue to profit as they offer brands a way to reach target demographics."
Additionally, agents have to partner with one of Instagram's preapproved, third-party scheduling tools that power the button. Some come at a monetary cost, and all will require an investment in time to learn the program and keep the schedule current, unless an agent or agency is already using one of the tools.
While the addition of the book button is, right now, purely designed for booking appointments to speak with an adviser, it does raise a larger question: If Instagram ever develops the tools and technology enabling agents to offer actual travel bookings, should agents go for it?
Opinions are mixed.
Alexandra Poidevin, digital marketing specialist at Andavo Travel, runs the host agency's Compass program, in which Andavo runs personalized social media accounts for agents. She said there would be a tremendous amount of integration work on behalf of Instagram, suppliers and others to even make such an idea happen, but she believes it would be a boon for agents.
"Social media is becoming more and more important in the travel industry, and more and more people are being attracted to destinations by social media," Poidevin said. "To [eliminate] that lapse between liking a photo and actually booking the destination, that would be ideal — to have that possibility of everything is just one smooth transaction."
It would be a positive for both agents and their clients, Poidevin said. Clients would ideally already know and trust their adviser, so they would feel they could skip researching and book on their adviser's recommendation via social media. Agents, on the other hand, would benefit from the booking, and potentially the speed with which the booking is made. She also said it would open a window for agents to design the rest of that client's trip outside of what they purchased via social media.
Margie Jordan, vice president of membership services at CCRA, was of a differing opinion.
Offering travel bookings via social media would too squarely place agents in competition with OTAs, she said, and it takes away from the consultative nature of an agent's work. Many agents don't offer clients the ability to book online at all for that reason, she pointed out.
"That kind of kills that whole customer service aspect that we've branded ourselves on," Jordan said. "Personally, I'm not a fan of having my clients just skip me completely. I want to talk to you, I want to make sure this is the right fit for you."
Regardless of which camp you fall in, it's all blue-sky thinking for now — but it's worth considering.