The ultimate guide to promoting your Hawaiʻi tours on social media
Find practical tactics to get discovered, capture attention, and turn your posts into bookings.
Social media is one of the top ways travelers discover and book Hawaiʻi tours. From turquoise waves to lush mountains, your tours practically market themselves if you show them off the right way.
But social media is more than just posting pretty pictures and hoping travelers discover your tours. It’s about connecting with your audience, building trust, and telling a story that’s uniquely yours.
In this guide, you’ll find practical tactics to get discovered, capture attention, and turn your posts into bookings. Whether you’re running a small surf school on O‘ahu or a fleet of snorkeling tours on Maui, these strategies will help you stand out.
Understanding your audience
Travelers to Hawaiʻi range from families and honeymooners to international visitors and adventure-seekers. Not every tour will appeal to every traveler, and that’s okay.
Knowing your audience helps define not only what you post, but also where you post it. Families looking for safe, fun activities often turn to Facebook groups or Instagram. Honeymooners are pinning dream trips on Pinterest. Adventure-seekers scroll TikTok for thrilling, fast-paced videos.
Not sure who your audience is? Review your booking history in the FareHarbor dashboard to see where your guests are coming from and which experiences they book most.
Building community is another way to strengthen those connections, and social media makes it simple to boost your brand by engaging authentically.
Pro tip: Your audience may overlap across platforms. Create a few simple personas to guide your content and keep your social strategy consistent.
What each platform offers
Each social media platform has unique strengths. Focus on the ones that best match your tours and audience.
Highlight Hawaiʻi’s beauty with reels, stories, and carousels. Save FAQs, booking links, or guests’ reviews in Highlights, so they stay visible long after the story disappears.
Reach families and older travelers. Use events to promote tours, and join community or travel groups to share updates.
TikTok
Showcase action-packed moments in quick clips, from surfing lessons to helicopter views. The right sound or trend can help your video reach thousands of travelers.
YouTube
Build an evergreen content library with tour previews, cultural storytelling, or safety explainers that travelers search for year-round.
Don’t skip your profile
No matter the platform, your profile is often the first impression. Use a clear logo or photo as your profile image, keep your bio short and keyword-friendly, and include a direct booking link. Add CTAs like “Book now” or “Reserve your spot today” wherever possible.
Pro tip: Start with one or two platforms where your audience is most active, then expand as you grow.
What to share on social media
The content you post should do more than look good — it should tell the story of your tours and inspire travelers to book.
Showcase the scenery
Hawaiʻi’s landscapes sell themselves. Share photos and short videos of beaches, mountains, waterfalls, and wildlife.
Highlight the experience
Show what guests will feel: the thrill of a zipline, the calm of a sunset sail, or the fun of a family snorkel trip.
Put people in the spotlight
Travelers love meeting the guides who’ll take them on their adventure. A quick intro video goes a long way toward building trust.
Encourage user-generated content
Ask guests to tag your business, run contests, or repost their best shots. Travelers trust other travelers’ experiences. Cross-promote with nearby restaurants or hotels by tagging each other in posts. It’s an easy way to reach new audiences.
Pro tip: Create a branded hashtag (e.g., #AlohaAdventures) to collect and reshare guest content easily.
Leveraging captions, trends, and hashtags
A picture may say a thousand words, but captions and audio help you reach more travelers. Captions show up in search results both on and off the platform.
Instead of writing “Our guests having fun,” use your caption to tell a story: “Our guests had a blast reeling in this mahi mahi haul on our private fishing charter out of Honolulu.” This not only engages readers, but it also positions your post to appear when travelers search for O‘ahu fishing charters.
Trending audio and formats on TikTok and Instagram reels can boost visibility, but only if they feel authentic to your brand. Savvy users know when content is forced.
Pair popular hashtags like #VisitHawaii and #AlohaSpirit with niche ones such as #HonoluluFoodTours or #MauiSurf. Mix evergreen content (sunsets, turtles, snorkeling) with timely posts (whale season, cultural festivals).
Pro tip: Keep a running list of trending hashtags and sounds by checking TikTok’s Discover page weekly.
Driving direct bookings through social
Social media only works if your viewers know what to do next: booking your tour. Pair visuals with strong calls to action (CTAs), such as “Book your sunset sail today” or “Spots fill fast for whale-watching season.”
On Instagram, include at least one booking link in your bio, add links to stories, and save a “Book now” highlight on your profile.
On TikTok, switch to a business account so you can place a clickable website link in your bio.
Facebook lets you add “Book now” buttons to pages and events, while YouTube allows links in video descriptions and channel banners.
No matter the platform, make it simple for viewers to move from inspiration to reservation.
Pro tip: Use a single booking link across platforms to track which channel drives the most reservations.
Running paid campaigns to boost visibility
Organic posts help you stay connected with followers, but paid campaigns extend your reach to new travelers. Ads put your tours in front of people actively planning a trip to Hawaiʻi or even those already on the islands.
Use geo-targeting to reach travelers searching for “Hawaiʻi vacation” or browsing from Honolulu, Maui, or Kona. Retarget past website visitors or cart abandoners to remind them to finish booking. Start small. Even $10–20 per day is enough to test which ads perform best.
Video ads showing real tours in action usually outperform static images, so highlight experiences like snorkeling with turtles or hiking to waterfalls.
Pro tip: Rotate ad creatives regularly to avoid “ad fatigue” and keep engagement high.
Measuring success
The only way to know if your social media efforts are paying off is to track results. Start with engagement metrics like likes, shares, saves, and comments, then look at how many people click through to your website or booking page.
Check which social posts led directly to bookings in your FareHarbor dashboard or Google Analytics, then double down on what works.
Refine your strategy monthly based on what performs best, whether that’s reels, ads, or guest photos.
Pro tip: Set one clear goal per campaign — such as boosting whale-watching bookings or growing Instagram followers — to measure success more effectively.
Turning posts into bookings
Social media isn’t just about sharing stunning photos of Hawaiʻi — it’s about connecting with travelers, building trust, and making it easy for them to book. By choosing the right platforms, sharing authentic content, and adding clear CTAs, you can turn likes and views into real reservations.
Want more strategies to grow your tours? Explore the latest insights in our marketing blog and discover new ways to boost visibility, increase bookings, and strengthen your business year-round.
