We See You: Celebrating + Learning from Ontario’s Highlands’ Operators Winning at Instagram

We love seeing tourism operators successfully market their business in a competitive tourism world. These are the folks who are going the extra mile with their social media marketing, and really working overtime to promote their business and region. 

We see you!

Read our short list of five businesses who are killing it on Instagram these days and celebrate their successes with us.

Coutts Coffee

Instagram: @Couttscoffee

Coutts Coffee Roastery & Café is a coffee shop specializing in organic, fair-trade coffee located in downtown Perth. There’s a lot to say here – their Instagram presence is keeping up with current trends and they are consistently creating new visual assets (photo and/or video) to keep their page fresh and interesting. They’re also using Instagram stories to maximum effect and coming up with catchy captions/text. 

Accolades: Coutts Coffee Roastery is always trying something new with their Instagram reels to keep them trending. That means adopting new creative tactics for video that helps them showcase their products in a unique way.

Wilder Waters

Instagram: @wilder.waters

Wilder Waters is a concierge-style property management company focusing on rural cottages, cabins, and unique stays within the Ottawa Valley and surrounding area. Their Instagram content is really focusing on the nature aspect that is such a big attractor for visitors to the area. 

Wilder Waters also collaborates with other content creators, which is a good way to increase brand awareness and reach for social posts. A nice variety of and use of reels keeps them trending well on Instagram, and ensures they get good reach with their audiences. Their captions/text are varied for maximum interest and are a mix of short and sweet text interspersed with more descriptive captions.

Accolades: Wilder Waters partners with influencers and local businesses to expand their reach and keep their Instagram page trending. Their partnership with Koti 28 provides in-store discounts for guests staying at a Wilder Waters property.

H2H Cottage Co

Instagram: @h2hcottageco

Located in Haliburton Highlands, H2H Cottage Co. offers two cottage rentals, one on Kennisis Lake and one on Bitter Lake. H2H Cottage Co. consistently engages with tourism stakeholders, and uses high quality images to promote its destination. Their photos tell a “picture story” and appeal to the inspiration phase of the visitor’s commitment journey. 

Accolades: Early on in their marketing evolution, H2H Cottage Co. focused on acquiring professional quality photos and videos to highlight and promote their business. 

Hummingbird Chocolate Maker

Instagram: @hummingbirdchocolate

Hummingbird Chocolate Maker is an award-winning chocolate maker located in Almonte and specializing in single origin chocolate bars of exceptional flavour. Hummingbird is going the extra mile in terms of creating unique videos and photo content featuring their products in unique and timely ways. 

They promote special days that will trend on Instagram (ie. National Iced Tea Day) to help promote their store and products. Each caption on Instagram is perfectly crafted to suit the image or video that goes along with it and they also include a compelling Call to Action.

Accolades: Hummingbird Chocolate Maker frequently partners with local businesses – most notable is their partnership with Dairy Distillery to create their Vodkow chocolates as a special menu item and the inclusion of Fulton’s Maple Syrup in their Maple Chocolate and other maple products.

Terramor Farms

Instagram: @terramorfram

Terramor Farm is a three-acre market garden located in Burnstown in the Ottawa Valley. These folks provide great insight into the behind the scenes work that goes into their business and promote not only their products but also their business and the people behind it as well (great storytelling).

To cap it all off, they don’t just focus on promotion, they also feature inspirational and informational posts to round out their content line-up. They share unique images and videos captured on-site, which helps showcase their small farm. 

Accolades: Terramor Farms entered into a partnership with Lee Valley Tools for an Instagram video series on home gardening that featured their gardening tips.

Key takeaways to Use in Instagram Marketing

1. Stay up to date with trends 
   Knowing what the media trends are will allow you to create content around those topics, which will lead to higher impressions on social media. Keeping up with these trends will help businesses and organizations learn what content they should create to keep their followers engaged. *Note: Plus, social media feeds are constantly evolving to accommodate the top social media trends. 
2. Share a variety of visuals (ie images and videos) 
   Diversifying your content on social media is crucial as it attracts a broader audience and enhances conversion rates. Variety is key in social media strategy—it keeps followers engaged, reaches new audiences, and highlights different aspects of your brand. 
3. Collaborate with content creators 
   Partnering with content creators offers brands a unique chance to achieve precise reach and enhance audience interaction. These creators have cultivated distinct niches and demographics among their followers, providing brands with a direct route to their target audience. Moreover, it establishes authenticity for consumers, as these are real individuals who have interacted with the brand and are sharing their genuine feedback.
4. Ensure your business has great storytelling 
   Storytelling forms a cornerstone of social media marketing. Compelling narratives forge connections and provide valuable insights. Authentic storytelling distinguishes itself from the clutter of fake news and ads, building trust and credibility with your audience.
5. Share high quality photos and videos 
   Sharing high-quality images allows your content to stand out to consumers. It can improve your social media strategy, boost your online presence and generate more active leads. 

Leverage Your Marketing with OHTO

Is digital marketing an area in which you would like focus more on for your business? Did you know that OHTO can help you showcase your business on our website and social channels?

Read this article about partnering with OHTO for marketing success. A recent partnership with Pine Brae Eco-Resort led to Local Wanderer staying at Pine Brae for a two-night visit. OHTO compensated the Local Wanderer fee and mileage and Pine Brae provided the free accommodation. 

This partnership resulted in the development of a story generating more than 300 clicks to their website, a social post reach of 50,546 and engagement of 3,245. The reel which was created from the visit reached 2,164 accounts with 3,432 plays and had 77 interactions. 

These metrics will continue to build as the story and reel continue to circulate through OHTO’s marketing efforts. 

Read the story here: Off Grid and Offline: Embracing a Slower Pace at Pine Brae Eco-Resort
Watch the reel here: Pine Brae Instagram Reel

I Want to Partner!

If you are an active OHTO member you are eligible to partner with OHTO on a marketing project like those described above. Claim your member listing and profile with OHTO (it’s free!) by clicking here.  

If you are interested in entering into a partnership with OHTO for any of the above partnership ideas, please complete the following forms:  

Host a Local Wanderer
Host a Photo Shoot
Learn More About Booker

Interested in learning more about how to market your business on Instagram? Watch our Expand Your Knowledge webinar on Creating Engaging Short-Form Video with Finn Hogue, Digital Marketing Specialist with OHTO. You can also watch Finn’s tutorial on How to Create Reels for Instagram in Canva for the step-by-step guide to get you started.