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8 Tips to Keep Your Social Media Game Strong While Travelling

Half the fun of going on vacation is posting Instagram pics that document you living your #bestlife. Here are some tips on how to avoid annoying friends with your photos, maintain personal safety, and just have an all-around enjoyable trip.

By Faryn Wegler

By Faryn WeglerView Author PostsApr 9th 2018

Sure, half the fun of going on vacation is posting Instagram pics that document you living your #bestlife (guilty). However, there are certain social media rules you should follow to avoid annoying friends, maintain personal safety, and just have an all-around enjoyable trip. To learn how to keep your social media game strong on your next getaway, check out our list of do’s and don’ts below!

DO: CHOOSE YOUR PLATFORMS WISELY

When posting real-time photos from your vacay, it’s important to choose just one platform and stick with it (i.e. if you choose Instagram, you shouldn’t post on Facebook and vice versa). It’s likely that you have a lot of the same followers on each platform, and forcing them to see the same type of posts multiple times will only induce some serious eye rolls.

DON’T: OVERPOST

In case you didn’t know, your friends hate when you share too many vacation photos and play-by-play status updates. Instead of posting multiple individual photos, try sharing more curated albums of only your best pics as to not clog up peoples feeds. Also, if your trip is more than just a few days, try not to upload new posts every day – instead, spread them out throughout the duration of your trip (i.e. every other day on a 10-day trip).

In terms of Snapchat and Instagram Stories, uploading a photo/video here and there is perfectly fine – but posting too many stories is likely going to annoy your friends, and they may stop looking at them all together. Also, remember this content will be gone in 24 hours, so don’t waste too much time or energy on it!

DON’T: REVEAL YOUR CURRENT LOCATION

Each time you check in somewhere on Facebook or geo-tag a photo of your current location, you’re letting potentially dangerous people know exactly where you are. If your photo’s location is too cool not to geo-tag, at least wait until you’re no longer there before adding it to the post.

Oversharing your location also lets people know you aren’t currently home – which can open your house up to being robbed (finding out where you live is not as hard as you think). Even though your social profiles may be set to private, you can never be 100% sure of your entire network, and your friends’ accounts could be hacked!

DON’T: POST CLICHÉ PICTURES

Let’s be honest: there’s nothing more irritating than seeing another passport-with-boarding-pass picture pop up on your feed. Same goes for hotdog legs by the pool, or your run-of-the-mill sunset overlooking a beach. If the picture you’re about to post resembles thousands of others you’ve seen before, it’s time to think more creatively.

DO: TAKE UNIQUE & CANDID SHOTS

Instead of overwhelming your followers with cliché photos, try posting pictures that really show off the beauty and culture of the location you are visiting. This can inspire people to want to travel there their next trip or allow them to reminisce about their time visiting there on a previous vacation.

Another thing: try not to overthink your posts or stress yourself out trying to get that perfect Instagram-worthy pic (you’re on vacation remember?!). Often times, the best photos turn out to be those candid, in-action shots that aren’t planned!

DO: KEEP SELFIES & FOOD PICS TO A MINIMUM

Posting too many vacation selfies is a serious no-no in the rules of social media etiquette. Here’s some groundbreaking news…if we’re friends or related to you, there’s a good chance we already know what your face looks like! We’d much rather see photos featuring the landscape of where you are and cool shots that show off the uniqueness of the location.

In terms of food pics, posting a mouthwatering meal you had from a restaurant that you’d totally recommend to a friend is great. But in general, try to keep food posts to a minimum – because unless it’s something we get to eat, we don’t care!

DON’T: BRAG

Even though you’re probably having a blast, remember that no one really wants to hear about a trip they aren’t on (ever heard of FOMO?). If you’re raving about the great view from your hotel room in Mexico or how good the champagne tastes in France, you’re likely going to alienate a few friends. Before posting on social media, you should always take a moment to check your motivation for the post – is it simply to make your friends jealous, or is it to capture the essence of a genuinely cool location?

DO: JUST ENJOY THE MOMENT

As tempting as it may be to keep uploading content and checking your social feeds 24/7, let us remind you of the purpose of your vacation – to have fun and relax! The anxiety that comes along with always getting the perfect shot, and monitoring how many likes/comments/views it received, can prevent you from remaining present and truly experiencing your surroundings. Social media will still be there when your trip’s over, so for now, just put your phone away and enjoy the moment!