Tourism Currents® 3 overlooked social media platforms

3 overlooked social media platforms

June 16, 2026/
Sheila/
Newsletter /

Sheila Scarborough Tourism Currents Perceptive Travel Blog Route 66 mural Mother Road Market Tulsa OK — Celebrating Route 66 outside Mother Road Market in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

I promise I’m not trying to make more work for you.

But every once in a while, someone asks me which social media platforms or channels tend to be overlooked by tourism marketing folks.

Here is my current advice:

I continue to be surprised by how many people ignore both their personal profile and their organization’s Page on LinkedIn, the world’s biggest social business network.

If you Google your own name, your LinkedIn personal profile will come up on Page One of search results – I guarantee it – so it had better be a good reflection of you.

Right now, I get better engagement and reach on LinkedIn than on almost any other social platform.

It took awhile to get to that point, but it is so nice to see networking efforts paying off, instead of shouting into the void like I do elsewhere. *cough* Instagram *cough*

A LinkedIn Page is your organization’s B2B “storefront” and can be a powerful tool for your organization if you do any sort of B2B sales or services.

Too many DMOs spend a ton of time on their Facebook Page, but none on their LinkedIn Page. It’s the obvious place for tourism and economic development B2B discussions.

YouTube

What is the Number Two search engine in the world?

YouTube.

Who owns YouTube?

Google.

What is the top social media platform across every age demographic? YouTube.

A lot of DMOs and tourism partners have a YouTube channel, but when I start poking around – like when I do a social media audit – I see that they haven’t uploaded anything in months or even years.

I KNOW you’re shooting video, though!

Put those same horizontal videos on your YouTube channel, with a descriptive title and a keyword-rich video description.

Put your vertical videos (all those Instagram Reels and TikToks and Snapchat videos) on your channel as YouTube Shorts, again with good SEO-focused titles and descriptions.

Then let them work harder for you on this powerful search engine, sometimes for years, instead of “disappearing” after a few days on other social media.

Pinterest is an inspiration search engine more than a social media platform. Those searches include people looking for travel inspiration.

It can drive traffic to your website and blog.

A photo or video Pin can be linked back to a relevant blog post or website page. If it is evergreen or seasonal content, you could see traffic coming in for months, or even years.

Pinterest is an easy way to repurpose content – get more use out of photos and video you’ve already created.

I want you to get more out of what you’re already doing, not add to your workload. Take advantage of platforms that offer more longevity to your content.

Do you agree that these overlooked social media platforms can help you extend the impact of your work, especially when it comes to the magic of long-tail search? Let me know in the comments.

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