How Much Is an Instagram Story Worth?

“The traditional hotel photo shoot is a thing of the past.”

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By Nikki Ekstein

March 2, 2017 at 7:05 PM UTC

Corrected

March 3, 2017 at 1:58 PM UTC

This article is for subscribers only.

This article is part of the March 6, 2017 issue of businessweek.

Jeremy and Tom Jauncey were among the first to turn being good at Instagram into a travel advertising and marketing business. Jeremy launched the travel-themed Instagram page Beautiful Destinations in 2012 and was soon joined by his brother. Within a year, the account had 1 million followers. By last August it had grown to almost 8 million. The brothers have built a portfolio of customers in the travel industry, mostly hotel chains and tourism bureaus, who pay to be touted to Beautiful Destinations’ enormous number of followers.

Even with that success, Beautiful Destinations had to diversify to grow. In August 2016, Instagram introduced Stories—its version of Snapchat. The feature incorporates short videos and images that disappear 24 hours after posting. Stories allows for a mix of posts: video clips as well as shots of a daylong excursion along Amsterdam’s canals, for instance, rather than a single still. Since January, Stories have linked to client websites, a marketing tool regular Instagram posts don’t offer.