As we plan our content strategy for 2026 and beyond, we wanted to share more insight into how Tourism Kelowna approaches social media and features our destination, members, local businesses, and industry partners across our channels.

This guide offers an overview of our social strategy, how we select and prioritize content, and how you can best support us with assets and story ideas. While some of the information below also applies to our paid social media advertising, it primarily concerns our organic social media efforts. 

How We Promote Our Region

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We work alongside hundreds of tourism operators and community partners, including our more than 350 Members and Advertisers, all of whom play an important role in shaping the visitor experience in Kelowna and the Okanagan Valley. Social media and content are one of the ways we help tell that story.

Our first priority when sharing content through our consumer channels—Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and our #exploreKelowna Blog—is to showcase the destination as a whole. We focus on inspiring travel to our region, highlighting the experiences people can have here, and showcasing the businesses that bring those experiences to life.

Because we plan content weeks or months in advance and aim to maintain a strong, engaged audience, we are unable to share every tagged post or request. We work hard to keep things fair, balanced, and useful for both locals and travellers. Timing, quality assets, and alignment with seasonal marketing priorities all play an important role in what gets featured.

How Social & Content Fits Into Tourism Kelowna's Strategy

Social media and content play an important role in inspiring travel, supporting local businesses, and building year-round awareness for Kelowna. While it is one piece of a larger marketing ecosystem, it is often where potential visitors first discover the region and where locals stay connected to what is happening in their own backyard. 

We prioritize content that resonates and performs well, as strong engagement allows us to continue expanding our reach and sharing member stories with new audiences.

Goals When Sharing Content

• Inspiring travel and driving awareness to Kelowna and the Okanagan Valley.
• Supporting trip planning by showcasing experiences, businesses, and seasonal highlights.
• Promoting year-round visitation, including shoulder seasons.
• Dispersing travellers to other parts of our community.
• Driving traffic to tourismkelowna.com for deeper trip planning.
• Maintaining strong engagement, performance results, and an active, invested online community.

Platform Roles

Each platform plays a slightly different role within our strategy:
 

Instagram: Discovery and Inspiration

• Instagram is our primary visual storytelling platform. This is where we inspire, highlight experiences, and bring Kelowna and the Okanagan Valley to life through photo and video. It is a curated mix of aspirational content, seasonal moments, and shareable experiences.

Facebook: Inspiration and Information

• Facebook supports both inspiration and practical information. It is where we share blog content, event highlights, updates, and helpful trip-planning resources, along with engaging visual content.

TikTok: Visual Discovery

• TikTok allows us to reach new audiences through short-form, engaging video. It is discovery-focused, fast-moving, and highly visual, often spotlighting unique experiences and moments that feel authentic and relatable.

#exploreKelowna Blog: Depth and Trip Planning Support

• Our #exploreKelowna Blog allows us to go deeper into the experiences and businesses that define our region. With a strong Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) strategy, the blog drives consistent organic traffic from travellers and locals actively searching for inspiration and trip-planning information. Blog content is also regularly promoted through our social media advertising, helping to extend reach and provide added value beyond what we can share organically on our channels.

Audiences

We aim to balance visitors and locals equally in our approach. Content should inspire someone planning their first, or tenth, trip while remaining relevant and interesting to locals. Seasonal shifts also guide our focus, ensuring what we share reflects in-market conditions and what travellers are actively searching for.

How We Select and Prioritize Content

With more than 350 members and tourism partners across the region, thoughtful planning is essential. When we build our content calendar, we use clear filters to determine what gets included and when.

Priorities When Selecting Content

1. Seasonality

What is happening right now, and what travellers are actively looking for. Seasonal relevance plays a major role in what we share.

2. Campaign Alignment

Content that aligns with current marketing campaigns, travel segments, and broader Tourism Kelowna priorities.

3. Audience Interest and Trends

We pay close attention to what our audience engages with, emerging travel trends, and what feels timely and relevant.

4. Past Performance

We look at performance data to understand what resonates. If we know certain types of experiences, visuals, or themes consistently perform well, we will lean into that.
 

Strong engagement (shares, saves, views, page views, etc.) enables us to expand reach and maximize visibility for the destination and our members.

Tracking Balance and Industry Representation

We actively track business mentions across our blog and social channels. Our 2026 Year-at-a-Glance Content Plan outlines seasonal priorities, industries, and key activities to ensure we promote a wide range of experiences throughout the year.
 

To keep our content fair, strategic, and reflective of Kelowna as a whole, we aim to balance:

• Different industries and sectors
• Various geographic areas within the Okanagan Valley
• Destination-wide storytelling
• Member highlights
• User-generated content
• Creator and influencer collaborations

Asset Quality Matters

Asset quality carries significant weight in our decision-making process. While strong stories are important, we cannot create high-performing content without high-quality visuals.

On platforms like Instagram and TikTok in particular, engaging photo and video assets are essential. We avoid posting content simply for the sake of posting. When we feature a local business, our goal is to create content that performs well for both the business and Tourism Kelowna.

High-quality, engaging visuals are more likely to be shared, signalling to the algorithm that the content is valuable and helping it reach a wider audience. The stronger the asset, the stronger the overall impact.

It is important that any photo or video assets your business shares with Tourism Kelowna have the appropriate usage rights secured with the photographer or videographer. Please ensure you have permission for Tourism Kelowna to use the content across our marketing channels. We are always happy to include a photo or video credit where required; simply let us know the correct attribution in advance.

What We Prioritize

We prioritize Tourism Kelowna members, especially those participating in additional marketing programs. Beyond that, we focus on:

• Seasonal and travel-relevant experiences
• Unique or new offerings
• Renovations or significant updates
• Major destination-wide events
• Experiences that feel evergreen and broadly applicable
• Assets that our team has access to and are up-to-date (within 2 years), and reflect your business and current offerings

We generally prioritize experiences over one-off promotions, recurring weekly events, or fundraisers. If you are looking to promote a specific or re-occuring event, we recommend adding it to our Events Calendar, which is one of the most highly trafficked pages on our website. You can submit your event here.
 

A Note on Tagging and Outreach

Tagging @tourismkelowna does not guarantee a repost or reshare. However, strong alignment with our seasonal priorities, high-quality assets, and timely communication significantly increase the likelihood of being featured.

We also encourage members to stay in touch via email at darby@tourismkelowna.com. Let us know about exciting updates, what guests and visitors are loving, what we can reshare from your page on our channels, new unique experiences, or anything that may align with upcoming campaigns. Advance notice and strong assets make a meaningful difference. Link to upload assets included below.

What Makes Content Shareable

Strong, shareable content starts with strong assets. On social media, visuals are everything. If the photo or video does not immediately capture attention, it is unlikely to perform well, no matter how great the experience is.

When we feature a member, we are looking to showcase the actual experience, product, or atmosphere in a way that feels authentic and engaging. The goal is to make someone stop scrolling and think, “I want to do that.”
 

Great-performing photo and video assets typically include:

• Clear representation of the experience, food, space, or activity being promoted.
• Real people interacting with the experience.
• Movement with multiple angles in video.
• Emotion and atmosphere that feel genuine.
• High-resolution images with strong composition.

For video content, vertical format is essential for Instagram Reels and TikTok. Phone footage is absolutely acceptable, as long as it is steady, high-quality, and includes multiple clips from different angles. Short clips that show movement, detail, and atmosphere perform far better than one long, static shot.

How to Increase Your Chances of Being Featured

We are always looking for strong stories and experiences to share. While not every tag or request can be featured, there are clear ways to improve visibility and align with our strategy.

Tags and Shares

When posting on Instagram, please tag @tourismkelowna and use #exploreKelowna. This helps us see your content and understand what is happening in the market.

• Tagging increases visibility, but it does not guarantee a repost.
• Strong alignment with seasonal priorities, high-quality assets, and overall audience interest significantly increase the likelihood of being featured.

Plan Ahead

Advance notice makes a meaningful difference.

Ideally, reach out 2–4 weeks in advance for general content ideas and 1–3 months in advance for larger projects, renovations, launches, or seasonal campaigns. The more notice we have, the more likely we can thoughtfully incorporate your business into our planning.

Because we build content calendars well in advance and often align posts with larger campaigns, last-minute requests can be difficult to accommodate. We intentionally limit posting frequency and prioritize quality over quantity to maintain strong engagement and reach.

If you have something exciting coming up, email me at darby@tourismkelowna.com or send us a direct message on Instagram at @tourismkelowna.
 

How to Submit a Strong Pitch

When reaching out, please include:

• A short description of the experience, update, or story.
• Key dates and timelines.
• High-quality photos and/or video assets attached or shared via Google Drive, WeTransfer, or another sharing platform. Or, by directly uploading to our new photo & video collector here.
• Any relevant usage rights and required photo credit.

One clear, organized pitch is always more effective than multiple follow-ups. We do our best to respond in a timely manner.
 

Upload Social-Friendly Photo & Video

We have a new shared folder where members can upload social-friendly photo and video assets for consideration. This is a great way to proactively share updated visuals, seasonal experiences, or new offerings.

When uploading, please ensure:

• Files are high resolution
• Video is vertical and formatted for Instagram and TikTok
• Usage rights are secured
• Required photo or video credit is clearly noted
• A short description and relevant details are included

Having access to strong, ready-to-use assets makes it much easier for us to feature your business when opportunities align.

Upload to our Shared Folder on Crowdriff
 

Content Creator & Travel Media Opportunities

If you are hosting content creators or travel media, please let us know. We may be able to align timing with upcoming campaigns or priorities.

If you are interested in participating in our Travel Media Program and highlighting unique experiences, please contact our team at media@tourismkelowna.com to learn more.

If you are interested in working with one of our #exploreKelowna Creators, please connect with me directly.
 

Collaboration Requests (Instagram)

We reserve social media collaborations for content creators and initiatives we are directly involved in, as well as for major events we actively support. This helps us keep opportunities fair and consistent across our membership.
 

Marketing Programs & Additional Opportunities

Tourism Kelowna members who participate in additional marketing programs may have expanded visibility opportunities throughout the year. You can learn more about these programs here. 

You can also review our additional advertising opportunities, including the Blog & Social Ad Combo, which offers a targeted option to increase visibility beyond organic social placement.