Why Shares Should Be a Key KPI on Social Media for DMOs and Travel Brands

With most DMOs losing traffic to their websites since the rise of AI summaries and platforms, your social media presence is more important than ever to build your digital footprint. However, social media behavior has shifted dramatically at the same time, requiring DMOs to rethink their strategy and the KPIs they are tracking to measure success.  
 
Over the next few weeks, through our series, What’s Working on Social for Travel Brands in 2025, we’ll be covering how to shift your social strategy to reach and engage more people both on and off social. This week, we’re covering reach, it is down 18% this year for most accounts. Why? Algorithm changes. Yes, we all hate it, but like it or not, algorithms make social media better for everyone. The pace of content creation has increased exponentially and without algorithms, our feeds would be CHAOS.

You have two different kinds of reach on Instagram: Connected Reach and Unconnected Reach. Connected Reach is the reach to the people who follow your page. Unconnected Reach is reach to people who don’t follow your page.  
 
Time spent viewing is the most important metric for both audiences. This signals to Instagram that the content is relevant and people care about it. If you want to increase time spent viewing, carousels and engaging videos will naturally increase time spent viewing. We’ve noticed carousel posts with a mix of video and static images have done exceptionally well.

Your unconnected reach is how many people who don’t follow you that Instagram shows your post to. Beyond time spent with the post, Instagram prioritizes shares for your reach to this audience. A share results in a connection between two users, and Instagram LOVES that. It’s a clear indicator to both you and the algorithm that your content is resonating with audiences. Shares are the starting point for all of your other metrics to increase. Shares mean more reach, more time spent viewing, and more awareness for your destination. It’s also a clear indicator to you that you are creating content that resonates and has an emotional impact.  
 
The algorithm also prioritizes saves but that is an individual action and not building community, so it is not ranked as highly.  If you want to grow your audience and reach audience outside of your immediate followers, create shareable content.  
 
At Steller, we run a lot of campaigns for clients and ourselves. We see the following kinds of content shared frequently: 

1. Local events with good storytelling around them.  
2. Carousels with unique things to do.  
3. Carousels or videos that teach people something.
4. Eye catching videos or photographs.

With a strategy shift you need you also need to make a metric shift. Here are the key metrics to watch and track to make sure you’re creating content that is going to make an impact and reach more people. 
 
Average Watch Time: The average time people spent watching your videos.  
Shares/Sends to Reach or Share Rate: The percentage of people who saw your post and shared it with a friend.  
Likes to Reach or Like Rate: The percentage of people who saw your post and liked it.

Shares are extremely important on TikTok as well. The number of shares per post has increased 60% quarterly over the last year, and it is a key indicator to the algorithm that people are connecting to your post.  Follower growth is plateauing or dropping for many brands. TikTok users like interacting with brands in their feeds without feeling the need to follow them. That makes shares one of the most important ways you can get exposure to new people on the platform.  

The content we see getting the most shares on TikTok:

• Funny content, but make it relatable. Being funny for the sake of being funny won’t help you build a brand. Make sure it aligns with your brand voice.
• Travel guides with unique, detailed recommendations. We have an affiliate that does deep dives for travel itineraries, they often have high shares and go viral because they have so much more information than your typical travel post.  

If you’ve worked in social for any length of time, you know that social changes consistently. At Steller, we run hundreds of social-first campaigns each year for our tourism and travel clients. Come back next week for Part 2 of our series, What’s Working on Social for Travel Brands in 2025, we’re going to dive into why DMs are your ticket to higher engagement and proving social impact.