Facilitating Tea Stories on Instagram During the Covid-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Instagram has a highly visual culture that conveys meanings through photographs, with values, ideas, and cultural associations embedded in the visual posts and profile pages. While the role of social media in tourism marketing has been actively explored, there is limited research on brand-generated stories and how storytelling is integrated into destination marketing and branding. Using two case studies of tea brands, this chapter explores how Instagram facilitates brands’ storytelling and marketing throughout the pre-, during, and post-tour experiences. Instagram posts from April 2020 to April 2021 (n = 211; nr = 29) were collected for content analysis, and semi-structured interviews (n = 5) were conducted online with the business owners and staff between March and July 2021. The findings outline how the tea businesses value marketing, education, and community conversation; that storytelling is vital in the tea industry, where tea brands focus on the experiential nature of tea drinking; and how tea influencers significantly contribute to brand Instagram engagement. Our evaluation of these businesses’ experiences and adaptations during the COVID-19 pandemic offers theoretical and practical insight into technology-mediated tea tourism, the role of tea influencers in tea tourism, and marketing research and practices.