Official Tourism account of every State on Instagram.

With more people than ever using Instagram to share photos with friends, find places to eat, and places to take selfies, brands have flocked to the platform to reap the benefits.

Tourism professionals are no slouches. They’ve figured out that people use Instagram to know where to travel to and what to do once they get there.

So, how does a state brand itself on this new platform? Does it cater to internal travelers or domestic or international?

I wondered many things beyond which state has the most followers. I wondered how normal users were tagging states and what tourism boards were getting more bang for their buck.

I also looked for opportunities for influencers. How could a growing influencer get the most exposure? Which states could be the most helped by a large influencer? Which states need to do a better job managing their community and photos in general?

What I got was the official tourism board’s account from that state. There are countless curated feeds but I selected only the official tourism account.

The List

Below is the big list. Thanks to Sheetsu.com you can sort the list and come up with your own findings. Below the list I have all 50 states plus Washington D.C.

Followers

Follower count as of 1/9/18

Hashtag

This is the account’s featured hashtag. Usually found in their bio, the tourism board is seemingly actively looking through posts to find content.

State Hashtag

This is the state’s name as a hashtag. Seemingly more people use this to mention the state then the account’s featured tag.

Post Count

This is the number of posts with this hashtag. One column for the hashtag and one for the state hashtag.

Engagement Rate

Average Likes of last 10 posts plus Average Comments of last 10 posts divided by the Follower Count. (scroll to the right to sort and find this)

Population

Total Population as of 2017 (scroll to the right to sort and find this)

Results

Search the list yourself. Comment if you find something interesting.

Does population affect follower count?

The chart below shows a small trend line to indicate that a larger population generally means you may have more followers but this isn’t necessarily true.

Account Followers vs State Population

Which state has the most followers?

Which State’s Hashtag is used for the most posts?

Michigan — #puremichigan — 4,545,917 New York — #iloveny — 1,710,789 Florida — #loveFL — 1,487,146 California — #visitcalifornia — 794,061 Oregon — #traveloregon — 630,291

Which State is best for Creators to Tag for a regram?

These states have the best Hashtag to Follower ratio. Meaning that they have many more followers than people use their unique hashtag.

Ohio: With 58k followers and only 3k posts tagged with #ohiofinditthere there’s a good chance you’ll get regrammed.

Indiana: With only 24k followers it still makes sense to use #h2gindiana to try to get featured on their account.

Which State is best for Influencers?

These States have unique opportunities for Influencers.

Nevada: using an extremely unique hashtag, #dfmi Nevada makes sense to try to get regrammed. With 38k followers and only 15k using that tag.’

Michigan: Even though it has a ton of posts, it’s got a bevy of different hashtags you can choose to tag through out the year. Check their site.

Louisana: Looking for Ambassadors and have monthly challenges. You can be a member of our Bayou Krewe and share your passion for Louisiana’s food, history, culture and great outdoors.

Which State Needs the Most Help?

These states are struggling on Instagram for one reason or many. If there’s any agencies that could help them or an influencer that wants to take over their account for a week or a month, I’m sure they’d be happy for the help. They Need it.

New Jersey: With less than 2k followers they could really use some help. Having the Instagram logo on their homepage just isn’t cutting it. Anyone got suggestions on how to help them grow?

Missouri: Has the lowest engagement rate. Any one help them with some likes? Really need to pick better photos from those

Oregon: Has 2nd lowest engagement rate. Getting less than 1% engagement per post. This is an interesting mystery since they have over 200k followers. Maybe they just have too many? Their photos are awesome. it looks like they drive a few comments but don’t respond. Could use a hand responding to comments and driving more.

Ask questions and search the table for more.

Here’s what made this analysis possible: