Let's Get Social: the do's and don'ts of social media

• Don’t share content that showcases dogs off-leash. We want to be cognisant that the bylaws in Tofino state that dogs need to be on leashes within the District of Tofino, so we will not repost content showing dogs running around without leashes on.

• Do make specific posts for Instagram and Facebook that are different than your event posters. If your event poster has a lot of detail, try to distill it for your post so that it is clear and legible. You can include more of the details in the caption. Also, if your poster has a QR code, remove it for social media because it cannot be scanned from the app and include a link in your bio instead.

• Don’t share content of people riding bikes without helmets. We want to encourage responsible visitorship and encourage accident prevention.

• Do send us a DM or an email about collaborations. We try to have our content calendar scheduled a couple of weeks in advance, so if you would like to request to do a collaboration post, we appreciate knowing ahead of time to fit it into the schedule so that we are not doubling up on posts within the same day. Our current policy is to collaborate on posts for events, Indigenous-owned businesses, and content creators that we have contracted to work with.

• Don’t share videos or photos from the Cox Bay Lookout. This is an unsanctioned trail within Pacific Rim National Park Reserve where people are known to get lost. As much as it is a stunning viewpoint, it is not a location that we can actively promote, and we will not be able to share your content with this hike in it.

• Do tag us in your stories, captions, and posts! The easiest way to get us to see your content is by tagging us. That said, we are experimenting with limiting the number of stories we post daily to a maximum of 3 (with the exception of any emergency PSAs), so it may not fit in our content for that day. We will often save tagged posts to share in the following days if that is the case.

• Don’t include a link in the caption of your post. You cannot copy and paste from a caption on Instagram, so your audience will not be able to find what you are trying to share. Try to direct traffic to the link in your bio. Have more than one link to share? No problem! Sign up for software like Linktree to share multiple links at a time.

• Do frame your content in a visitor-facing lens. There are lots of great community initiatives and events happening however, our social media platforms are largely meant to help inspire, inform, and engage visitors to Tofino and those who are in-destination already.

We are so fortunate to live in such a beautiful place, which makes creating inspirational content a lot easier. The pillars of our social strategy are to inspire, educate, and engage our online community so that Tofino is top of mind when they start to plan for a vacation.

If you have any questions about social media, please send an email to