Instagram Stories: The Accidental Trick That Rebooks My Venues
Losing a great annual client stinks. Especially when it's one of those easy, same-time-every-year gigs that you count on. After COVID, so many of my long-standing venue and corporate contacts just... disappeared. Furloughs turned into layoffs, businesses closed, people found new jobs and suddenly the person who booked me every New Year's Eve was gone with no forwarding address.
It led me to an Instagram realization.
The dead-end email that started it all
There was a bar I'd decorated for about four years, an easy job I really wanted to keep. But I emailed my catering contact to start setting up the next one and it bounced back with no replacement listed. I felt stuck.
As a last-ditch effort I decided to message the venue on Instagram. And when I opened that conversation, something clicked.
Your DMs are secretly an archive
When I went to send that message, our last conversation popped up... and it was me tagging the venue in the previous year's New Year's Eve decor. It was sitting there like a little archive of every event I'd done at that space.
Here's why that matters: even though my original contact was gone, whoever runs that account now can scroll back and see the whole history. Every tag, every piece of work, every "hey, would you like balloons again this year?" It's all documented. That instantly makes you more credible than a random person claiming they've worked there before.
Tag the right way
Two things that surprised me. First, the archive only builds if you actually type out the tag, like @venue, almost as if you're tagging a person. For some reason the location sticker in stories does not trigger that saved conversation. So skip the sticker and type the tag.
Also, this works with stories - not regular feed posts... which actually feels easier since stories don't have to be as polished. AKA, something you can tackle quickly before you leave the job.
The bonus you didn't expect
Sometimes the social media manager will actually respond, saying they loved your work or thanking you for your help. That gets saved too. So when that person eventually leaves, the next one who inherits the account sees all of it. They may not be the person who books you... but they're far more likely to pass your name along or hand over the new contact's email when they can see there's a real relationship there.
One important note: this is a backup plan, not your first move. Always try to get those email addresses so you can lock in your annual events year after year. But when the trail goes cold, your Instagram archive might just save the booking.
Give it a try
Next time you finish an event, take a quick video, post it to your stories and type out that @venue tag. You're quietly building a paper trail that keeps working for you long after the day is done.
Want the full story? It's in episode 79 of the podcast.
