Semiotic analysis of tour guides instagram postings within the scope of personal branding

The purpose of this research is to determine the prominent elements in the social media posts of tourist guides within the framework of personal branding. By analyzing the visual messages in the shares, it was tried to reveal how they were perceived and interpreted by the target audience. Within the scope of the research, the shares of tourist guides who share their experiences on Instagram profiles and have a minimum number of 10K followers were examined by semiotic analysis method. Criterion sampling, which is one of the purposeful sampling types, was used in the study. Due to the high number of shares of the guides within the scope of the research, the study was limited to the five photographs that received the most likes for each guide. As a result of the findings, it was concluded that the guides created a professional brand perception by using the effects of visual messages and colors on emotions in the sharing they made within the framework of personal branding. A successful marketing strategy is implemented on the target audience by clearly expressing the competences of the guides through visuals. In addition, it has been seen that an effective personal brand image is created on the audience by emphasizing the multi-faceted structures of the guides, by ensuring continuity in the images by sharing them at regular intervals, by providing information about the destinations under the images, and by performing various types of tourism activities.