The digital age has given birth to many professions, including travel influencers. Imagine getting paid for a vacation; that’s how awesome it is to be a travel influencer on Instagram!
Influencer marketing has become exceedingly common, growing the demand for tourism influencers. However, to become a successful travel blogger, you don’t just need an Instagram account. There are plenty of things that you need for your travel Instagram to succeed. Don’t worry, though, because this guide knows just the right ingredients to make it big in tourism!
If you, like thousands of others, want to know how to become a travel influencer on Instagram, keep reading:
Why Become a Travel Influencer on Instagram?
Being an influencer isn’t just fun and games. Travelling around the world and documenting everything on your Instagram stories or posts isn’t a piece of cake, one must admit. However, being a travel blogger opens up a world of opportunities for you. You get exposure to multiple cultures, which really contributes to your personal development.
Many travel bloggers have additional hustles aside from their social media accounts. For example, if you’ve travelled to a good amount of countries, you can start a tourism guide yourself. Perks like these, and of course, the thrill of solo travel, give you all the more reason to become an influencer. While you make money as an influencer, you learn a number of skills, including how to budget travel, people dealing, weather adaptability, and much more.
Another good reason to become an Instagram influencer is the speedy rate of success. Yes, everything requires hard work, but if you keep creating content related to travel and connecting with your audience, there’s really nothing that can stop you from climbing the ladder to success.
Becoming a travel influencer on Instagram sure isn’t everybody’s cup of tea. You should carefully break down your interests before starting a travel blog. Here’s a list of all the people who should definitely start a travel blog:
- If you have a passion for travelling
- If you work a job that requires you to go out of station often
- If you have extra funds and have no idea where to spend them
- If you want to observe different cultures and backgrounds
Types of Instagram Influencers
Being an Instagram doesn’t just mean that you can make Instagram posts about anywhere you travel. You have to pick a specific area of interest for your content to appeal to your audience. There are many types of tourism influencers on Instagram, some of which include:
1. Budget Travel Influencers:
Many social media influencers create travel content by making the budget a priority. They establish travel-related details in a cost-effective manner so that their viewers can plan their own trips on a budget. Budget influencers specifically gain followers on Instagram at a surprising speed because who doesn’t want to save money, right? The tips and tricks shared by this type of influencer keep the audience hooked to their travel page.
2. Solo Travel Influencers On Instagram:
As the name suggests, Solo influencers manage the journey by themselves, making it a one-of-a-lifetime experience. Their journey is quite exciting to watch because navigating in a new country without any external help sure is an adventurous journey. From managing finances to taking care of not getting lost, these influencers have a tough yet exciting journey to tell their audience!
3. Luxury Travel Influencers:
Following a luxury influencer on Instagram is like following a celebrity because its all things fancy. From flying in business class to staying in expensive suites, these influencers take you through the most expensive journeys. While it may take months or years for an average man to save up for a journey like this, watching luxurious tours has always been eye candy for everyone. Include luxury in your posts, and watch your audience stay hooked on your content!
4. Foodie Travel Influencers:
Foodie influencers are, of course, all about food from all over the world! These influencers take you through several cities or countries, and the major highlight of their travel is the variety of food. You’d see some expensive recipes, exotic meats, and even unusual fruits in every corner of the world!
Once you decide what type of influencer will stand out on your social media platforms, the next question that’d pop into your head would be, ‘how do I know how to become an influencer?’. Well, keep reading, and you’d find all the ways to be a successful travel influencer:
How to Become a Travel Influencer on Instagram
Let’s discuss some tips for becoming a travel influencer on Instagram, including how to find your niche, create engaging content, and grow your following:
1. Pick a Username
Picking a good username is probably the first thing you’ll need on platforms like Instagram. This gives the first impression of your account to your audience and is probably one of the most effective ways to get noticed. Quirky, trendy, and easy-to-read usernames have a higher success rate as compared to usernames that are complicated.
Let your creative juices flow when deciding on a name for your account, and avoid using excessive punctuation. An effective username means getting started well, which will ultimately help you build your own brand.
2. Find a Niche
You need to narrow down your niche to make money as a travel influencer. You might be under the impression that travel influencing is more or less the same all around. However, the travel niche simplifies into many branches, for example, being a travel influencer through product photography.
Many travel influencers focus on making their social platforms niche-specific, and that’s one of the most important steps, like connecting with your followers. If you want to create content that stands out, refrain from being all over the place and concentrate on your niche.
Identifying your niche won’t come easy. However, if keep focusing on small details, you’d ultimately be able to build your brand in a unique style. For example, if couple travel is your primary focus, avoid spamming your feed with unnecessary lifestyle updates and individual posts. This will help you secure a place on Instagram because people would like to see more of your content.
3. Use the Right Hashtags
For a successful Instagram page, you need the hashtags ingredient. Using effective hashtags helps build followers and engagement over time to launch more posts. Hashtags also help you grow by making your account appear on people’s explore pages, regardless of people who follow or do not follow. This gets your blog more recognition and increases the chance of growing followers and reaching out to new people.
However, using hashtags can be quite tricky for new users. Instagram allows only thirty hashtags in each post, but more hashtags don’t mean more engagement. On the contrary, posts that have just a few hashtags do exceedingly well, according to the new algorithm. All you need is to establish relevant tags, which can be done via free apps available on the internet.
Another thing to bear in mind when choosing a hashtag is its popularity. If you’ve just started out with influencing, avoid using commonly used hashtags like #travelinfluencer. These have a lot of competition and are difficult to rank for, as compared to easy hashtags like #onebagtravel. You can also create some hashtags on your own!
4. Choose a Clever Domain Name
Once you’ve created content on the account on Instagram, you can easily take the next step to finding a domain. However, people can get really confused when it comes to coming up with a domain name. Most of the names are already taken and finding one that resonates with your Instagram username can be quite daunting.
The key to creating a clever domain is making it easy to remember. The good thing is that you can always go back to change your Instagram username to match your domain, so don’t worry too much about the unavailable domains. Just keep entering variations, and something will definitely click!
5. Focus on the Share Button
The quickest way to increase your social media presence is by creating content that people want to share. Picturesque scenery, quality shots, and entertaining Instagram reels are all ways of building an audience. Once people start sharing and reposting your content, the Instagram algorithm automatically identifies it as quality work, thereby increasing your reach.
There isn’t much required to produce content that can be shared. If you want people to consistently hit the share button, make sure you allow a specific aesthetic to appear in your feed. The vibe of the Instagram account in your photos should be noticeable at first sight if you want people to approach you.
6. Become a part of the Community
Creating travel-related content can build followers, but for people to notice your blog, you need to be a part of the community of influencers. Don’t shy away from meet and greets, and interact with as many travellers as possible. This will broaden not only your social circle but also open ways for new opportunities. You’d get access to group expeditions, celebrity influencer hacks to save money, and much more!
Interacting with fellow influencers will also help you stay in line with the current trends. You can avoid trial and error by learning from their experiences and also getting to know lots of tips and tricks. Being an active part of the community will also help you gain a strong footing in the field.
7. Keep your Following List Short
Following many celebrities and other influential people drives non-helpful traffic to your account, affecting your engagement. This is not specified by the algorithm, but if your following list is unusually extensive, you will get a lot of bots, fake engagement, and spam messages. To save your account from all of these troubles, make sure you only follow a handful of people!
8. Schedule Posts in Advance
The Instagram algorithm takes timing very seriously. There are unique time windows, and if you make posts in this window, you have a lot more chance of your post making it big. Time windows depend on your locality, and a simple Google search can easily reveal the results. The problem is that these windows are often at an unusual time, like in the middle of the night.
If you can’t post within this time window, schedule posts in advance so that you don’t have to worry about posting in a rush.
9. Utilize Instagram Filters
Instagram, like any business, uses all means to promote its features and Instagram filters are just one of them. If you share posts and stories using Instagram filters, there’s a high chance that your posts will receive more recognition from the audience. Moreover, there are many travel-related filters out there that are relevant to your niche, so make sure you surf thoroughly in the filter gallery!
10. Use Instagram Music and Reels
Instagram reels are a fun way to present your content to your followers. Pair them up with Instagram music, and you’d see your work ranking on the top pages! Look for the trendy options in the music list because those help your reels appear more in other feeds.
11. Collaborate with Other Influencers
Collaborating with other influencers can immensely impact your Instagram account in a positive manner. Roll out emails pitching your ideas or dm your favourite bloggers directly to create content together. This will not only expand your circle but also help you gain more followers. Collaborations are also a great way of approaching brands and companies.
12. Specify Your Paid In-Feed Posts
Social media audience often feels disconnected from influencers because of the plethora of paid content. These posts can often be quite annoying for viewers because they’re spending their energy watching you, not sponsored content. They also feel deceived if you keep sharing paid in-feed posts without specifying them. For example, if you’re sharing a post about a product, you should specify whether it’s an honest review or you’ve posted a paid in-feed post. This will help your audience form an opinion on their own and gain trust in you.
How to Monetize and Earn Money?
Once you’ve learned all the tips and tricks to become a travel influencer, use them to make money! While this may come off as a surprise to many people, there are many people who are using social media influencing as a steady means of income. Keep reading to find out more about how you can earn money:
1. Use Instagram Travel to Earn Money
Want to get paid via travel Instagram? Create content that people would like to see! Consistently creating travel-related content can very well generate a stable income. You might have to make a small investment at first, like using paid promotion tools. In the long run, though, this investment will be nothing compared to the profits you’d make from your Instagram account.
2. Earn Money by Getting in Touch With Brands
If you see travel as a means of generating steady income, make sure you leave out contact information for potential brands. Travel brands around the world consistently look out for influencers who make good travel stories. Don’t spend hours researching information on becoming a paid travelling influencer because it really just depends on your communication skills. Reach out to potential brands and pitch your ideas about how you can market their company by travelling. Focus on building an attractive, niche-specific blog, and brands will automatically want to approach your account.
3. Earn Money through Sponsored Content
Instagram influencers also make money by posting paid in-feed posts. These posts are the posts that influencers get paid to publish. It can be anything from a product to a trip abroad and helps your blog grow. An example of an in-feed post is when influencers wear clothes of a certain brand, and their travel stories have them wearing them.
As an influencer, the most important thing is media management. Your media kit should be as diverse as possible so that you don’t have to rely on one platform. Expand your reach by using other social media platforms like Tiktok, Facebook, Snapchat, etc. Tiktok specifically stands out because of its video editing tools. Make awesome videos and share them on your Instagram stories for increased engagement!
Wrapping Up:
Becoming a travel influencer isn’t a walk in the park, but if you do it right, there’s nothing more fun! If you have a passion for travelling, then transform your account into a travel blog and watch your success skyrocket. This guide takes you through all the things you need on your influencer journey, so be sure to absorb all the information. Happy flying!
