Making money to finance your adventures on Instagram isn’t hard or complicated. You’ll need a laptop, a camera/smartphone, and an internet connection. But it will also take an audience, no matter how humble in size, a brand or a product you believe in, travel related or not.
If you’re looking to finance your next far away adventure to Asia or maybe a month or two in Europe, look no further than your laptop and your Instagram account. Nomadic freelancers are making money on the popular social media platform even if they only have as few as a thousand followers. Naturally, the more followers you have, the better chance of making serious cash to put towards air travel, trains, food, and of course, beer. But how exactly can you go about making money on Instagram while traveling the world?
There are lots of ways, but here are three easy, tried and true methods to get you started:
1. Promote a brand with Instagram sponsored posts
According to Scalefluence.com, a marketplace where brands and influencers collaborate, “Customers who trust the brand recommendations of online influencers are more likely to part with their hard-earned cash. A recent article at Special Toaster stated that 92% of customers trust word-of-mouth recommendations. At the same time, 76% of buyers won’t purchase a product until they see reviews from folks who’ve actually used and liked the product. It’s kind of like getting a fellow traveler’s true take on their new backpack.”
You don’t need to be a celebrity chef traveler like the late Tony Bourdaine with hundreds of thousands of Instagram followers to promote big products and brands. These huge firms love to work with small, micro influencers like you, precisely because you can be trusted, especially if you’ve used their products in the field. Especially travel and fitness influencers are huge. The smaller the influencer, the more likely you are to interact personally with a potential customer. Try getting that from some mega Travel Channel star!
The best part? The more people who gain your trust, and who truly enjoy the brand you’re sponsoring, the more Instagram followers you’ll get. More followers equals more money. More money means more travel.
2. Instagram affiliate marketing
Making money on Instagram via affiliate marketing is a no brainer. All that’s required of you is to join an affiliate program that pays well, then add links to the program’s product or products on your Instagram Post. Some Instagram influencers are said to bring in close to $100K per month on affiliate marketing alone. That kind of cash would keep you traveling in first class luxury, nonstop.
To keep it simple when starting out, try and hone in on a particular niche like camera equipment, coffee, or even cryptocurrency exchanges. The best way to get up and running is to sign up to popular affiliate networks such as Impact, Clickbank, and Awin. Or you can sign up for individual programs by accessing a company’s website. Just Google “Company + affiliate Program” and seek out which brands and products you’re comfortable promoting as a trusted Instagram traveling Influencer.
3. Start you own online store
If you’re thinking of setting up your own store on Instagram, here’s a stat that will excite you. 500 million Instagram users browse the social media platform daily. What’s even more exciting is that half of that…that’s right, 50%…are said to actively follow at least one business. Now you can see how Instagram is becoming an essential ecommerce tool for making money both at home and abroad. So how do you go about setting up shop?
According to Oberlo, by integrating your brand or product catalog with your Instagram profile, you’ll be able to promote your goods/services directly to other Instagram users via the news feed, the story portal, the explore tab, or even a unique Shop tab you can add to your profile.
If you’re already familiar with tagging a friend in your posted Instagram photos, you’ll have no problem tagging on Instagram Shop products since it’s pretty much the same process. Once you do this, a small shopping bag icon is posted to your image. All users have to do is tap the icon to be sent directly to the product page. If they like what they see, chances are you’ll make a sale via your Instagram account.
Go nuts with Instagram
But making money on Instagram to pay for your travels shouldn’t be limited to these three revenue streams. With Instagram said to be one of the most preferred if not the most preferred social media channel for influencer marketing, you should explore all possible ways of making money on Instagram such as becoming a Brand Ambassador for a big chain like Starbucks or Dunkin’. You can also create stunning visual content that’s tagged directly to a faraway destination or resort in Thailand, Mexico, Europe, and beyond.
Have a gift for the written word? You can write posts and captions for small, medium, and large sized businesses. While sipping on espresso in a café in Rome, head on over to popular freelance writer networks such as Upwork, ProBlogger, and Freelancer, and you’ll find dozens if not hundreds of requests for your social media and inbound marketing words.
Another way how to make money on Instagram that’s rapidly growing in popularity is taking advantage of Instagram Stories. Since the tool only allows a post to remain visible for 24 hours, an influencer can create a concentrated campaign of either still photos and/or video that promotes a brand or product. This is especially effective for a traveler constantly on the move. Just make a new story every day from a different adventurous location, and watch your traffic explode. Trust us, making money while traveling the globe is a dream millions of people have in common. They will not only follow your posts, they will eventually invest in your sponsored brands.
Making money to finance your adventures on Instagram isn’t hard or complicated. You’ll need a laptop, a camera/smartphone, and an internet connection. But it will also take an audience, no matter how humble in size, a brand or a product you believe in, travel related or not. Most important of all, it will take a commitment to becoming the best marketing influencer you can be. Safe travels.
