How Travel Bloggers Make Money On Instagram

Bloggers must learn to go where money flows. This is exactly why Instagram should be at the top of your list if you want to turn your blog into an income-generating avenue. If you want to know the trick to how travel bloggers make money on Instagram, it’s simple: You must embrace becoming both a blogger and an influencer.

When you actualize the creative and business sides of blogging and Instagram and consistently put them together, you can surely make an online empire. But how exactly can you do this? What are the steps you must do to rake in big bucks on every post? Keep on reading to find out how.

How Travel Bloggers Make Money On Instagram

As the competition heats up with money-making efforts from Snapchat, YouTube, and TikTok, Instagram has also upped their ante. It has launched live badges, monetized reel ads, Instagram shopping, and the upcoming subscription model. This can be combined with classic ways to earn on Instagram such as ambassadorships, affiliate marketing, sponsored posts, paid trips, consulting, and many more.

Making money on Instagram may seem easy, but it’s no walk in the park. Many travel bloggers make thousands per Instagram post, while others simply get left behind.

Here’s a picture of how much the most successful travel Instagram influencers are earning per post.

The key to creating Instagram success is to always understand that you are a business. Therefore, you should treat your Instagram like you would any other business endeavor. If you want to know the secret behind earning on this platform, we’ve gathered how you can do it below.

How Travel Bloggers Make Money On Instagram

“Our goal is to be the best platform for creators like you to make a living.”

-Mark Zuckerberg

Let’s dive into the ways travel bloggers make money on Instagram and how you can too.

Live badges

After testing it on selected creators in 2021, Instagram has finally launched Livestream badges. This will enable Live viewers to make donations to creators like you. This way, you can seamlessly monetize your IG Live efforts.

This will also encourage you to do Live broadcasts more often. Additionally, it will make way for more engagement.

The live badges will appear near the comments section of your Livestream. Your audience can purchase these badges in $0.99, $1.99, and $4.99 increments. You can also earn a live video badge bonus once you reach badge milestones.

To encourage viewers to purchase badges, make sure to ask your followers what they want to see before you go on a Live broadcast. Because the viewers don’t tune into your broadcast all at the same time, you can remind them that badges are enabled throughout your livestream. Don’t forget to thank badge purchasers.

Monetize videos through ads

When you enable ads on your Instagram reels, brands can run ads before, during, or after your videos. This functions like TV commercials.

Keep in mind that reels are now a major feature of Instagram and you should prioritize this especially since the platform is planning to discontinue regular video post ad monetization. This means that the more you post reels, the more chances you will have of increasing your ad revenue.

Activate Instagram Shopping

If you sell merchandise, you can feature them on your Instagram. You can set up Instagram Shopping in your account by connecting it to your e-commerce platform of choice such as Shopify.

This will sync your products to your Instagram so you can easily create ads, as well as shoppable posts. It only takes 48 at most to review your products before they can reflect on your page.

Try Instagram subscription

This is another great monetizing method travel bloggers can try on Instagram. When you enable your Instagram subscriptions, your followers can pay a monthly price to have access to exclusive content and support your work on the platform. This can be:

• Subscriber lives
• Subscriber stories
• Subscriber badges

Currently, it is only being tested by a handful of influencers. However, it will be expanded to more creators in the next few months.

Ambassadorships with travel-related brands

Most travel brands want to work with bloggers who can be ambassadors. You can get paid to be an ambassador for brands like airlines, hotels, or tour operators.

For this, you will be paid a certain amount every month to promote their products and services as well as use them as your own. You can also get invited as their guests in events and trips. For example, The Bucket List Family on Instagram is an ambassador for Scuba diving gear brand Cressi.

Affiliate marketing

With affiliate marketing, you can earn commissions from selling other people’s products. You can promote travel-related products like hotels, flight tickets, tour packages, and gear. With the right strategy, you can earn a 7-figure dollar income through this method. Thankfully Instagram makes it easy for you to add affiliate links to your Stories. 

Sponsored posts

When you partner up with brands and organizations, they are willing to pay you to get their products and services in front of your Instagram followers. 

While you won’t get up to $1 million for a single sponsored post like Cristiano Ronaldo, or $500,000 like Kendall Jenner, you can still charge a decent amount.

When you create a sponsored post, make sure it is something that your followers will enjoy and relate to. Avoid posting sponsored posts too often, especially those that are not relevant to your niche audience.

Keep in mind that you are required by law to inform your followers that you are posting sponsored content.

Paid press trips

This is one of the most lucrative ways that travel bloggers make money on Instagram. This is when a brand pays you to go on a trip.

Often, these types of trips are sponsored by tourism boards so that you can visit their destinations and showcase places to your followers. This allows you to meet locals, explore interesting streets, eat amazing cuisine, interact with the community, and share your experience on your Instagram. 

Consulting

You can help brands identify their target audiences better, understand their messaging, and improve their digital presence. You can also help them come up with social media strategies and how to engage with their target audiences.

This may also involve creating content, planning their campaigns, analyzing their performance, and giving recommendations.

Important Tips to Keep in Mind If You Want to Earn Money on Instagram

Follow these tips to increase your chances of earning more dough on Instagram.

Switch to a business account 

If you want to make money on Instagram, you need to change your profile to a business account. This will make it much easier for brands to find you, and for you to make money on this platform.

Instagram Business will also provide you with tools that can help you track your performance, such as Instagram Insights. This way, you can assess the effectiveness of your business account.

Post reels

Reels will soon be the only form of native monetization on Instagram. You can still run standard ads, but taking advantage of reels can make monetization easier.

More than that, Instagram has changed its algorithms to accommodate the rise of reels. This is why you need to post more reels on your profile if you want to reach more people and earn money on Instagram.

Build audience loyalty

You must be constantly relevant, true to your brand, and consistent with your message if you want to monetize effectively on this platform.

A great way to stay on track is to build loyalty. You can do this by making sure your followers understand who you really are, and what your brand as a travel blogger stands for. For example, if your niche is budget travel, it won’t be “on-brand” if you promote business class tickets.

Engagement is king

Gone are the days when brands only looked at follower count. Even if you are only an up and coming travel blogger with 1,000 followers but your profile consistently gets comments, likes, and shares, you will be noticed and paid for your engagement.

Keep your followers engaged by answering questions, getting involved with the community, and creating valuable and shareable content.

Study trends and competitors

If you want to know how travel bloggers make money on Instagram, you must also stay on top of trends. Find out what everyone is posting by checking out their profiles and see what kind of stories, photos, and videos get a lot of engagement.

Another way to make sure you are one step ahead of your competitors is to use Instagram analytics to your advantage. Check out what your followers are liking, commenting on, sharing, and interacting with. Once you see what they like, you can emulate the same type of posts and create similar content. Of course, don’t be afraid to experiment.

Frequently Asked Questions

Still got some questions about how travel bloggers make money on Instagram? We’ll answer them below.

How much can you charge on Instagram?

It depends. To give you a picture, a travel blogger/microinfluencer with 13,000 followers can charge $300 for a sponsored Instagram reel.

If you’re not sure how much to charge clients, you can charge approximately $10 for every 1,000 followers.

How do I become a travel influencer?

Becoming a travel influencer can happen as a result of travel blogging. Simply tailor your blog posts in a more bite-sized content form to suit Instagram. 

For example, instead of writing a couple of paragraphs about a new place you visited, you can shorten it to one or 2 witty sentences, plus hashtags. 

Is a travel influencer a job?

Yes, travel blogger/influencer is a job where you can earn money to support yourself and your family, pay your bills, and travel around the world.

How much do Instagram travelers make?

Influencers can get paid as much as $31,000 per post. This adds up to $1.6 million per year if they post sponsored content once a week.

How do you get verified on Instagram?

You can get verified on Instagram by sending a request to their support team. Simply go to your profile, then tap Settings. Click account, then select Request verification. Enter the details and wait for a response.

Does Instagram pay money for followers?

Not directly. However, you can increase your rate for sponsorships/ambassadorship as your follower count goes up. Having more followers will also help you get more views for monetized reels.

Conclusion

The competition is fierce for social media giants to come up with the best ways to monetize creators, and Instagram is one of the best in the game. Live badges, video ads, Instagram shopping, and the upcoming Instagram subscription model are just some of the unique ways you can earn money through this platform.

Just remember that even though you want to make money on Instagram, it doesn’t mean you should only post sponsored content. You should still prioritize content that your followers can relate to and enjoy.

We hope that this post has provided you with valuable insight into how travel bloggers make money on Instagram. We also hope that you take advantage of the opportunities we mentioned to scale your career as a blogger on this platform.