How to become A Travel Influencer

Visiting the Eiffel Tower or eating dinner in a romantic restaurant in Italy - such destinations and activities can refresh your energies and kindle your spirit of adventure. Travel Influencers are travel enthusiasts or “infopreneurs” who share their experiences through quality content on diverse social media to inspire others to undertake a unique journey or follow an itinerary. From photographs to advice, they are a valuable resource for newcomers to the world of travel and tourism or veteran travellers.

• Travel Blogger
• Travel Vloggers
• Social Media Influencer
• Content Creator

What do Travel Influencers do?

A Travel Influencer would typically need to:

• Create, own, and distribute influential content relevant to travel & tourism, in the form of posts with text and pictures, articles, podcasts, music, videos, digital books, games, and more
• Identify a niche, such as food, budget or luxury travel, and adventure or family trips, to influence the travel and tourism-related behaviour or opinions of followers
• Connect companies with target audiences typically in return for free travel
• Monetise the work by partnering with airlines, travel agencies, tour companies, and local businesses
• Promote destinations and travel-related services or products by leveraging social media, posting affiliate links or sharing on ad-sponsored platforms; earn subscription or product placement charges
• Distribute eWOM (electronic word of mouth) through their online digital channels and presence
• Launch their own brands or services
• Set up your blog using a free or self-hosted platform, a popular one being WordPress; build the visuals of the interface; pick a domain name; set a clear and professional profile picture and optimise your profile details
• Share stories and tips with targeted audiences on social media platforms and other high authority or high traffic websites as related to travel experiences, keeping in mind the frequent changes to these platforms
• Consistently post on the platform, once daily or every two days or following any other regular pattern to grow your audience 
• Learn about the history, prices, attractions, and other details about the places you visit and how to get there so that you can develop and share reliable and useful content
• Photograph or film the travel destinations, their natural and historical sights, food, and the local residents and traditions
• Sort through your footage; edit the videos and organise and tag your photos to post
• Compile your travel notes and draft, edit and proofread the text you wish to post, ensuring it is enticing and trustworthy
• Make a vlog about one of the visited places or the whole trip 
• Make your content unique, engaging, share-worthy, and capable of generating emotions and fulfilling the audience’s needs
• Build loyal followership by building trust; enhance customer relationships; increase brand awareness, image and credibility
• Improve SEO (search engine optimisation) 
• Respond to the audience’s comments, answer emails and questions, and liaise with sponsors and advertisers
• Boost the reposting and sharing of your most liked and viewed content
• Schedule content to reach the targeted audience in the targeted time 
• Use data analytics to analyse how to improve the post timing and content quality 
• Reach out to and connect with established travel influencer’s accounts to figure
• Plan to visit more destinations to add to your repertoire
• Keep up with new trends in the travel industry in general and the niche in particular

Given that your work pivots around travel, you would spend considerable time outdoors, visiting destinations and carrying all the required equipment, such as cameras, camera stands, lighting equipment, and microphones, besides your personal belongings with you everywhere you go.

You would also work indoors to prepare visual and written material, edit it, and post it on social media platforms. While travel influencing offers you unparalleled flexibility, it demands energy and time to keep the content innovative, informative and engaging.

Like many in the social media industry, Travel Influencers spend most of their time developing their platforms and creating, curating, and marketing their content. They may work about 50 to 60 hours per week. About one in five professional influencers give eight hours per day to working on social media.

Finding a new job might seem challenging. Travel Influencers can boost their job search by asking their network for referrals, contacting companies directly, using job search platforms, going to job fairs, leveraging social media, and inquiring at staffing agencies.

Travel Influencers are generally employed by:

• Hotels
• Credit Card Companies
• Tourist Boards 
• Branded Product Manufacturers
• Branded Service Providers

Professional associations and organisations, such as the Association of Influencers & Thought Leaders (AIT), are crucial for Travel Influencers interested in pursuing professional development or connecting with like-minded professionals in their industry or occupation. Membership in one or more adds value to your resume while bolstering your credentials and qualifications.

• Multidimensional responsibilities for which diverse skills are needed, such as video and photo editing, networking for brand partnerships and marketing
• Variable remuneration that depends on the project, location and time
• Essential to be creative and work hard to post new content regularly 
• No set rules to guarantee success, especially since what works today may not work tomorrow
• Balancing work, travel, personal life, travel blog and other posts on social media and other channels 
• Finding another source of income as travel blogging may not provide enough sustenance
• High cost of some destinations in the absence of discounts

The best way to gain experience in the travel and tourism industry is to begin travelling and sharing your experiences on social media platforms. Starting to build a network at the earliest is crucial to your success.

Internships in the tourism industry can also teach prospective Travel Influencers how to deal with the international travel and tourism industry. You will gain optimal benefit from your tasks outside of the classroom when they line up perfectly with your lessons inside it. You may get to hear countless stories from more experienced professionals and obtain valuable hands-on experience when they manage to turn seemingly routine incidents into unique learning moments.

Online resources can get you on the right track to learning how to influence people as concerns travel. You can start with a tourism course and find a job in a travel agency or a hotel. These opportunities would enrich your knowledge about hospitality, tourism and management.

It is advisable to familiarise yourself with the history, traditions and the language of the destinations you would like to visit, especially if the culture is different from yours. When you travel, make sure to observe and ask questions.

Read about the profession and interview or job shadow experts working as Travel Influencers to prove your commitment to course providers and prospective employers.

There are no specific educational requirements to become a Travel Influencer. Universities and colleges do not typically provide degrees in influencing. 

However, a bachelor of science degree in global hospitality & tourism can enrich your knowledge and give you the required cultural and technical skills to professionally advance while keeping up with the new trends in this industry. Public relations, communications and business are also useful subjects to study for your bachelor’s or associate degree.

Taking college preparatory courses in high school, such as English and speech classes, will help you develop your research, writing, and oral communication skills and teach you ways of presenting your travel content.

Certification demonstrates a Travel Influencer’s competence in a skill set, typically through work experience, training, and passing an examination.

Earning prominent professional certifications, such as Travel and Tourism Professional (TTP), Certified Travel Associate (CTA), or International Accredited Business Accountant (IABA), will help you thrive in your career.

Performance, experience, and the acquisition of professional qualifications drive career progression. Employees with consistently high performance levels may be eligible for promotion every two to three years. 

Platforms such as Twitter and LinkedIn help build your media presence. Launching your own platform in travel influencing and building a good reputation and network may get you sponsors and funds to publish your travel features. Other sponsors could even fund your exploration of new destinations, making you visit places beyond the reach of the other aspiring influencers with inadequate resources. 

An obvious alternative or addition to your work is to become a travel guide and be paid for taking individuals and groups of tourists to different destinations and showing them around. If you are exceptionally knowledgeable about a location, more so than the locals, you could charge a high fee for your specialisation.

You could expand the reach of your knowledge and experience by writing travel guides, advice and articles for publishing houses, magazines and websites and earn additional income. A step further could take you to collect the descriptions and photographs of all your experiences in a book or two, thereby reaching a wider audience and earning royalties and a greater reputation.

You may receive professional recognition paired with corporate benefits by working as a paid Travel Influencer for a travel agency, chain of hotels, or other tourist resorts.

An unusual but noble way to use your experience is to join an organisation such as the International Aid Workers. You can make a positive difference where the world needs it, for instance, by assisting in areas affected by natural and other calamities, such as floods, earthquakes, cyclones, epidemics and wars. 

Candidates with abundant travel experience, the necessary skills to create and share textual and visual content on social media, growing followership, and an impressive media kit have the best job prospects.

Continuing professional development (CPD) will help active Travel Influencers build personal skills and proficiency through work-based learning, a professional activity, formal education, or self-directed learning. It allows you to upskill continually, regardless of your age, job, or level of knowledge. Travel Influencers may learn Adobe Photoshop, graphic designing, and video & photo editing skills on their own or by attending professional courses to present professional content to their audience. 

It is beneficial to attend workshops on how to influence or create content, in which you would learn how to keep up to date with the latest industry trends and the best tools to manage your platform, such as computers. Attending workshops would also help you network with professionals and exchange knowledge and expertise. You could even practise your skills in simulated environments.

The Creator Economy

The businesses built by more than 50 million independent content creators, curators, and community builders connected to their audiences and businesses via the internet are classified as the creator economy. This economic system, which came into existence about a decade ago, includes people, namely, social media influencers, bloggers, and videographers, as well as the finance tools and software designed and used to help the creator economy grow and monetise its impact. 

Content-Based Categorisation

The type of content they develop and disseminate is one way to classify influencers. 

Bloggers typically operate in a niche or area of expertise, using websites to share their personal experiences, opinions, insights, or professional advice with target audiences.

Vloggers use the medium of video to reach out to their target audiences on appropriate platforms, such as YouTube and Instagram.

Podcasters typically provide advice or entertainment using audio and video streaming. 

Social media posters are active on platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram and their posts provide reviews, opinions, insights, information, and advice.

Followership-Based Categorisation

While a Travel Influencer impacts people’s emotions, thoughts and behaviour in the area of travel and tourism, an influencer in marketing may be hired by a marketing agency on a contractual basis for brand promotion on social media. An influencer in business derives their sole and regular monthly income from contractual work with several brands. The number of followers that Travel Influencers have typically determine the category they fall under.

Mega-Influencers have over a million followers. They are typically mega stars offline and include movie and TV stars, singers, musicians, and professional athletes. Since they shape consumers' decisions, markets and trends, big brands may pay them a million dollars per post. They usually have agents to negotiate marketing deals on their behalf.

Macro-Influencers, with an audience estimated between 500,000 to a million, are considered more influential than the mega category and help firms with influencer marketing. They may be celebrities with some fame or online industry experts, advisors and opinion leaders who are more popular than Micro-Influencers.

Mid-Tier Influencers spread brand or product awareness among their niche following of 50,000 to 500,000.

Micro-Influencers, primarily responsible for influencer marketing, have a base of followers numbering between 10,000 to 50,000.

Nano-Influencers have the smallest follower base, between 1,000 and 10,000, but their engagement rate in their niche is high.

Media Kit for Travel Influencers

One of the best steps that Travel Influencers from the category of micro-influencers can take is to make a media kit, especially if they wish to work as paid professionals. A media kit is a document that mentions all the significant achievements of the influencer, besides the key stats and information about your blog and platform, whether YouTube, Instagram, Pinterest, TikTok or Facebook. It is a resume that you may present to prospective employers.

The media kit aims to show the brands or sponsors how good you are at what you do, where your skills and interests lie, and how you can be helpful to your employers if they hire or collaborate with you.

Pack in a punch with each picture and word, and let them tell your story. You can use the skills of a graphic designer, or if you want to make it by yourself, you can use Photoshop or other design platforms, such as Canva, Fotor, and DesignBold.

Some Useful Steps on the Instagram Influencer Journey

• Identify your niche, whether budget or luxury travel, family fun, adventure, food or more. The more unique your take, the higher the chances of building your niche audience, provided it is reasonably attainable.
• Get the ball rolling at the earliest on your travel Instagram account to start building your followership and reach or cross that target of a million.
• Try out usernames on Instagram before registering your domain name. Your goal is to take your brand beyond Instagram. 
• Post at least twice a day - both consistency and volume matter. You can use a service to schedule the posts in advance. Archive old posts and repost them as new.
• As you progress, identify and communicate your mission to make your work more effective and help others connect with it, turning mere followers into ardent supporters. For example, your mission could be to travel with zero waste, raise awareness about an issue, or foster personal development.

Exercising Caution

In 2010, the World Travel Organization predicted the increasing number of international arrivals in 2020 would reach 1.4 billion by 2020. However, the prediction came true two years earlier. However, the desire of new or experienced tourists and travellers to imitate the images and experiences that Travel Influencers post on social media can damage sites, monuments and ecosystems. In extreme cases, attempts to recreate someone else’s experiences may unfortunately even lead to personal injury through foolhardy stunts or selfies in dangerous positions or places.

Travellers may experience less jet lag journeying from east to west as, in general, the body finds it easier to delay the internal clock than advance it.

As a Travel Influencer, you are not just a social media celebrity but a source of trusted information for your followers whose travel-related opinions, perceptions and decisions you can mould. Building your niche as a Travel Influencer is akin to taking care of a plant from scratch because initiating and taking care of your platform needs dedication, hard work and time. Add a generous amount of patience to see some spectacular results as you continue to build an audience that shares your spirit of adventure or wishes to develop it.

Be yourself, do not try to copy the others and exhaust yourself by doing what is beyond your capabilities. Let your personality and innate creativity with your resources reflect in your photos and words to the audience. Go ahead and tell people about your success stories. And, if needed, tweak your business plan and experiment with innovative ways to connect with your audience.