Greetings from North Carolina! This marks my third trip since the New Year started and I am not planning on slowing down any time soon. (Don’t worry, I’m still committed to sharing tips here, my mailing list, and on Instagram even while I’m away). Before the pandemic, I had really immersed myself in the Family Travel niche and because we talked about niches last week, I figured it was time to start a mini series on Instagram niches over the next few weeks.
We’ll be talking about two Instagram niches every week for the next five weeks and what kind of content (including pillars) you might make and what brands you might want to partner with if you fall under each niche. The goal of this mini series is to help you pinpoint exactly what kind of content will be fun for you to make and how to start making a living in that niche.
Since I’m on the road currently, what better Instagram niches to start with than Travel and Food?
The Travel Niche
Like we talked about last week, people will always want inspiration for future trips and will always want to live vicariously through your travels. How do you stand out from the rest of the travel influencers? Content pillars.
It’s no longer just travel. It’s travel and …
I combined my love of travel and motherhood. What does this look like? Tips for traveling with a toddler. Toddler friendly destinations wherever you end up.
I know what you’re thinking: doesn’t going into this pillar of motherhood within travel limit my audience? No. While not everyone is looking for traveling with kids information, I’m more likely to get traction because of my content pillar. Instead of putting myself out there with just general travel content and hoping one of my pieces of content is what someone chooses to click on among a saturated market, narrowing my scope actually gives me a better chance of getting views.
So choose your content pillars wisely.
Motherhood, Tropical, National, International? What kind of traveler are you? What is your audience? What content would you most search for?
Narrowed it down?
Now how do you make money as a travel influencer?
Get your feed ready. Make sure your most recent photos showcase what kind of content you’ll be creating for a brand. And an extra tip? Make a mood board to add to your media kit for when you pitch to brands to help you stand out from the rest. Make a few depending on who you’re pitching (beach focus, family focus, etc).
When you have your next location pinned down, reach out to hotels and restaurants in your area. Need luggage and neck pillows? Reach out to brands to create sponsored content on your feed that advertises to your audience within the same niche. It’s a win for everyone involved. Tagger has even shared the top 15 brands working with travel influencers currently.
The Food Niche
You’ll definitely want to nail down your content pillars before starting in this niche. Food is so vast, and everyone eats, so to find your perfect audience you really have to think about what you can offer and what you like to eat.
Food and Travel is great if you’re always finding the best secret (or not so secret) spots that people have to try when they’re traveling around.
More of a chef? What kind of food are you most likely to eat? Vegan? Breakfast bowls? Sheet pan meals? Crockpot recipes? Five recipe meals? Baked goods?
Not only will you want to narrow down your audience for this niche, but you’ll want some great shots of your food. Does it have to be perfectly plated and a high quality food? No. Does it still have to look appealing and…well…appetizing? Yes.
Food influencers have been having a lot of success utilizing Reels for both step by step instruction videos and also drool worthy close up shots of the food being cut into by itself.
What kind of brands can a food influencer work with? Depending on the kind of food you make, there’s anything from grocery delivery services to meat delivery to kitchen tools like mixers and cutting boards.
And if you’re still stuck on how to negotiate paid collaborations, don’t forget to sign up for my Product to Paid course that’ll make sure you never have to settle and start building your dream career, no matter your niche.
Interested in learning about other niches?
Check out my other posts below in my mini series about social media niches:
- 10 Social Media Niches for Influencers and Content Creators
- The Fashion & Beauty Niches
- The Health & Fitness and Lifestyle Niches
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