Monetising Travel Instagram Account?

ABOUT
Hi there! I'm new to the forum, even thought I have this account since a long time. I just found out that there's this Instagram thread where you guys post helpful stuff and started reading more and more about it. This is how I found the software that I'm using at the moment for growing my personal Instagram account, which is travel oriented.

I started using an automated bot on the 27th of November - back then I had 900 followers - and now after 40 days I have 4000. In my opinion, that's a good growth, but still, that's a newbie's first time when using software to boost its audience. Therefore, not sure if it's enough or if there's something I could do better in order to grow even more. You guys are the experts, I'm just learning the ropes.

I don't use Stories, I do it only on very rare occasions. I don't do Shoutouts, I don't get Shoutouts back. I don't post videos, I use only photos.

QUEST
Being a personal account, all the content that I post is unique. I do not re-post other users' photos/videos. I get a lot of feedback from my friends and not only, that I should start monetising it and treat my 'travel addiction' more seriously.

The goal is to get myself a bigger audience and start getting money, products or free travel opportunities, while posting great stuff on Instagram. Easy, huh?

QUESTIONS

• Is there something like a trustworthy website, Facebook group or forum thread where Instagram users exchange shoutouts? You see a lot of accounts with less than 5K followers that do this, but that's irrelevant in my opinion. You're looking to get a medium to big pool of users, right?
• How can I monetise this personal account? Influencer Marketing agencies? Going straight to the brands to get your "free cookies"?
• Are there any good Influencer Marketing agencies that you could use to get an income? Such as portals where you basically find brands/brands find you for collaborations?
• Do things like "paid posts" or "paid stories" work for Instagram?
• You think 5000 followers is a good milestone to get the "influencer game" started?

These being said, I'm looking forward to your answers, gentlemen.

 

I think that your main active is your followers and you need to learn them to know what kind of content they like, accept and which not and based on this you can have potential buyers for new publications on your account or at least to have affiliate publications posted there.

 

Hey dude, the quickest way (in my opinion) to monetize an Instagram account. Is to join CPA Networks, there are plenty out there which have Pay Per Lead offers you can promote. Simply direct people on Instagram to click your bio link where your affiliate link for the travel offer or related is, when someone signs up for the free opportunity you get paid

Google "CPA Networks" !

 

Regarding monetization, I know that both CJ Affiliate and ShareASale have some traveling offers for affiliates.

You can find some big names there, such as Expedia and TripAdvisor, along with many lesser-known companies (who are probably more open to working with smaller influencers).

Other than that, there’s a few companies who have their own affiliate/partner programs, such as Booking.com and Viator.

So, if you’re looking to promote stuff like flights and hotels, there’s definitely some options available.

Off the top of my head, other monetization methods could be:

• Amazon’s affiliate program (when recommending physical products related to the traveling lifestyle).
• Paid shout outs for ecommerce brands in travelling niches.
• A kindle/paperback/audiobook (mainly promoted to followers, but you’ll also get some organic Amazon traffic).
• Your own merch, if you build a brand around it.

In other words, I’m sure you can squeeze a fair bit of money out of it if you continue to grow. Best of luck.