Can an Instagram account turn into an actual career? That question ran through the fifth open class of this cycle at the School of Travel Journalism’s Master in Travel Journalism, taught by a social media strategist, content creator, and professor of Social Media for Travel Journalists at the school.
She didn’t stumble into social media, nor did it happen overnight. She walked through how a personal passion project on Instagram grew into a full-time, paying business, one that now includes work with tourism boards and management of user-generated content (UGC) campaigns. Her story pushed back on one of the most common assumptions among people starting out in this field: that you need a massive following to make a living from travel content.
That was, in fact, one of the class’s central threads: how to build a personal brand and monetize it without chasing follower counts. She argued that consistency, a clear niche, and a recognizable voice matter more than raw audience size, especially when working with brands and destinations that are looking for authenticity over reach.
The session also drew out a distinction that matters more every year in the industry: the difference between influencer marketing and user-generated content. These are two different collaboration models, with different expectations, different rates, and different ways of working, and knowing which one you’re actually in changes how you negotiate with a brand from the start.
Negotiation, in fact, took up a good chunk of the class. She shared practical advice on pricing your own work, approaching brands without losing professionalism, and holding onto clear ethical standards in a space where the line between sponsored and genuine content can get blurry fast.
The thread running through the whole class was an idea that connects directly to what’s taught at the School: social media isn’t just a promotional channel, it’s one of the strongest storytelling tools available to the next generation of travel journalists. Telling a travel story in a feed, a reel, or a short video demands the same editorial choices as a long-form piece: what to show, what to leave out, from which angle, and in what voice.
This class is part of the School of Travel Journalism’s Open Days, a series of free open classes taught by the school’s own faculty.
If you want to dig deeper into how to tell travel stories — on social media or in any other format — you can learn more about the School of Travel Journalism’s Master in Travel Journalism.
