Travel Creator Imposter Syndrome

Hello travel creators! Today we are talking about what's winning in travel content. These things I'm going to share with you are pretty easy, but they're things you should be implementing this year in your travel content. I'm going to be sharing about a couple of creators today, and if you're wondering where I'm getting all these recs, the creators I'm highlighting are all creators I featured in my newsletter, The Content Compass.

My newsletter is where I feature creators who are crushing their content and I show you what they're doing and how you can do it too. It comes out every Tuesday. The link to subscribe is here if you’re interested.

Repurposing Blog Content

The first suggestion I have for you is from Rob at @twotraveldads. Earlier this year, he turned their existing travel blogs into audio format. This is genius. As you know, I am the queen of repurposing travel content, so this just makes my heart sing. This is a perfect option if you have buried it, but you have awesome pieces of content that you want to shed some new light on.

Also, sometimes it just works better for people to hear the content than to read it. So all he did was adapt this content into a new format that other people might find more binge worthy. This is incredible and relatively simple.

Another creator who I have watched grow is Kimber from @wholistictraveler. She stands out to me by presenting her travel guides in a reader friendly format on Instagram. She breaks down each guide into digestible sections in her Instagram captions where she covers where to stay, what to eat, what to do, everything. Plus, she does that all within this little caption and it’s so much fun to read. The guides are info rich, but they're presented in a way that really requires no additional clicks and without any gatekeeping.

Travel Points Made Simple

In addition, Ginny from @thegrady_bunch has mastered the art of making learning about maximizing travel points fun and simple. This type of content, like travel hacking, has such a steep learning curve, but Ginny is an incredible example of a creator who has taken this difficult topic and provided really simple examples that I can understand.

She has completely removed any barriers for her audience of where to begin. So if you are a travel creator in a very specific niche that has a really steep learning curve, Ginny is an incredible creator to learn from on how to share these tough concepts with your audience.

Sharing versus Educating

Now I’d like to talk about sharing. From @cherstravels, one of the hardest things I think travel creators have to deal with is walking the fine line of how much do I share about my own personal story versus educational information. Cher blends this beautifully. Each post provides a short personal sentiment about the destination she's visited, followed by insights into the history of the place. You can learn something, as well as her firsthand experience. If you want to know how to balance this fine line, Cher is your girl.

Personality in Your Content

Mia from @miaonthemap is another great example of including your personality into your content. Whenever I read her content, I feel like I've known her forever. She does a great job of knowing how to make her audience feel like they are exploring right alongside her.

It really feels like a friend, which is something that's so hard to achieve. But I think one of the ways you can achieve that is to go and look at her profile, and also lean more into your personality.

Using History in Your Captions

Calvin from @thecalvinchronicles is the man when it comes to infusing history into his Instagram captions. And it doesn't make you want to fall asleep. If you're a history buff, but you want to know how you can incorporate all this into social media without making it a snooze fest, go check out Calvin's page. He's done an incredible job of making you excited to learn about destinations without feeling like you're in school.

Using Photography to Evoke Emotions

Next up is Max (@maxwellgrover). He’s an incredible photographer. You know how people always say art makes you feel some things or feel certain emotions? That’s what Max does. If you're a travel photographer, make sure to check out his page so you can get some inspiration on how to evoke emotions in both your photography, but also in your storytelling and captions. I'm not a photographer by any means, so I love to turn to fellow photographers in the travel space who will be better resources for you on how to create incredible images.

Listening to Your Target Audience

Sophia from @world.of.sophiab grew 13K followers basically overnight and on this podcast. We do not talk about “get rich quick” schemes or how to get 10,000 followers in 30 minutes.

Can it happen? Totally, but that's not the game we're playing over here. Her secret is to put yourself in the shoes of your target audience. By doing this, she made sure she asked before ever posting. She asked herself, “Would this type of content I'm about to press share on be a piece of content a traveler in my niche would click on?”

If you haven't noticed, these things that I'm sharing are very simple. They are so simple, yet they are wildly effective. This also goes back to just knowing your target audience and having a solid brand. I preach about branding all the time on my podcast, but I haven't dove deep into exactly what that is. In the meantime, if you have questions about branding, I know You probably have a dozen experts on it and can refer you to them.

Adding Value while providing Humor

My favorite slo mads on the internet are Nick and Anna (@nick.and.anna). They are relatable in their content and I always know I'm going to get educational content from them that’s also funny. Learning about places and things to do doesn't have to be boring. It does not have to be listicles. By leaning into who they are and not being afraid to crack a joke, they have grown a community that loves them back.

Putting a Unique Spin on Your Content

And finally, we have M. K. from (@yourdaybymk). I think about her content all the time and I always come back to her content as examples of what people can do, or what other creators can draw inspiration from.

She's known for walking around with her coffee on her stories talking about her life. So during these coffee walks, she shares everything from what she's learned living abroad and everything in between. These coffee walks are something her audience now expects to see once they head to her profile or see that she has a new story posted.

These coffee walks win because they are simple, they're repeatable, and she's done them so much her audience now expects them from her. The lesson from this is to pick something you love doing and bonus points if it's easy and repeatable. Then, share it with your community! Soon enough, you'll have your little audience walking over to your page looking out for those pieces of content.

Simple and Relatable Content is Effective

You've made a staple of creating something simple that’s also wildly effective. I hope that these breakdowns of what other creators are doing was helpful to you. The overall takeaway is that we have to keep it simple. It can be tempting to try a bunch of new things but I'd recommend making good progress in one direction. Pick one of these things I mentioned, rather than a little progress in a million directions.

I know that your to-do list has a million ideas and a million different projects, but what if we just pick one and say, “this is what we're doing, this is what I'm focusing on.” Let me know on Instagram at @travelcontentwriting, which tip was your favorite and which one do you think you want to try?

And of course if you want to connect with any of these incredible creators I've left their instagram, I’ve given you their handles. If you tell them I sent you to their profile, tell them hello for me. Happy creating friends!