Some days, Jessica Eufuma still can’t believe it Brands get paid to travel and post about their travels.
“I’ve been seriously doing this since 2018 and sometimes it still seems unreal to me,” he says. Business interested.
Growing up in Lagos, Nigeria, Eufuma wasn’t really interested in visiting other countries, which changed when she turned 24 and moved to Canada to get her master’s degree in international business. As part of his career, he had to live in 3-month stints in British Columbia, the Netherlands, and Peru.
I fell in love with travel during that trip to Peru in 2015, says the Canada-based creative. The trip also opened her eyes to how she used to be the only black woman on her travels, like it did for her Visit Machu Picchu. That’s when he decided to start posting about his solo travels on Instagram and Created a blog.
“I thought if I shared publicly what my experiences were like, more people who looked like me would want to travel,” she explains. “In 2015, there was not as much representation in the travel space as there is now.”
Now, Ufuoma, 31, has visited 50 countries and is now Full time travel content creator with 128,000 followers on Instagram. This year, until the beginning of August, the young woman won $ 50,500 (46,000 euros) Trademark agreementsaccording to documents verified by Business interested.
He paid for his first trips after Peru with savings, but for now Their travels are mainly funded by brands, which covers your travel expenses to new destinations or pays you to post sponsored content. Although her platform is Instagram, she recently started getting requests to post on Topics as well.
Ufuoma began gaining followers and attention from brands by changing its social media strategy
When Eufuma began documenting her travels, she was determined to visit as many countries as possible, but on a shoestring budget.
Since he finished his master’s degree in 2016 and landed a position at telecommunications company Nokia, he’s had money from every payroll for travel.
I usually post one picture of the countries I was visiting with a short explanation.
“Then there were no stories, no roundabouts, nothing,” he explains.
ufuoma He received questions in his comments from people who wanted to know how he paid for his travels, Specific places visited and more. In 2018, when she had about 3,000 followers on Instagram, she changed it up Social media strategy To include longer, more informative captions. These comments focused on advising other people who might want to travel to the country rather than describing the photos he was posting. He also began posting frequently on stories when that format became available.
“I was increasingly concerned less with myself and more with my audience and what they wanted to know,” he says.
Within two months, he landed his first deal with a label. He was paid $300 (€273) by a travel insurance company for posting a photo on his Instagram account describing the importance of his product.
As her followers grew and more brands connected, Ufuoma started negotiating and getting more lucrative opportunities, such as Sponsored trips and collaborations with airlines and even cruise ships. In July, he left Virgin Voyages cruise to Greece, Croatia and MontenegroAnd the company paid for the trip in exchange for posting content along the way.
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Last November, Ufuoma left his full-time job at Nokia Focus on content creation. By 2022, the revenue from his brand deals has exceeded his six-figure salary at the company.
“It wasn’t an easy decision because, as an immigrant, leaving the safety net is not what our parents taught us to do,” he says. “I decided to take the leap because if I didn’t take the risk now, I never would.”
How much do you charge for sponsored content and why did you decline brand offers on themes
The themes app intrigued Ufuoma when it launched in early July because the app is the newest from Instagram.
The day after he downloaded it, a brand sent him a direct message from Instagram offering him $1,200 (€1,090) for one song. Post sponsored in themes. Ufuoma rejected the deal because she didn’t think it would be suitable for her audience, who she said seemed to enjoy the “ad-free” nature of the app.
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Most people in my country feed He said they were really happy that the threads were ad-free, so sometimes it’s just a matter of seeing your followers resonate. “
Soon after, a brand she had previously worked with contacted her to ask if she could post a thread in support of their business. They will pay him $500 (455 euros) for publication. Since he was on good working terms with that company, he considered the proposal and tried to negotiate a fee of $1,500 (€1,365), as well as other terms. In the end he refused the offer because they could not come to an agreement.
“Many past experiences have taught me that I’m underpaid, and being a colorist has a lot to do with it,” she says. “I want to be paid exactly what I deserve, so I won’t settle for less.”
Currently, Ufuoma is packaging her Instagram content as silver, gold, and beloved:
- silver$5,000 (€4,550) for at least one magazine and three stories.
- gold$7,500 (€6,830) minimum for one magazine, five stories and one reel.
- belovedMinimum: $12,000 (€10,930) for three publications in conclusionfive decks, two reels and a one-week link in CV.
Final prices, he says, depend on factors such as usage rights, exact deliveries, deadlines, and how much you personally like the brand.
