The Buzzoole Insights are back with a list of the best Travel Creators on Instagram. The Buzzoole rankings is a list of the top creators in a specific vertical built using our cutting edge technology and curated by our content team. Last month, the spotlight was on the foodies, while this time, we’re focusing on the adventurers of Instagram, the so called travellers. Our #AD analysis found travel to be one of the verticals responsible for 5% of sponsored posts in 2018, but that doesn’t mean it’s lacking in quality. As travelling is one of the most exciting and inspiring activities humans can do, the content created by the best travel Creators is usually mesmerising. It surely is an exciting sector to be a part of and we found many stunning accounts.
Methodology
In order to get a well rounded view, we sourced a wide range of travel creators and ranked these according to engagement per post (likes plus comments on the published posts during the time period considered) and the average follower growth. As with our food rankings, we created two categories: The ‘Rising Stars’ who have 30,000-100,000 followers and the ‘Stars’ who have 100,000+ followers. The KPIs derived from April statistics therefore our rankings reflect April account activity.
The “Stars” Ranking
It’s time to reveal our top Travel creators, we’ll begin with Stars.
Our fifth ranking travel creator is Bookonin and her profile presents a stunning aesthetic. Naomi’s pastel themed images make them look as if they’ve been taken in paradise. Her feed gives us major travel envy! Jess.wandering is next with an average of 34,527 engagements per post. Her pictures are both stunning and scary, with her swimming with jellyfish and picnicking on cliff edges. In third place is Jacob who has an inspiring colourful feed filled with beautiful photography. He has an astounding average of 37,167 engagements per post which is reflective of his talented ability of capturing the moment. Chrisburkard came in second place and is gaining on average 20,910 new followers a month. His daredevil photos include him jumping from cliffs, surfing through waves and scuba diving into what looks to be an underwater cave. He’s definitely brave and it’s great to see his channel growing. TheBucketListFamily are top of our star rankings with a staggering average of 130,902 engagements per post. It’s definitely well deserved. Garret, Jessica and their three children Dorothy, Manilla and Calihan have captivating photos and videos of their travels and show how travelling can bring a family together in the most adorable way.
The “Rising Stars” Ranking
In fifth place we have YouCouldTravel, with an engagement per post of 4019 in April. On average, this adorable travel couple are earning 9390 followers in one month, which is the highest in our rising star rankings! We see them becoming even bigger in the near future. Next is TheAdventureBitch. Cassie posts amazing tropical photos and gets an average of 4880 engagements per post. In third place we have Jack_Anstey who’s amazing photography skills have earned him over 75,000 followers and 5596 engagements per post. His stunning, cool-toned mountain shots are beautifully done and perfect for lovers of landscapes. In second place we have TheDiaryOfANomad who has one of the most colourful travel feeds in our rankings. She showcases elegant art and architecture from around the world and has a well-deserved average of 7000 engagements per post and 2970 new followers a month. Our top travel creator in the rising star ranking is Pina_Patootie! Though she doesn’t have the highest amount of followers, she has had an amazing average engagement per post in the last month of 16,032. Daniah’s feed is different to many other travel bloggers in our rankings as she utilizes white borders on her photos which gives a cute postcard aesthetic.
Trends
There’s some clear differences between what works for our top travel bloggers compared to what works for other verticals. The typical Instagram aesthetic e.g. an all pastel feed, is something that our top travellers seem to ignore. Rather than posting photos that look the same colour and style, they’ll post pictures and videos that show off the vibrancy and true colours of each place they visit. Adding colour filters may dilute the beauty of these photos, therefore focusing less on making their feed look uniform and more on broadcasting the real charm of their surroundings gives a more true travel feed.
Something else we’ve taken away from these rankings is unless you have a unique story such as The Bucket List Family who are travelling with children, having more photos of your beautiful surroundings and scenery rather than selfies is a great way to gain a following. People love to see pretty pictures of the world, therefore focusing on the beauty of the places you travel is a great way to interest people in your feed.
Travel Creators like to tell a story with their captions. Not only does this set the scene for the picture, but it also lets their followers build a connection to the creator and understand their life and thoughts more. It’s a great way to engage with their followers and also encourages them to respond to the post with comments or similar stories. It’s a nice touch to make followers feel included in the creator’s life.
Our top creators in this vertical are also not bound to promoting travel related companies only. Take Bookonin for example, she has posts around makeup and hair care products, as does TheAdventureBitch. This versatility allows a regular travel account to feature lifestyle aspects along the way. Having the freedom to gain sponsorships outside of travel is also a great way to connect with followers, to show products that are great to use whether you’re travelling or not.
Are you passionate about travel? Is your feed dedicated to amazing destinations from around the world? Join our community and become the next Top Travel Creator!