How This Pro Instagram Star Earns Up to $100K Climbing Peaks Full-Time
The rise of Instagram in our culture has spawned a generation of professional Instagrammers who make a living from broadcasting (often sponsored) photos to their massive followings. Meghan Young is one such Instagrammer, and this 12-minute feature by Bloomberg gives us a look into what her life and career are like.
“My job is to make it look effortless, to look like it’s the most fun ever and it’s never a job,” Young tells Bloomberg. “But it is a job.”
With about 200,000 followers tuned in right now, Young earns her living from both customers who license her photos and companies that pay for appearances and endorsements in her Instagram feed. She’s reportedly on track to earn between $50,000 and $100,000 over the next year through her job as a social media influencer.
Young says she turns down the majority of the unsolicited sponsorship offers she receives, as they’re often unrelated to outdoor adventuring, and instead she spends days and weeks doing the legwork it takes to make carefully crafted pitches to potential sponsors that are relevant to her audience.
She usually asks for $1,500 for each permanent post in her feed and $200 per day for temporary stories. About 70% of the pitches she sends out are rejected, and it’s the remaining 30% that help her make a living.
This whole system may be far more work than most people think when they hear the words “Instagram influencer,” but Young is able to pay her bills and do what she loves for a living.
(via Bloomberg via The Digital Picture)
