In the growing age of digital media and consumption, the concepts of blogging, vlogging, content creation etc. have seen an unprecedented boom. Every day there are new additions to the list of bloggers that caters to an ever-growing audience. Starting from readers, poets and writers, the growth of the online platform is perfect for anyone looking to find their own métier. Expectedly, given the circumstances, Travel blogging is becoming a much-coveted field as well. After all, the very idea of travelling the world and being paid to write about your own adventures is tempting to many.
It’s the dream job, right?
However, what exactly goes into the making of a blogger? How do you start, how do you expand? These are some of the many questions that plague budding bloggers today. To begin with, running a successful blog in any industry, involves hard work and major investments of time, not just to produce quality content but to manage several other factors as well. Parameters such as funding for photography equipment, lighting, sound, etc. need to be thought about from the get-go. The second thing that is necessary is a lot of hard work and perseverance. Though starting out in this field seems easy, it will be a while before you find your niche and expand your network enough to become a household name in the industry. The entire process isn’t quite as easy as documenting the world from your eyes and publishing it online. Travel blogs, specifically are facing the crunch, as they depend on association with the clientele for sustenance. It is impossible for them to survive solely on one-way communication. Shouldering multiple responsibilities for photography, marketing, advertising and Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), every post has a long and laborious process backstage that is neglected a little too easily nowadays. As such, the graph of devotion and sincerity against success is not linear.
Over time, it has become increasingly obvious that there exists a huge gap between creators and businesses. The audience, more often than not, fails to see the effort that really goes behind creating quality content- making it difficult for content creators to bag a fair deal when trying to collaborate with brands. Content, irrespective of how good it is, has become a matter of passive consumption instead of active participation. One of the major problems they face is the lack of industry standards and regulations. The quality of the content itself is no longer the driving factor, as more and more creators fall prey to the system of scoring higher financial gains in an extremely competitive market. Newer travel blogs especially struggle with producing relatable content when they’re getting no feedback and are at their wit’s ends trying to beat the algorithm. Bigger fish eat the smaller fish, while they themselves are overtaken by the sharks of the industry, and thus, the established pattern continues.
How then are we to beat this stratagem, this setup order that has existed since time immemorial, that has snuck its way into every new concept, weaving its way through generations of structure? The answer to this has become bizarrely simple.
All we need to do is use the platform for which it was originally created – to have an open discussion. Not just between the creators, as they reach out to others on collaborative projects, overseeing fair barters, extending their creative freedom to one another in good faith and business ethics, but also between them and the audience. Strive to make contact - to comment on your opinions, to save posts, to inspire the kind of content you wish to see. Share the work that you appreciate; like, subscribe to, critique on your feed. Be heard as a collective audience, even as you cater to your individual needs and curate your social media walls. Beat the corporate algorithms and structure as you deliberately unfurl conversation with the creators and actively engage with the content.