Rethinking content: Insta Travels from Home
Unpopular opinion: 2020 has actually been a great year for travel.
There, I said it. But before things escalate, let me explain. I have 100% been upset for myself and others who’ve been left without work they love as a result of this pandemic. Believe me, my year should have looked way more exciting by now if we hadn’t been hit with it.
However it has and we’re here now. And while things feel very uncomfortable now, I can imagine in a year’s time, things will again look very different and I’ll be happy to have experienced this.
We got a general feel for this back in March when lockdown began. Why now? How did it take us this long? What are the lessons here? But after some time at home and research into it, it’s becoming apparent that the chaos that has struck us this year could actually yield a positive result yet.
While I don’t wish unemployment, redundancy or liquidation on anyone, it makes you wonder how so many of these big names could have folded so early into the pandemic. Could they not keep up with the times? Did they have a business strategy? How were they so unprepared?
The world was moving incredibly fast. To a point where not only we, but the earth itself couldn’t catch a break. And now we’re understanding the implications for refusing to be mindful. From personal burnout to the impact on biodiversity.
So what can we do and how can we help?
Mindfulness is not about overthinking, but for me at least it’s about being aware of why we are doing things. From booking certain trips to the way we treat our communities and ourselves. Just taking a second to ask ourselves why we might be doing something when it might not feel right (for example).
Because, as an example, there really is no need for mindless travel - spending hundreds and thousands of pounds to go places - when we can experience what we want for much less (financially and physically).
When we went into lockdown back in March, the content creator industry seemed to panic. What would happen now we were restricted physically? Would this be the end of content creation now we couldn’t step in these exotic places for the ‘gram?
Of course not! And this is why:
Instagram is an empty digital space, and we humans will the space with meaning. In the case of this app, it’s largely “aspirational”, “dreamy” and carefully curated feelings.
However, if you’ve ever been to these Instagram famous locations, you’ll know that these places are anything but what the carefully curated photos portray. Having experienced the ickiness of a Bali Instagram Tour a year ago, I knew just this.
It was fascinating to me that I felt this discomfort looking at the photos beforehand and felt that exact same thing at the locations, yet it very obviously translated to something different for my audience. So with this in mind, six months later, I got the idea to give this a go in my local area: Surrey (England), to some great results.
How did we do it? Well there were some simple steps to follow (apologies to the Instagrammers out there if I gave away your secrets):
Research. Curation happens from carefully researching your location, pose and clothing. For the InstaSurrey images, I mostly used Pinterest and Instagram photos for classic poses and shots.
Plan. With this research in mind, I then began to plan these images into my schedule. Along with the locations around Surrey that I could do these in. I tried as much as possible to keep the locations a walk or very short drive from my house in order to reinforce just how easy it is in fact to capture these feelings of aspiration at home.
Shoot and share. It was a lot of fun to rediscover my local area and create these popular looks without spending lots of money on flights. It was educational for myself and gave me an opportunity to then hopefully inspire others. It certainly made me rethink why I was travelling, who I was travelling for and the impact some of the trips I’ve already taken likely had - and all for the sake of my wants.
So moving forward, I’ll certainly be paying a lot more attention to my intentions when travelling and how I can contribute to the communities when I do. Both abroad and at home.
At the end of the day, It’s not about feeling bad that we are travelling, but being aware of the potential consequences travelling may have. From the larger environmental impact to the smaller scale implications that revealing a local location could have - we all know some of the horrors that South Kensington and Notting Hill residents have experienced with their homes and cars.
As we move into a new chapter of travel content creation, I definitely believe that this sort of awareness will play a big part in the success of content.
If you’re a Blogosphere Magazine community member, you can now watch my full talk on my experience here.
