BITW 033: How to Leverage Your Social Media Accounts and Blog Audience For Paid Assignments with Travel Photographer Jeff Bartlett

Jeff Bartlett is an Adventure photographer & writer based in the Jasper National Park in Alberta, Canada. His biggest passions are cycling, skiing, hiking, mountain life and active travel. He is a contributing writer and photographer for Canadian Cycling Magazine and has been published internationally in magazines including Discover, Home & Away, travelsquire, and Afar; as well as commercially for destination marketing organizations like Travel Alberta, Tourism Quebec, and Visit Finland.

Jeff in Jasper National Parks’ Tonquin Valley

To subscribe to the podcast, please use the links below:

Click Here to Subscribe via iTunes
Click Here to Subscribe via RSS (non-iTunes feed)

If you like the show, please consider leaving the show a review in iTunes as well as Stitcher Radio. A couple minutes of your time can help the show immensely! Thank YOU!

The Finer Details of Episode 33 with Jeff Bartlett ! He shares his journey into travel writing and travel photography and what it takes to get sponsorship’s as well as how to properly pitch an article. He also explains why being a adventure travel photographer is the coolest job ever! We also talked about:

How he can live in a National Park.
Why he transitioned more to photography and less travel writing.
Why he’s battled with the importance of photography school.
Why every travel photographer should take a business course.
How you can teach yourself travel photography with Youtube.
Why the Nikon D810 is unrivaled for landscape photography.
Why the type of camera is less important than learning to properly use it.

Jeff and I also discussed how he has turned adventure travel and photography into a full time career as well as these topics:

How he leverages his social media accounts and blog audience for paid assignments with DMO’s.
What it’s like to work on assignment for a print publication.
How to pitch article ideas to a print magazine.
His query approach and why you shouldn’t us a shotgun approach.
His process of writing after finishing the travels.
How to pull a story out of the experience and not just write about your weekend visit.
How to meet the right people during an assignment for the best research and quotes.
Why he prefers to write in 3rd person.
How he organizes social media FAM’s as a source of income.
How he has created a niche of opportunites with his own FAM’s.
Why it’s not about the number of social media followers, but about the number of likes and comments.
The magic numbers you need on Instagram to start getting approached for sponsored posts.
A sponsored post vs. a sponsorship.
Why payment is sometimes just a matter of finding the courage to ask.
Why a good sponsored post should look organic and not like an ad.
How to set a rate for sponsored posts.
Why you must know your web numbers and demographics.
Why you must offer multiple versions and angles of photos for a publisher.
How to pitch a DMO correctly.
Why determination is the key to success.
Why you shouldn’t be afraid to ask why your query or pitch got rejected.
Why you can’t build an Instagram Audience if you aren’t consistent.
Why you must have self imposed deadlines.

Episode Resources

Viva Guides
Matador
Canadian Cycling Magazine
D750 Nikon
D800 Nikon
A6000 Sony
Morocco Photography Workshop
Tourism Jasper
Tourism Alberta
Lowepro
Cocapeli
Expedia
Travesquire
Iconosquare
Aspiring Travel Writer Facebook Group

People Mentioned on this episode:
Naomi Figueroa
Brendan Van Son
Kyle Kiper (Katie Kiper)

Connect With Jeff
Jeff’s Websites www.adventurefreelancer.com & www.jeffbartlettmedia.com
Jeff Bartlett on Instagram
Jeff Bartlett on Facebook
Jeff Bartlett on Twitter
Jeff on G+

Connect with Break Into Travel Writing
Twitter
Facebook
Instagram
The Aspiring Travel Writer, the Facebook group

Hope you enjoyed this episode and please join me in thanking Lindsey for being here! And thank you as well. We’ll see you next time!

Would You Help Spread the Word About the Podcast? I’d be forever grateful if you helped share the podcast. Click here for a pre-populated tweet to help spread the word to your friends on Twitter. THANK YOU!

Feedback on the Podcast If you have any suggestions for upcoming shows or a question for an upcoming episode, leave a comment below. If you enjoyed this podcast, I’d be extremely grateful if you would take a second and leave me a review and rating over on iTunes. Your taking a minute to do this allows me to help more people with this podcast, so I really appreciate it (once on that page, simply click on the “View in iTunes” button to leave your review — thanks very much!)