An Instagram account that has the ability to turn likes into $$$ is the life. Once you have that on the go, you never know what doors will open.

But how would you even begin to put together an account that can live up to those that are already doing well?

Justin Schuble knows.

The 22-year-old is a student at Georgetown University in Washington D.C. and, at the moment, earns more than $40 000 (R500 000) a year by posting delectable photographs of food to the Instagram account, DC Food Porn.

Speaking to the Washingtonian, Schuble explained that if he went full time, he could earn six times that.

In the same interview, Schuble dropped knowledge bombs, detailing what it is that he does to make every post a success.

You ready for this? Take notes:

Instagram filters? Psh. He edits several contenders in one photo app, then fine-tunes the winner in another. He uses a third to make sure the shot will look good in the context of his feed, lest it clash.

He writes a caption (“DC poké game on the rise thanks to @pokepapadc // TAG YOUR FRIENDS”), then starts tagging accounts he hopes might want to reshare his masterpiece—major food-media outlets, other big-name Instagrammers. And Kylie Jenner. Always Kylie Jenner.

Finally, he hits “share” and gets his thumbs in position for the last step for viral success: ginning up the likes and “omg yums” that will juice the photo’s ranking higher in Instagram’s mysterious algorithm. He starts by adding 29 hashtags: #forkyeah, #viral, #feedyoursoul. Like. Like. Like. He switches to his personal account and tags his brother and sister in the comments. From an account shared by extended family, he tags three cousins. From a second food account he recently started, he comments: “This looks amazing! Love poke.” He always comments on his own photos.

“Posting is always a big deal—I’m always like, ‘Give me five minutes, don’t talk to me, just let me do my thing,’ ” he says. The likes are up to 66, then 113. He checks his analytics. “A thousand people have seen it already. Three people have already saved it because they want to go there,” he says, matter-of-fact. It’s been five minutes.

He’ll be asked in to shoot a restaurant’s most showstopping dish—the three-tiered, caviar-topped seafood tower shrouded in dry-ice smoke at Mastro’s Steakhouse, for instance—or he’ll reach out for a comped meal in exchange for a photo. Although he also eats out on his own dime, places that frequently show up in his feed—Bethesda Bagels, Astro Doughnuts & Fried Chicken—hook him up anytime he needs new content. Some, like Richard Sandoval Restaurants (El Centro D.F., Masa 14), pay him a monthly retainer for coverage.

Ask restaurateurs to translate Instagram likes into sales and they can’t—but that doesn’t mean they don’t believe in the gospel of social media. After Schuble’s post on Poké Papa, the business’s Instagram account more than doubled its modest following. Courting Schuble seems like a no-brainer for the relatively small cost of ingredients and the time to gussy them up.

Got it? Well, take a look at a breakdown of his earnings:

The Hilton is paying Schuble $500 to stay in its $2,000-a-night presidential suite and to eat at its restaurant and bar. All in exchange for two photos.

Arrangements like this have stuffed Schuble’s savings account ever since he began monetizing [sic] his Instagram by working with big brands. The first company to pay him was Bai, which sells five-calorie “antioxidant infusion drinks.” For $250 a month, he posted two photos on @DCFoodPorn that featured the beverage in his own recipes. Smoothies worked okay, but Schuble’s attempt at Bai-infused banana bread was, well, not great.

He has since shot for Chobani Greek yogurt, OpenTable, Voss water, Hellmann’s mayo, Good Humor, and so on, commanding as much as $1,500 for a single photo and $2,000 for a video. McDonald’s once paid Schuble $2,000 to fly to its headquarters outside Chicago, where it has an “Instagram studio” with a kitchen and props. In the past year, he’s made between $40,000 and $50,000—already more than a Hill staff assistant’s salary.

Honestly, his account isn’t the greatest thing in the world, but there’s something about #foodporn Instagram accounts that get all the attention.

No wonder he has 177 000 followers and counting.

[source:washingtonian]