We recently connected with Rebecca Hrabar and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Rebecca, thanks for joining us today. Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?
For Utah Family Travels, our mission and goal is to help families get out and make memories! We understand that it isn’t easy to get outside and explore new places all the time. But we also know how beneficial it is for young minds to explore and get to know the world around them!
Our hope is, as we share ideas, tips and helpful information on our social media pages, that we encourage others to get out and visit! It does not even have to be what we share, we just want to inspire families to explore the world around them and go try something new! And doing these things together can not only bring families closer together, but also create lasting memories and encourage a healthy lifestyle!
Five years ago our family did not get out very often, we watched a lot of television and we’re content just being homebodies. But once our kids started getting older, and Covid hit, we realized the impact the outdoors can have!
Our kids would scream and tantrum but once we got out on a trail it seemed to solve 90% of the behavioral problems we were seeing. They were happier, got along better, and became way more creative, while also learning so much about the natural world around them!
So we started getting out more, finding new places, trying new things like kayaking, snow showing, skiing, and no matter what it is, just spending a short time outside, improves everyone’s moods!
After sharing about our travels and adventures with family and friends, we decided it might help for her families, experiencing similar issues to get out and enjoy the outdoors and fun places they may have never heard of! That’s how Utah Family Travels was born.
Rebecca, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
I’m Becca, the voice behind Utah Family Travels and I have the most supportive husband and family in the world, who go along on so many adventures with me!
We mostly share about our Utah travels but also travel around the Western US. Mostly to Idaho, Colorado, California and Arizona.
We are on Instagram, TikTok and Facebook, and will be coming out with a blog shortly!
How did you build your audience on social media?
The most important thing you can do on social media to grow a following is to be consistent.
Consistency is key! Your videos and posts do not have to be perfect, but showing up everyday(or on a set schedule you have decided) will help you more than anything else!
Engage in different types of content as well and see what works for your following! Carousel and feed posts are mostly seen by your current following and can build community with them(you want a community of loyal followers is more effective than tons of followers!), reels are the best way to organically reach more people! I know some may be scared of video but this is how you grow on instagram, just think of what you send your friends or family, are they single images or are they funny videos? Lives are again helpful for building the community amongst your followers. Stories are also an important component, and the best place to communicate more “one on one” with your followers, talk about your life, give them behind the scenes looks, sell your products or services, etc.
So, be consistent, find the content that works for you and your following(don’t be scared to try reels!), and lastly build a community instead of building followers.
We’d love to hear the story of how you turned a side-hustle into a something much bigger.
Utah Family Travels definitely started as a labor of love, and in most instances still is! Social media is a lot about putting in work and waiting for results.
The majority of people on social platforms are not going to go viral and get millions of followers overnight! Trust me, I’ve had 4 or 5 videos hit 1 million plus views and have had to work hard for the nearly 50k followers I currently have over the past two years!
So it’s a lot of dedication and doing things for free, reaching out to companies, small business, trading content.
For us there was a lot of paying for experiences to share about. Then that turned into free exchanges. Then I learned about the magic of a media kit. Figuring out how to put one together, what your pricing should be, etc is tricky and with social media influencing being new, there are no hard or fast rules as to what you should be paid. Once I chatted with other influencers and sis some research I came up with my own and send it out regularly! I also reach out often to companies.
It is a lot of rejection, and you have to let those roll off of you and keep moving forward. With new partnerships coming in every week, I am looking at doing this full time in the next few months! 
Contact Info:
Image Credits
The photo of our family on the beach is by @zionadventurephotog The photo of just me by the flowers is by @hayhaws All other photos are just from me