Meet the Instafamous third year who gets paid to go on holiday by ASOS

If you thought you were a big name, a Van Mildert third year has a massive 14,000 followers on Instagram.

Chic Amy Liddell has landed partnerships with Missguided, New Look and LUSH – and was even paid by ASOS to go to Croatia.

The blogging scene has exploded in popularity over the past few years and Durham’s Amy is among the successful few who manage to balance thousands social media followers and a Law degree.

During her gap year, the Van Mildert girl set up an Instagram account called @saltandchic and she’s now posted over a thousand times.

She told The Tab: “I didn’t really know what a blog was when I was first starting out, I knew I had a real interest in fashion and I followed other Instagram accounts which inspired my own.”

Being Instafamous is a competitive business, the attempts to get noticed are fierce. According to Amy: “Hashtags are really important to start you off, you have to be constantly active on social media and by liking and following other people’s accounts, you gain recognition in return.”

Amy regularly takes pictures of her outfits around Durham, her favourite spot being the Palatine Centre. Girls regularly comment on her photos, asking for fashion and make-up advice.

She said: “It is important to listen to your audience and work with what they want.”

While #FBlogger wannabees crowd social media, Amy says she stands out. “Once I had a 1000 followers on Instagram, I started my blog and then my follow count just got bigger and bigger. I started out by balancing a camera on an ironing board in the back garden, it wasn’t glamorous at all.”

But while us mere instafailures moan about heavy nine hour contact weeks, she impressively juggles a part time job in Topshop, her Instagram account, a blog with thousands of subscribers as well as being a finalist at Durham.

“Balance is key, I hate sitting around doing nothing, I love to be kept busy but the blogging is like having a full time job, it is extremely time consuming.”

Now, Amy’s account boasts almost 14,000 followers and regular endorsement deals with big brands such as NewLook, Missguided, LUSH and House of Fraser.

PR firms approach her with offers to collaborate with designers and businesses, offering free clothes, accessories and electronics in return for advertisement on her online forums.

Amy says: “ASOS paid for me and a few other bloggers to go to Croatia over the summer, I still can’t believe it happened. I would never have guessed that blogging could have lead to things like this.”

Second year deadlines were eased with a new laptop, printer and camera courtesy of PC World and a Michael Kors purse from Tessuti, just some of the perks this Instafamous VM Law student gets.

Have any of your pics got 639 likes? Didn’t think so

With online fame comes the ever-present trolls. On some of her photos, she received comments critiquing her weight, one calling her a “violent anorexic.”

Amy battles on. “It is very sad, you are always going to get people who don’t understand what you do but I think people forget that there is a real person behind the screen and that personal comments can have a really damaging effect.”

Amy’s blog saltandchic.com and her Instagram @saltandchic have also been nominated for a North East Blogger Award in the Best InstaBlogger category.

We couldn’t help but ask for a few tips on Instagram posting, something that Amy has mastered over the last couple of years. “Natural light is essential, everything just looks amazing in the natural light and so I try to take as many photos of everything I possibly can when the lighting is good.”

Amy hopes to pursue a career in the fashion world, something her Instagram credentials can’t have held back.