America’s Next Top Model  Cycle 3 winner and actress Eva Marcille has shown how to use Instagram to market an event.  The mom-to-be and TV hostess offered some of the young women among her nearly half a million people who follow her on Instagram and nearly quarter million on Twitter a chance to hang out with her in the Caribbean this May.

We suppose this will be a post baby trip as the former reality TV star and her beau music producer Kevin McCall are expecting their daughter pretty soon. 

It took less than 3 days for the 20 spots to fill up in each of the countries/properties on her tour: Trinidad and Tobago, Puerto Rico, Cayman Islands, Barbados and Anguilla. For packages starting at $800, the All Girls Caribbean Weekend includes hanging with Eva, professional photo shoots, make overs, fashion and beauty tips, relationship talks and more.  Those who pay the $2,000 each for the 5 Platinum spots on each stop get a shoot with Eva and their photos published in a non-specified magazine. 

That’s not a bad deal if you can afford it and have the time off from work and/or flexibility. And it is also for social good as a portion of the proceeds from the weekends will go to a group called The Right to Rights Foundation, which appears to promote awareness of Human Rights abuse and violations.

And who knows, if she gets consent from participants, she could partner with a production company to  film parts of the adventure to sell as a short-run docu series to a cable network. 

She previously starred with her girlfriends in the 2012 Oxygen channel reality TV show she produced called Girlfriend Confidential: LA   which got a pretty good review as a mostly positive show about the importance of strong female friendships from Common Sense Media.  It didn’t get picked up for a second season, meanwhile BadGirls Club is on Season 17. (hmmm. Marinate on that for a bit)

Anywhoo….each day, we see in Instagram and social media, fashion bloggers wearing clothes provided to them by brands who pay the most popular ones upwards to thousands of dollars in promotional funds to do so.  It’s great to see these partnerships between influentials and companies take off. 

Some people just love social media for its ability to connect with friends, old and new. Others for just clowning around, sharing, news links and memes and getting a distraction from their daily day and life. 

And then there are others who use it fully to maximize entrepreneurial and brand promotional opportunities.

Kudos to Eva for using her celeb status and ample following to connect with her fans and followers.