Business of Fall Fashion 2015

I started my blog by shooting myself with a Nikon
5100, a 50mm lens, and a clicker. I would use a self
timer on the camera with the clicker and a tripod.
These are essentially the only three things you need
to start a blog. I would drive to train stations, beaches,
woodlands, and climb onto roof tops; combined with
my tools, I created a huge amount of content to share
with my followers. I used Blogger.com to set up my
blog, and it began to grow.
Now that you know how to start your blog, here are
some tips to grow your blog faster:
Tip #1: Establish and maintain a consistent flow of
content to your blog, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook,
and FashionTap accounts. When people visit your
social profiles, they will want to see that you are
active before they begin to follow or work with you.
Tip #2: Interact with bloggers similar to you. If their
look and style matches yours, comment on their
Instagram photos to build a connection with them
and their fans. You will build relationships with others
in the industry, but more importantly, you will gain
interested and involved fans.
Tip #3: If you have great content, you may start
working with smaller brands right away. I styled all
of my own blogs using my existing wardrobe and
mixing in a few new pieces here and there. Instead
of waiting for them to find me, I began to reach
out to different brands to work with via Instagram.
I would comment on photos to ask for PR emails.
Often times, I would get a response, follow up, and
gain a partnership. While having unique content will
eventually draw attention, I think being proactive
and reaching out to the right strategic partners is
something you can begin to do right away.
Tip #4: Get on all fashion social media sites or apps
as soon as possible. If you are a smaller blogger, just
starting out, or wanting to start a blog makes it hard
to grow followers on social media. People at the top
generally stay at the top, while people just starting
have to fight their way up. This takes a lot of hard
work! I personally manage accounts on each network
you can name: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Vine,
Pinterest, Blogger, and several others. If you can
get onto new platforms early in their product life,
this is a great way to build a large following. Chiara
Ferragni started her blog in 2009 and has clearly
become hugely successful over the past several
years. Many YouTube and Vine celebrities started on
those channels on day one, hence one of the biggest
reasons many of them have such huge followings.
If you are an early adopter on any network, you
will become big on that network, growing your
8 | Business of Fall Fashion Issue | Fashion Xchange Magazine
following as the network itself grows its user base. I’m
always vigilant about new upcoming sites, networks, and
publications where I can get involved early.
FashionTap is a great example of an opportunity to be
discovered and to grow your following. This fashion
social network for bloggers and the fashion industry
just launched in March, so jumping on board as an early
adopter will benefit when the network becomes big and
has millions of users.
Tip #5: The last piece of advice I will offer is do not buy
followers on any social network! My followers are all real,
and I worked the hardest I’ve ever worked for them. There
are new apps coming out that detect fake followers on
Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. You will be found out
and lose credibility.
Good luck! Stay strong, stay determined, stay vigilant, and
be yourself!
Twitter https://twitter.com/afashionnerd
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UCfVQ_4Af8tX3yoSqBawah_g
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