Welcome back to my blogging/instagram secrets part 2!
I hope you enjoyed my first post yesterday and I’m glad you’re back today! When I first wrote this post, I realized I had written over 1500 words… It was quite lengthy so I decided to split it up into two days. Anyways I appreciate you coming along for the ride!
Like I mentioned yesterday, even though I still feel like I have a long way to go with blogging, I realized that I have learned a lot these past few years. I love helping other women in the blogging community. So my Christmas gift to you are 10 of my blogging and instagram secrets!
Blog/Instagram Secrets #6 – My collaborations – 80% brands find me, 20% I find them
One of my most asked questions as a blogger is: “How did you land that collaboration with XXX?!”
And when I tell people that the brand found me on Instagram and the brand reached out, people are always surprised. Only about 20% of the brand collaborations I get are me reaching out to the brand on Instagram or through email. But 80% of my brand collaborations are the brands finding me and reaching out to me.
Here’s why: It’s already pretty time consuming to write original blog posts, social media copy to support the blog posts, schedule time with my photographer to shoot, AND reach out to brands. I only reach out to brands if I absolutely love their products or their clothes.
Honestly, I try not to sweat it if I don’t have brands reaching out a specific month. Instead, I focus on styling and writing pieces that matter to me because I know those brand collaborations will come.
Here are some of my favorite brand collaborations where the brands found me:
H&M | Holiday Instagram Campaign
American Eagle Outfitters 2016/2017 | Autumn | Winter | Spring | Summer
TJ Maxx | Instagram Story Takeover
Lauren by Ralph Lauren | Instagram Campaign
Here are some of my favorite brand collaborations where I reached out to the brands:
Oliver Bilou | Bag for NYFW
Blog/Instagram Secrets #7 – I practice posing in front of the mirror.
You’re probably laughing out loud right now… but it’s true. Before I go shoot with my photographer, I practice posing in front of the mirror. The big reason why I do this: I practice in front of a mirror so I can see how my face and body are translating on camera. It’s hard to envision how my arms or legs or face are positioned after I get in front of the camera.
Blog/Instagram Secrets #8 – A few days before my photo shoot, I spend a few hours styling all of my looks.
Since I’m shooting 3-5 looks per photo shoot, I have to be prepared. So a few days before the shoot, I set aside time to style all my looks. I literally try on my outfits with different shoes and see how it all looks. Afterwards, I put my looks aside in my closet so I know exactly what I’m wearing the day of the shoot.
How I organize my looks:
Then the day of the shoot, I pack up all my outfits and shoes in a bag or two. Sometimes I do a shoe bag and an outfit bag. And other times I do 2 outfits in one bag with shoes and 2 outfits + shoes in the other bag. I’ve organized it both ways!
Blog/Instagram Secrets #9 – I write my captions and hashtags in notes.
You might already be doing this, but since I plan my photos on my feed days ahead of time, I actually write all my captions and hashtags for each photo in my notes. I’ve found it was stressful to be directly writing and editing my caption inside Instagram. It’s so much easier to write out my captions and hashtags outside of the app and then copy and paste it when I’m ready to post.
Blog/Instagram Secrets #10 – Experiment on other platforms.
In this day and age, Instagram is the bread and butter of most social media influencers. However one of my favorite platforms to share my blog posts on is actually LinkedIn. I love to share my career and lifestyle posts on LinkedIn. The cool thing about LinkedIn is if one of your friends likes your posts, ALL of their friends see that they’ve liked their post on their newsfeed. LinkedIn also isn’t owned by Facebook/Instagram so it has a completely different algorithm. I’ve found that even if I only get one or two likes a post, I still get 200+ people that see my status.
My post: 10 Steps to Figure Out the Next Step in Your Career got 15 likes which translated to 1,150 views of my post on LinkedIn!
Shop my exact pair of earrings and similar pieces:
[show_shopthepost_widget id=”2962257″]
There you have it friends – 10 of my blog/Instagram secrets. As I learn more about how to become a better blogger, I hope to create more posts like this for you! If you want even more blogging advice/secrets, please subscribe to my email list. ‘ll be sending out 12 Pieces of Advice to New Bloggers at the end of this month!
What are some of your blogging/instagram secrets that you’d like to share?
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Happy Holidays everyone! Thank you for reading!
Love,
Emma
Photos:Holly Phan
You are a great blogger. I really enjoy reading your posts so much. I learn a lot from them.
Youtube: https://goo.gl/bUQWa5
Blog: http://www.easys-tyle.com/
I’ll have to try standing in front of the mirror trying out different poses. I already write my captions and hashtags out for my Instagram @goldclutter.
http://www.goldclutter.com
Love this Emma! I also pose in front of the mirror, style looks prior, and take things in bags. 😃🙌🏻