This is a highly requested post & one that I am very excited to finally write. I have been working on this post for a WHILE. On instagram and in my personal life, everyone ALWAYS asks me for advice on followers, photos, blogging, & social media. So this post will be everything that I have learned & know about creating content and sharing it on social media. This post will be open and honest, but I don’t mean for anything to come across negative, I just want this post to help. I may also do a Part II because there is just SO much to creating content. I have been working on this post for a while & tried to highlight some of the most important things that I have noticed or been asked about lately. SO this post may be a little all over the place, but the information should (hopefully) help! 

So, first things first. Know the difference. There’s a lot of titles: blogger, content creator, influencer, etc. If you want to work with brands and grow your social media presence you HAVE to know the difference. If a brand sees that you are calling your Instagram a blog, they will not take you seriously because (and I can not emphasize this enough) an Instagram account is NOT A BLOG. A blog is a separate website through WordPress, Blogger, etc. So here is the break down:

• Content Creators: any one who creates content on blogs, social media, videos, & more. A content creator is also any of the below.
• Influencer: can be seen on any or all platforms: Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, etc. and affect purchase decisions.

A content creator can be an influencer, and vise versa. One of the biggest differences is that celebrities can also be called influencers because they affect purchase decisions. In addition to the title of Content Creators and Influencers, there are also specific titles:

• Social Media Influencer: creates post on social media platforms like Instagram and Facebook.
• Blogger: Creates posts on a blog (through WordPress, Blogger, Blog Lovin, etc) and promotes those posts through social media.
• Vlogger: any one who creates videos (about themselves, products, tutorials, etc) on YouTube. Also called a YouTuber.

Create Your Own Brand

If you are really interested in actually having your own blog or website to share content then you should definitely invest in a domain name and blog. Through google, you can buy your domain name and have a blog through Blogger for less than $20/year. If you want brands and people to take your blog seriously, then don’t have the yourblog.blogger.com or .wix.com or .wordpress.com, just buy your domain. When you select a domain, make sure that you chose one that you really love and that isn’t already taken somewhere else. Your domain and social media handles is your personal brand. So try to have your domain name match all of your social media handles. For example, my blog is LA Plans. My blog address is laplans.co and ALL of my social media handles are @laplans: Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, LIKEtoKNOW.it, & Pinterest. This not only makes it easy, consistent and simple for people to find you (& as I mentioned earlier simplicity & consistency is the key), but also help you create brand awareness.

I also use the same colour scheme to create brand awareness, I use a lot of beige/neutral colors and the same fonts to create content on all of my platforms. This continued consistency helps people associate all of these factors to your brand.

One additional thing I like to do to help people search for content they are looking for is to create my own hashtags. So I have #LAplansSchool for all of my posts about school and my academic planner pages, #LAplansPages for all of my planner spreads, #LAplansBeauty for the rare beauty posts I share which makes it easier for my followers to find/sort through, & so on. This isn’t necessarily mandatory, but I think it really helps followers and makes it easier on them.

The Basics

Simplicity and consistency is they key. Keep everything as simple as possible or people will lose interest or be confused. Even if you provide detailed instructions, you may notice that people will still be confused. So always try to keep everything clear and simple.

It’s also important to have a well rounded social media presence. A lot of people use different platforms for different things and generally prefer what they are used to. I started a Instagram page then created a Facebook Page for my blog so I could set my Instagram account up as a business account. Which you NEED to do if you want be a content creator of any kind. I started my actual blog a couple of months later.

Around a year after I established my Instagram and Blog, I had a lot of followers ask for YouTube videos. & while I NEVER used YouTube before I started my own YouTube channel, I knew how important it was to some of my followers so after I started receiving requests to start a YouTube channel, I took the time to learn more one how to edit and create videos and watched different kinds of videos to get a better feel. So I decided to start a YouTube channel. YouTube is a great platform to really go into detail with your social media and blog posts. It also helps your followers really engage with you and get to know your personality.  I’ve finally reached the point where I feel (for the most part) comfortable in front of the camera and making videos regularly.

One thing to note is that every one is different. What worked for me, might not work for someone else. I currently have 19.7K followers on Instagram but haven’t hit 500 subscribers on YouTube & for a lot of YouTubers, you’ll notice that it will be the other way around.

Content

As I mentioned earlier & will continue to mention throughout this post, share what you love. You want your content to reflect you.

For photos & videos, natural light is THE BEST light. Turn off all the lights (it’s weird but works) & open all your windows. Or go outside. Just make sure not to get too much sun or you won’t be able to see your post. Blog lights work for videos or if you need to take videos at night. But always shoot for natural light because you get the best quality!

Switch things up & make sure the find what works best for you. You’ll find a preference of how you want photos or videos to come out. But it does take trial & error.

One of the best things I always like to do is evaluate my own content. I like to see what I like & how it worked out when I shared it. This is also a great way to gauge your content in the beginning. If you’re focused on followers (more coming on that below) then look to see what is getting you the most engagement (more on that below too). This is the best way to see what works. If you noticed that your photos are darker or not as visible, then switch up when you’re taking your photos & you’ll see a huge difference. I have specific spots where I take photos & I like taking photos in the morning or in the evening. But find what you like & what works best for YOU.

Also, don’t copy someone else. If you want to use someone’s idea, give credit with “inspired by” or something like that. But don’t just try to pass off someone else’s idea as your own or do what they do. If roles were reversed would you want that to happen to you? Just be original.

Engagement 

Engagement includes likes, followers, comments, and any interactions with your followers. For this I really want to share what I have read and what I have learned because there are many different ways to increase your engagement on your social media platforms. There are two primary forms: organic (non-paid) and paid. The BEST way is organically. This is how you create genuine interest and gain followers who are actually interested in your content. 

Organic:

• Hashtags. Hashtags are your best friend. Just make sure that you are using hashtags that pertain to your post and that are relevant. Instagram allows your to see how popular the hashtag and related hashtags. So about once a month look up different hashtags and see what is most commonly used and use those on your posts. Instagram allows you to use 30 max and I always try to use 25-30 hashtags this increases your potential reach. However, it can also cause bots or some random person from another country to find or like your page. For me, its done more good than bad, especially if you use relevant hashtags that pertain to your post. For example, don’t use “#beautyblogger” if you’re not actually a beauty blogger. People AND brands who are looking through that hashtag to find beauty bloggers will not like your post or follow you if you’re just doing things for likes. 
• Tagging. Tag the brands that are in your photos or on your stories. Any major company or brand has a marketing division dedicated to looking for influencers and bloggers to promote their brand. Showing a brand how much you actually love their brand and more importantly, showing them how well you promote their products, will help you gain their interest in working with you.  
• Track your insights. If you want to increase your reach, the best thing you can do is to make sure you have a Business or Creator profile on Facebook and Instagram and use the Analytics options to track who’s following you. You can track your growth, where your followers are from (by city), average times your followers on our Instagram so you can post during those times to reach them, and so much more. 

Paid:

I don’t recommend content creators to pay for advertising. I tried promoting my page and some posts on Instagram for my blog and it just produced a lot of followers that were bots or just quickly unfollowed. So I wouldn’t recommend it for bloggers or influencers.

However, I HIGHLY recommend it for businesses. For work, I promote our social media profiles, posts, and events within 50 miles to reach rural areas. This helps us increase our brand awareness locally which is the main purpose of our social media accounts.  

The goal for any Content Creator or business on social media is to increase your engagement organically. The best way to do this is to do something different & be yourself. It’s okay to share a similar style, literally everyone does it. But remember, everyone does it. If you want to stand out, you have to do something new or appealing. The best way to do this and the best advice you can ever receive when it comes to a social media presence is to be yourself & share what YOU love. You should always love what you’re creating, if you don’t then you should really reevaluate the direction that your content is going and make changes (as needed).

Don’t take anything personally.

Bloggers and influencers run a BUSINESS. They post content, they generate interest, make sales, and repeat. Brands work with bloggers and influencers to help them sell more products for their BUSINESS. Brands collaborate with content creators to generate business, so if you’re not generating sales then they will more than likely stop sending you collaboration opportunities because you’re not helping them grow their business. The same things goes for if you’re just starting. Remember: there are a LOT of people who have blogs or are trying to be social media influencers, and there’s a lot of pages that already work with brands and have a good relationship with them. Always keep that in mind and always be professional. Also, don’t let anything discourage you whether you get denied or notice you didn’t receive a collaboration opportunity. There are a lot of brands that I applied to work with when I first started and they denied collaborations requests because I didn’t have the engagement or followers that they were looking for. But I didn’t let that discourage me, I still loved those brands and was going to share about them regardless. Later on, once I gained the following they were looking for and had the quality of content they were looking for is when I started to work with brands. 

Collaborations

It can take no time at all to receive collaboration requests. There are a lot of start up companies that know that influencer marketing can help their companies. I cannot stress this enough: never agree to a collaboration with a brand you don’t personal use or recommend. Don’t accept collaborations to increase your numbers or because you think you won’t receive any more requests. I decline FAR MORE requests than I receive. & nothing bad has happened. My best advice when it comes to collaborations or ads is to only accept the ones that you would do anyways. Meaning, if you had no intention of putting anything like that on your page, don’t do it. 

Followers & Posts

Do not buy followers. Any brand or follower, can tell if you bought your followers by simply looking at your followers. You will always have bots that follow you, but no one will believe 1000 bots followed you (or 10,000 in one day and yes, I’ve seen that happen). The key to any social media presence is to be genuine and authentic. If you want to grow your followers and create a large platform, you have to do it by being yourself (as cliche as it sounds). Having 10,000 followers doesn’t matter if they’re not engaged. Buying followers will actually HURT you. If you want to work with brands, they do look at your followers, but they mainly look at your engagement. If they see that you have 10,000 followers but only 100 people like your photos and no one comments, then that shows that your followers are not interested in your posts and/or are fake. There are a lot of bloggers and influencers and a lot of people that want to do the same thing that you do. Brands will find who is the best investment, because that’s what you are. They are investing money or products in you so that you influence people to buy, try, promote their products. 

Speaking of which, giveaways are GREAT, but don’t do them for the sole purpose of creating followers because then people will only follow you for the giveaways and won’t REALLY be interested in your content. It’s essentially the same as buying followers. Besides, wouldn’t you rather giveaway items to people who follow you & generally love your content? One of my favourite things about blogging and doing giveaways for followers that love my content and have been following because we have similar interests. Again, I’m not going to lie, YES new followers are AMAZING & giveaways are opportunities to grow your followers and have people find your page and hopefully like your content. But a LOT of people will enter giveaways that don’t even follow you (and think their smart and will get away with it) or only follow you until he giveaway is over so they can win the prize and that’s NOT what you want.

On the subject of being genuine, remember that in everything you share: videos, posts, stories, etc. As I mentioned, I’m not going to lie in this post, I’m guilty of sounding/doing similar things that you see most content creators do. It happens without even realizing it. I have my boyfriend watch every video I make and proof read some posts to get a second opinion. I think it becomes more like a “customer service voice” if that makes sense? Where you create this tone or persona for something specific. I honestly feel like it happens to everyone (especially me), so just try and rewatch or even redo stories of videos to be more authentic/you if you catch yourself doing it. 

Now on the subject of honesty. ALWAYS be honest. If you don’t like something then say it. If you love somethings then say it. If its an uncommon opinion then PERFECT. Share why. I’m honestly not the best with going into detail with things, but I’m working on it. & there’s always something to work on. (You should always want to do something to improve – in any way possible.) Also keep in mind, that its okay to hype up products but only if you’re actually hyped about them. Do you really believe the girl your following on Instagram that has a new favourite mascara by a different brand every week? No.

Also, don’t clutter your profile. It’s recommended to post on a schedule and post no more than 3 posts a day. But again, its your platform. So do what you see fit. I always put things into the reader/viewer’s perspective. I follow a lot of different bloggers and influencers so I take note on what I do: I know if someone is posting a lot in one day I tend to just scroll through especially if it is on the same topic especially in Instagram stories. I will click through if I see that there are over 20 stories and just look at the highlights. As I mentioned earlier, its best to keep things simple for this reason. & although it seems like EVERYONE does it, how many times do you skip through someones story just because you think its too much? Especially if they do it ALL the time. If you keep things to the point then when you don’t post in more detail or have to share more, then your followers will remain engaged because they know you’re not just blabbing.

To summarize this section (because its important): share good quality content that you love, always be honest,  don’t overload information, & you will gain followers. If you’re doing what other people are doing, then no one will want to follow you because their already following someone who is already doing that.

Blogging Essentials 

You don’t have to invest a lot of money into taking good quality photos and content. Smart phones have AMAZING cameras and if you follow larger bloggers then you’ll notice they say that they take their photos with their iPhones. Make sure you have good lighting – natural light is always the best. I always turn off ANY light that is on because light bulbs generate a yellow light that offset the white balance in your photo.

Find a filter that works for you and that doesn’t ruin the quality of your image. For example, if you’re trying to become a beauty blogger then you want to find a filter that won’t change the color of your products or color of your skin in your photos because that won’t help your followers. Here are some of my favourite blogging essentials:

• Camera: I have the Nikon D3400, but I mainly use my iPhone to take photos. However, its nice to go between the two based on the kind of photo or video that I’m taking. 

• SD Adapter: I have an adapter from Amazon that I can plug my SD card in to access photos taken on my iPhone, it makes it SO much easier to quickly edit and upload photos that I take on my camera. 

• TriPod: I have two. I have a claw-type one that I use for YouTube video that I can pop my phone in and a regular one that is AMAZING. It can be used a stabilizer, it has a clicker to take time photos, and is portable.

• Back Up Batteries: If you are taking photos anywhere then you should always carry back up batteries for your camera as well as a Portable Charger for your phone.

• Presets & Editing Software: I use Adobe Photoshop & Lightroom to edit my photos. I purchased presets from Etsy for less than $20. Etsy has a LOT of presets to choose from for really good prices. Before subscribing to Adobe, I used VSCO. 

• Erin Condren LifePlanner: I use my EC LifePlanner to manage my time and plan when out collaborations, when I’m taking photos, & scheduling posts. I have also used the Deluxe Monthly Planner from Erin Condren, both work great it just depends on what works best for you! 

• Props: Based on the content you create, you may need more than a TriPod. My boyfriend bought me a lighting kit for Christmas & it comes IN HANDY. Natural light will always be the best, but if you need to take photos or work on content when its not an option, then its nice to have the option to pull out lights to get good lighting. If you’re going to do a lot of flatlay photos then you might want to pick up some blankets or even posters as a background. & if you’re going to do YouTube videos, I heard the ring lights work well!

• Erin Condren Notebook: To quickly jot down notes.

• Blue Light Glasses: You spend a lot more screen time than you realize and Blue Light Glasses really help to reduce headaches!

• Influencer. This was recommended by one of my favourite pages I follow, Julie from @julies_plans & this book is AMAZING. It’s inspiring & is kind of like the Content Creator Bible. I HIGHLY recommend reading this no matter what stage you’re at: thinking about it, just starting, trying to grow, etc.

The Bottom Line

I always tell people not to focus on the numbers when they ask me for advice & to focus on your content. I celebrate milestones, but I don’t make a plan or think of ways to reach X number of followers and I know there’s a lot people who have ways to do so, but I think it’s more important to focus on quality as opposed to quantity.  Plus, if you are producing great content and really focusing on working on your social media platforms then the numbers will happen on their own. I’m earning my degree in Marketing, I am a professional Marketing Manager, and as you all know have my own blog and social media presence and I will continue to say to say that the “key” to social media success it to focus on the quality of your content. Focus on sharing what you love and make your social media presence YOURS & always remember why you started.