On Saturday May 23rd 2015 I will be speaking as a part of a very influential and insightful panel for the #GotBizSwag workshop hosted by the fabulous Favala! The event is sold out, so I thought I would share my small segment with those of you who are going to be missing it. I will be speaking about the symbiosis between bloggers and fashion designers, despite the ever-growing fear and denial of a bad blog review.
Essentially, for designers, the purpose of a fashion blogger is to create brand awareness and to market product to existing and potential clients. Bloggers have the potential to build content and bolster your brand message, if managed and engaged in a meaningful way.
Blogs are personality driven and therefore are better able to connect with potential buyers than say, a company Facebook page. Blogs are often based on the writer's opinions (as opposed to a report), and the material in its subjective nature, will carry a negative or positive tone. This is what will engage people, helping them to form their own ideas and decisions about the brands in question. There are so many benefits to incorporating blogging into your marketing strategy:
1.Social Media Imagery
A picture is worth a thousand words (or Likes lol) Bloggers often share content to various social media outlets simultaneously. In seconds, an Instagram post can be shared to Tumblr, Twitter and Facebook. Despite the content or caption, your image will be potentially seen by thousands. So many designers are discovered by their clients via pictures they saw on their Newsfeed. Getting into magazines and the newspaper is cool and all, but a social media share is gold, especially if your handle is plugged into the caption! Come to papa!
2.Fashion Bloggers are the new supermodels
Let's look at Saucy for example. Trinidad Carnival Diary has a massive following. She is now seen as a a major influence in the Carnival business. If it's good enough for her to wear, then we all need to wear it too! Getting blogger approval is the biggest way to turn your looks into trends. Remember, bloggers want to promote themselves as well. They are not anonymous ghost writers, they are their own brand and they need to look the part. There is value in this cross promotion. You want them in your clothes.
3. Bad reviews get people talking more than Good reviews do
No publicity is bad publicity. Ultimately you want your name out there. People want to insert their two cents into the bacchanal so they will research you when they hear about the hot mess that you are. Chances are, they will form their own opinions and you might just land a client. Chances are you don't, but you gained a few hundred more people who know your name now. Next time you have a show, that many more people are going to want to see what you come up with. Do not shy away from this massive marketing group because your skin isn't thick enough to face an innocent jab at your work.
4. It's useful advice at the end of the day
You don't like what a blogger said about you, but maybe you should at least think about it. It is an outsider's opinion and surely a very honest one. You may have become accustomed to friends and family patting your back so much that your head swelled up and you don't see your short comings. Ego is a big part of the Trinidad fashion world. Consider what the blogger and their followers are telling you. There is always room to improve.
5.Working together with bloggers is one of the most powerful digital PR tactics.
J. Angelique is a great example of a brand that has benefited from a healthy designer-blogger relationship. Designer, Janelle Forde has been able to reach a very wide audience with her social media fashion shows, where her new collections are debuted through a synchronised release of images and information over the social media feeds of different bloggers. She is able to reach thousands more than a regular fashion show would, and she is spared the expense of a production.
Thirty one gifts is a retail store that send bloggers products from their catalogue and asks them for reviews. This gains them tonnes of Social Media exposure and generates so many sales and so much brand awareness for the cost of some purses and clothes.
Of course it is important to seek out bloggers that are best suited for your brand. A great tip is to select bloggers based on how widely their content is shared, and not based on how many followers they have. Retweets, comments and engaged followers are most important.
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