By Lauren Zazzara
Features Assignment editor
Fashion is a difficult industry to break into social media-wise. There are thousands of fashion blogs, and the question becomes: “Where do I fit in?”
It took me years to start a fashion blog. I was terrified of receiving negative feedback and being inconsistent.
Here are some tips that I have learned are effective in building a fashion blog:
1. Follow other people. The quickest way for others in the blogosphere to see your name is if you follow them. They may check out your blog to see if it is a site they are interested in following back. Even if they don’t follow back, people are still seeing your content.
2. Use visuals. Nobody likes to see a page of just text. It looks intimidating, so a reader will either skim it or ignore it. Instead, write a few paragraphs and insert a picture. Whether it is a picture you took yourself or one from the Internet (be sure to give credit), readers will respond better to images. They require less attention than words.
3. Be consistent. At school, it can be difficult to set a day to post because schedules are unpredictable. But if a reader returns to your website after a period of time and sees that nothing new has been added, he or she will lose interest quickly.
4. Use social media to promote yourself. Readers who don’t have an account on the blog platform you are using (such as WordPress or Blogger) won’t be able to follow you and see when you post something new. Alert your friends and family of new content via Facebook, Twitter etc. Plus, they can share your posts, giving you access to an audience beyond those you know.
5. Show your personality. Readers will be drawn to you if you are different. If you have a distinctive personal style, be sure to post your most creative outfits. Be yourself in how you write; be grammatically correct, but there is no need to be formal. Be funny, sarcastic, sweet or whatever traits best reflect you. Try to include photos of yourself or photos that you take as often as you can so that your readers can get a sense of you and your aesthetic.
Blogging, especially fashion blogging, can be intimidating, but it is satisfying to have a site that is your own and of which you are the boss. I have found the community to be supportive and quick to compliment.
And if you need more convincing, it looks good on a résumé.
