Branding

The tip this week applies to anyone who has a blog, vlog, website and social media.

Branding.

Definition: The marketing practice of creating a name, symbol or design that identifies and differentiates a product from other products.

Now that you know what branding means, what should it mean to you. Let's look at it this way, when we say a brand such as Playboy you think sex or sexual, when we say Olympics you think sport competition.  Pretty simple. So look at your vlog, blog, website and/or social media. As a big picture what does it say? What brand are you putting out there? Is it clear?

Why should I focus on my brand (branding)?

It's important to start branding yourself as something. Whether you are someone who blogs, has a youtube or even just wants to be social media famous, it's important to make it clear about who you are and what you do. Your follower base will build faster if they know what you are trying to accomplish. State this in your profile, your tag line, your about me. Be clear.

Examples:
"Fashion blogger babe living in Texas."
"Blogger mom of 3 showing you how I coupon."
"YouTuber who loves to show you makeup and skincare."
"Instaglam makeup."
"Fashion forward blogger."

All these examples are very clear.

How to turn your brand around.

1. Figure out what you are.  Are you a blogger or a youtuber? If you are either of these, of course you'll have social media. If you don't do either and just want to focus on social media, great. However, don't spread yourself too thin. If you have a makeup blog, youtube, instagram, snapchat, twitter, facebook, tumblr, etc you have gone overboard. I would focus on a blog and one social media or youtube and one social media. If you have too much, you are spread too thin and you aren't giving yourself the time to really hone in on the one. If you decide to have a blog and instagram, make your blog and instagram awesome. Then later when you are established, you quit your job or start earning income, you can add twitter or think about maybe adding you tube. The traffic from one will help you build the other.
2. Does your blog/youtube/social media posts ALWAYS follow who you are and what you are trying to accomplish?  If not, consider making separate blogs/channels/social media or simply stop postings things that don't match, however NEVER delete previous blog posts/videos/posts. In some cases, you can take a hit from google or alexa. One major no-no I always see, someone who has a clear definition of who they are on instagram but then constantly posts things that aren't relevant.
Example 1: An aspiring makeup artist on instagram, in their top 12 posts there is more than 1 photo of their child and the photo isn't relevant to makeup, they are doing themselves and their brand an injustice. It's okay to have a personal instagram/facebook/twitter/snapchat that's for close members of your family and friends and one for the general public.
Example 2: A youtuber has a social media account they promote through their youtube channel, however when you go to that account they use it strictly for entering giveaways and it isn't relevant to their youtube channel. Again I would separate the two.
3. Blurry, not well lit photos or videos. I see this so often on blogs/videos/social media. If the photo/video/post isn't clear and well lit, it isn't worth posting. All in all, brands who are reviewing this photo/video/post will see it as a lack of detail and will think they will get that same quality and often overlook these people. No fancy equipment is needed. I would always take a photo.video the same time of day facing a window that's bright and sunny. Of course, this can create harsh shadows and be blinding. So, I would get white curtains to filter the harsh light, or much cheaper, you can take blank copy paper and tape it all over the window for a similar effect. This is called diffusing.
4. Put negativity behind you, like far behind you. One thing I look for is diplomacy ("the art of dealing with people in a sensitive and effective way" - google).  It doesn't matter if you hate something, never say it. You never know who could be watching/viewing/reading. Instead, be diplomatic.  Hateful statement: "I hate this foundation, it makes me look ugly." Diplomatic statement: "This foundation didn't work for me. It was too dark for my skin tone and the texture didn't mesh well with me either. However, I could see how this would work on oily skin." Brands ALWAYS respect the diplomatic statement and take that into account. Just because something didn't work for you or you didn't like it, doesn't meant that someone else won't. You never know who you could be offending and losing. Always keep that in mind.
5. Reviewing diplomatically. You shouldn't just be diplomatic with your negativity but also with everything. Use facts and not emotions. You can even be funny and be diplomatic. Instead of saying "I am not into this so I hate this box," say something like "If you really like the color purple, you'd love this."  So simple but makes a huge difference in the tone of your blog/videos/posts.
6. Find an edge. Let's face it, if you're trying to be a youtube beauty guru or a beauty blogger, there are thousands out there who are trying to do the same thing. If you don't already know, figure out what makes you unique, what gives you an edge, why people should listen/read you over someone else. I wouldn't put your youtube channel/blog/social media on hold while you're figuring this out but I would be thinking about it almost constantly till you do figure it out.  When you do, shout it from the rooftops and mention it often.
7. Private accounts. If you're social media account that you're trying to share your makeup or that you are linking to from your blog is private, you are missing out on people actually seeing what you can do.
8. Sharing from instagram to twitter or facebook to twitter.  I haven't already discouraged you from having multiple accounts but if you insist and can handle it, actually post separately and do not share from one account to another.  It's so tempting to share and save time, but DON'T DO IT.  Most of the time, this cuts the posts off and doesn't show photos.  When I look at accounts on twitter of people who have done this, I am never amazed at their lack of traffic or likes.
9. Look at the photo/videos/posts as a whole.  Is there anything in the background that is a distraction? Is the background a large wrinkled sheet? Are you filming with your back to the window making you look dark? In your video are you slouching? Do you have spelling errors in your post? Is your blog not formatted correctly?  Remember, you are being judged by random people on the internet, are they going to be impressed or disappointed? Will they want to come back for more or will they forget about you? Will you convert them to a follower/like/subscriber or not? (I don't know if anyone else but me remembers a couple of months ago there was a picture of a pretty girl who took a mirror selfie in her messy bedroom.  Needless to say it went viral and people just hammered her with comments about how gross her room was.  Yes, it did go viral but for really negative reasons. I don't know if she did, but I know when stuff like this happens, most people close their social media accounts and hid. This is a prime example of this tip. Celebrities are used to both good and bad press and even bad press can increase their value, however bad press in a small brand can kill the brand completely.)
10. If you aren't sure, ask someone. Ask a friend and family member for their review of you as a brand (encompassing your blog/youtube and your social media).  Also you probably have someone you already follow who inspired you to do what you do, there is no harm in reviewing what they do and adapting some of their techniques. Now, I'm not saying to steal content or pictures, what I do think you should do is review their brand. Let's say you really like that their blog has a white clean background and you do something similar to your blog.  Or they film their youtube videos in a well lit corner of their bedroom and so you start doing that as well.

From the email sent 04/14/2017, 04/21/2017, 04/28/2017. If you'd like to be added to this mailer, sign up here: http://zc.vg/0D4B

Brand Ambassadors Needed

You can apply or re-apply to the program here: http://goo.gl/forms/cgasp3qfVj5jU70I3

The top reasons why brand ambassadors are not accepted:

-No Legal Name

-No Social Media Links

-Social Media Accounts are Private

-Links provided are invalid or incomplete

Affiliates Needed

Want to earn a 25% commission* on people who purchase through your Affiliate Link? We have just opened our Affiliate program. This program is open to those with a US and Canadian mailing address, 18 years and older.** Our affiliate program is free to register.

You can register here: https://www.affiliatly.com/af-107340/affiliate.panel?mode=register
*Commission are for one time purchases and initial purchase of a subscription, not recurring purchases.
** Current brand ambassadors are not eligible.