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So it’s been 1 whole year since I’ve started blogging and being a Social Media Influencer. I started it from conversations with two experienced Bloggers and then I thought to myself, “You know what? My Husband and I have been through a lot in our relationship, and I personally have been through a lot in my life!” So I brought him on board and said let’s do this whole blogging thing together to share our experiences and inspire and encourage as many people as possible!
However, how is it done? Where do you start? Well I’m here to tell you the things I SWEAR by when it comes to this industry.
Find Your Niche
- What do you want to blog about? What do you want your brand to be?What do you wanna share with your audience? Is it beauty, lifestyle, fashion, relationships, family, motherhood? You have to find what it is you can personally relate to in YOUR personal life, so that you can use it to influence others!
- You have to find a niche that is YOU, and that is authentic to you and your lifestyle. What is it that you have a lot of experience in? It has to be something that you have a lot of knowledge on and can really help others out on by sharing your own personal views on it.
Be Creative
- When it comes to social media influencing such as instagram (which is the number 1 platform used in influencing), it’s very easy to just do the typical standing and posing. However, have you thought about using props? Get creative and make your photos appealing to your audience. Me personally, I LOVE props! I love to get creative as you see in the picture above and just have some FUN!
- Don’t just throw something up just to put it up and say you posted content for the day. Don’t be lazy. This is your brand that you are trying to BUILD! Build it with substance, appeal, and creativity! For example, If you have a graphic tee that says, “But First Tacos”, are you just going to stand there with the shirt on and your hand on your hip smiling? You can still look cute doing that, however get a taco in your hand, have your feet up like you’re lounging, throw some shades on, make sure the words on the tee are being shown and make it FUNNY! Again, don’t be afraid to get creative and FUN. Keep things fresh!
Plan Your Content
- When it comes to your content for both your blog website and your social media, it’s always best to plan ahead! There are plenty of tools to help you do this. There are vision boards, blog planners, instagram planners, etc. (linked below) where you can write down your ideas for content. So instead of scrambling what you’re going to write about in your next blog post, or what you’re going to post on your feed, write it out!
- Take 30 minutes each week at least and plan out ideas for the next week or two and then schedule a day to shoot the content. That’s all it takes is some brainstorming and letting your mind become imaginative and THINK! Also, carry your planner with you when you go out because if you see something somewhere and an idea pops into your head, you can jot it down right away and you won’t forget! It can be a spot to take a picture, or even something that you see or hear that you can turn into a whole blog post. You never know, so be PREPARED!
Be Consistent
- Consistency is a problem that many people struggle with, but especially Bloggers & Influencers. They will post for a whole week, and disappear for a month or two and you wonder what happened. When they post after being gone so long, the followers are scrolling and thinking to themselves, “Who is this person?” Try your best to avoid doing that! It’s so important to be consistent, and it’s in fact KEY to do so. It’s okay to take weekends off of course as there is a life outside of social media, and blogging. Or if you have a life changing event that’s happened, or even if you just want to detox and take a little break! However, for the most part be consistent. Planning ahead as mentioned above will help you to maintain that consistency.
- Again, don’t fall off the grid randomly or come in like a storm and fade out like the sunset and we don’t hear or see anything from you for months! You want to stay relevant, and keep your brand that you are trying to BUILD relevant! Remember, people want to continue knowing more about you, your brand and what you stand for. They will have a hard time doing that if you’re often disappearing.
Be Relatable
- When you have figured out what your niche is, be sure to relate to people of that same niche. For example, my audience consists of a wide range of families, and mothers. So I would post content similar to the picture shown here that way I can be relatable to them. Being that Family, Motherhood, and Lifestyle are my niches, I am not going to post about makeup and skincare if I don’t have an audience that is into that.
- When people see your content whether it be through a blog post or through instagram, you want them to be able to say, “Oh man this is SO ME!” or, “Oh em gee my kids and husband do this all the time!” It relates to them, it makes them laugh, or cry, basically show some type of emotion because it relates or resonates with them or something in their life. Relatability is something that is very important when it comes to this industry. Part of being an influencer is truly influencing people by being relatable.
Here are some more key tips that you may find helpful in your journey whether you are looking to start or are already experienced and could use a tune up:
- I personally started with instagram first and just converted my personal account to a creator account and started doing posts as a Blogger/Influencer. Being that I already had a good amount of followers, it was easy to convert it over. However, many people make a whole new account and go from there. The choice is yours either way.
- After getting my instagram established and built up, in a couple months I then moved over to the Blog Website because I can then tell my audience who have joined me on instagram, to subscribe to our blog! It was so easy to do that being that they were already following my journey! Get your social media up and established with consistent posting, and GOOD content!
- To grow your followers on your social media, find people that are within your niche. Search certain hashtags with ALOT of people following it and go down and choose who you want to follow, follow them, and engage with them regularly. Do this consistently, and show personal interest in them. I promise you they will do the same in return. Take some time each day to do this. Don’t worry about having too high of a number with who YOU are following, you’re looking to make connections! This is a good way to do it! It’s also good to host giveaways and give back to your followers. It’s also a great way to build trust with your audience. If you do this, make sure it’s with similar accounts to yours and WITHIN your niche. So if you’re a mom blogger don’t host a giveaway with a mix of food, travel, and fashion bloggers because then the followers you gain won’t stick. Key thought – if you don’t want to lose followers, create good content that makes them stay! Remember, relatability, creativity, and appeal!
- Remember to engage with your followers, answer your direct messages, and respond to your comments. Don’t let your followers assume you are a stuck up snob. Talk to them and answer them. Show personal interest!
That’s all folks! If there are any questions you have feel free to ask away!
Harmony, Momma To Go says
I need to get better about planning social media. I am too here and there. Esp with everything that has gone on (I am a travel blogger) but people are starting to think about traveling…
amberl.hurley says
Yes so nows the time to create some ideas!
Nicole says
Oh I love this! Such great tips!
Sherrell says
Such an amazing post with great tips! I loved how you talked about being creative. That is so true. It challenged me to think beyond mirror photos and flat lays! Thanks for the inspiration!
amberl.hurley says
You’re welcome, thank you for reading!
Helen Little says
Love these tips! There’s a lot of hard work in blogging!
Deborah Brooks says
Planning ahead and being creative sure help! It’s a lot of work but also fun. Congrats on one year
amberl.hurley says
Thank you!
Tara Pittman says
Congrats to starting a blog. The creativity is so important to blogging
amberl.hurley says
Thank you so much and yes it is!
Maria Koss says
Love the before/after kids photo 🙂 also good tips on blogging!
amberl.hurley says
Haha, thank you for reading!
Amber Myers says
This is helpful! I will have to show my friends who want to start blogging. Heck, some of the tips help me out too and I’ve been doing it for years.
amberl.hurley says
Oh I’m so glad, thank you!
Nikki says
This was truly so helpful!!! You’re amazing girl. I look up to you!
amberl.hurley says
Awww thank you so much!!
Jasmine C says
Thanks so much for these tips. Very useful for a newbie like me. You are appreciated.
amberl.hurley says
Thank you for reading!
Jessica Joachim says
Congrats on a year! OMG That blog planner is so nice! I am a sucker for planners, and have found that keeping organized and having a plan has been so helpful for the blog!
amberl.hurley says
It’s the best thing ever!!!
Adrienne B Redelings says
It is amazing what we can learn since we stared. If only we knew, right?!
Lisa says
Thanks for sharing your story. keep up the great content!
Ivana says
Such a great post, and suggestions
http://Www.theninebyivanablogspot.com
kileen says
great post!! love the point about finding your niche.
kileen
cute & little
WorldInEyes says
Well indeed this blog post is much helpful and informative too…Figuring out and being creative is really very necessary and important…Thanks for sharing these tips and ideas..they are so inspiring and loved it..Great work…
successunscrambled says
The struggle is real for so many people when it comes to consistency, time management and planning everything in advance. The secret to getting it right is to practice planning and it will grow on you.
Melissa Cushing says
I am so enjoyment this post and I love that you are blogging! I also have to say that you have a beautiful family and I especially love the photo of you with the pixie so keep it going and will be back!
amberl.hurley says
Awwww thank you so much!!!
Enriqueta E Lemoine says
Great advice for anyone curious, thanks for sharing.
Nyxie says
Thank you so much for sharing this. I love your planners. They must be so handy! I use a digital planner for my content and Buffer for my instagram content. I’ll usually plan days in advance, sometimes months.
Swagata Sen says
Loved your story and your tips. Some of these are really useful for me personally as I’m working on increasing my Instagram engagement and still trying to figure out a strategy that fits perfectly with my style and schedule. Thanks for sharing it!