Submitted by Sabina Hitchen on | 0 Comments
I've got a naughty addiction and I'm ready to share it...No, it's not illegal, but yes it does give me a total high...Ever since I started I haven't been able to stop. In the morning, in the afternoon, while waiting in line at the post office...on the train...The truth is, my name is Sabina and I'm addicted to personal style bloggers. I was late to this online party but when now that I'm here I do not want to leave! These Internet powerhouses have become more than an Instagram indulgences for people like me, they're Instagram influencers. More than a fun and fluffy read, they're fashion trendsetters and revenue boosters for the brands that they covet, wear and share. For me, they've even replaced my "flash sale" love (sorry Gilt Groupe) because once again, they're real women. My daily fixes currently include these favorites: Nicolette Mason, Fabulatina (Nashelly Messina), Atlantic-Pacific (Blair Eadie) and Brooklyn Blonde (Helena Glazer). When you finish reading this post I encourage you to head over to their websites and hook into their social media feeds not only to simmer in the sartorial splendor but to see how influential style blogging is done best!
Final reason why you'll want to understand and hook up with these people and platforms? They're almost like a photo-based reality show addiction for people like me: they're real people wearing the clothes or makeup I like, which makes them even more trustworthy and interesting than the models I see in magazines. You follow not just their outfits, but depending on how much they share, you begin to get to know what they're up to, where they hang out - heck we all celebrated with Nicolette when she got engaged this year and now I'm hooked on her gorgeous bridal planning posts. Honesty time: when I recently ran into Nicolette in our shared neighborhood in Brooklyn I had a total "fan girl moment", which surprised me, while also illustrating in real life the influence these women (and men) have!
A single post (often tagged with what and who they're wearing) can garner hundreds to thousands of eyeballs, likes and "hearts", and if my own shopping habits are any kind of litmus test, these posts translate into lots of these babies $$$ in terms of sales. I'm not kidding, I could model many an outfit made up of pieces I discovered on Nicolette, Nashelly and Helena's blogs and Instagrams!
When I talk to small business owners in the fashion, accessories and beauty worlds about this I get mixed reactions. Some are already aware of the power of the personal style blogger, some react with a loud sigh ("one more thing to figure out, hmpf) and some have no idea what I'm even talking about. The majority, however, do understand that instead of seeing this as "one more thing to learn" you should see it as "one more place to reach my customers, current and future"! Sure, the rules are different than working with traditional media (like magazines and bloggers), from the way you they discover you to the fact that you may (often) give product (instead of loaning samples), but similarly to traditional media, when you follow rules like respecting them (they're people too!), following and getting to know their style and their own brand and getting to know how best to work with them can help boost your business and visibility more than any other platform these days.
We get questions and emails about what personal style bloggers are, how to find them, how to work with them and more nearly every week now that they've got the attention of the nation, so we knew it was high time we did a class based on those questions and more! Ask and you shall receive biz owners! Join me, along with Jamie Werner, the PR Director at Moderne Press and overall amazing evangelist for small business owners, are talking all about the power of style bloggers in this Tin Shingle Class!
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