When it comes to writing, blogging is not a new concept. But lately in India, it has picked up momentum and is growing at an exponential rate. Blogging now is no more a hobby, but a full time career option. And of these, fashion blogging is turning out to be a popular choice and favourite of many.
Looking out for new methods to reach the target audience, brands are now considering bloggers as influencers, thereby contributing an enormous rise in influencer marketing. Blogging has thus become a medium to communicate, converge and connect. But despite being a domain well explored by bloggers, fashion blogging still faces some challenges in understanding the growing expectations of the audiences and brands.
To become a good fashion blogger, it’s therefore necessary to keep certain things in mind.
- Knowing the niche and nuances
The first and foremost thing in fashion blogging is knowing the industry to the core and like a pro. So, to be a good fashion blogger, there is no other alternative to staying fully updated with the happenings in fashion world- the trends, events, icons, achievements and challenges, understanding the concept and nuances of fashion in depth and digging out untraceable facts. It is this knowledge, clarity of understanding and subtle little traces of flavour, information and titbits that would make it unique and stand out in the crowd.
- Content is the king
Content in digital era has become the most essential ingredient as everyone around is loaded with information at their convenience. The audience now can choose what information to consume and therefore would be attracted and engaged only if the content has that much of appeal. Thus it is now immensely important for the content creators to overcome challenges and keep evolving. A great and powerful content can eliminate chances of the viewer drifting away and make them compelled and driven towards it. Therefore, to master the content game and create an engaging fashion blog, the blogger needs to come up with something unique and interesting, that the other blogs can’t offer. It can be the information-richness, the style of presentation or the design of the blog, that can be the source of appeal. Bloggers can also play around catchy names or interesting social media handles.
- Connecting the Right Audience
The success of a blog these days depends much on its views, likes and shares on social media. Propelled by rising smartphone penetration and the consumption of digital content, it takes a blog to reach its relevant and target audience well so that the metric and engagement rate gets impacted. Delivering the right content to the right people at the right time is therefore the primary task that a blogger needs to master. In case of fashion blogging, the niche audience is of course the people who are inclined to the trends, concepts, designs and flavour and is interested in the happenings of the industry. So, an ideal fashion blog will be the one that connects them and keeps them engaged.
- Quality matters
It’s quality that drives viewers to a blog and makes them stick. When it’s fashion blogging in question, it has a lot to do with presentation, style, flavour and elegance that enriches and pulls up the quality quotient. So while there should be a great and information-rich content to offer, it should be presented in style with high quality photos and great web designs to ensure the blog becomes an eye-catcher. Hence to be a good fashion blogger, it requires proper investment in photography or videography and a good camera. The first look is one of the primary factors and here it’s the design of the blog, that should play a role. So knowing the designs right and elegant or having a good web-designer around is also of prime concern. This is necessary to attract eyes, that would eventually result in increased traffic and engagement.
- Build the brand identity and have the reference in everything you say
Earning the trust of the audience is of foremost concern for a blogger to drive traffic, keep them engaged and convert them to ardent followers. To build that trust, it is important to have some resonance with the product or the brand. For example, let us take the case of a fashion blogger who is telling the audience about a particular brand that has a sustainable range of clothing. Here, to resonate as a fashion blogger, it is necessary to communicate with the audience on how he/she has always contributed towards the environment in his/her own way.
- Grow your Network
Networking is vital to grow as a blogger. A significant part of that networking is to ensure you get business cards and media kits for brands to reach you and that requires strong collaboration skills. In industries like fashion, a lot of collaborations happen on events, markets and social media. So to achieve a strong, collaborative network, a fashion blogger has to be very active socially- both in physical and digital presence. Even in this digital era too, nothing beats physical presence when it comes to fashion blogging so that the blogger has a face to his/her name in the industry as well as in media. So, attending fashion events on a regular basis, presence in big occasions like fashion weeks, media sessions and blogger meetings are must. Since digital presence is also an important aspect in this age, earning prominence as a fashion blogger also needs one to join multiple blogger groups, forums and discussions on social media platforms.
Being a good fashion blogger thus depends on minute details and requires focus on each of these aspects. Rest is a matter of time and patience to carve out a niche for oneself.