Welcome back to the second part of my Blog Camp highlights.
With the lovely Louise and Katy. Photo courtesy of Louise.
I will start with a few notes I took in the Fashion Blogging session, which was taken by Kat from Kat got the Cream and Christina from Kitkeen.
Key points to remember;
- Embrace your uniqueness
- Create a hit list of brands you would love to work with
- Be nice to PRs, it is a small world
- Respond quickly to people, even if it is a no
- Showcase your skills – show what you can do for a brand
- Buy a piece, style it up and then share it tagging the brand
- Use Instagram (very powerful tool for fashion blogging)
- Use social media to tease a forthcoming post
- Pinterest is also very useful in this field
- Be proactive with PRs in order to secure event invitations
- Join Facebook groups relevant for fashion blogging
- If you feel self-conscious about having your picture taken in public, pretend you’re a tourist!
- Think about using a variety of backdrops to create interest
- Be creative, you don’t have to always wear the clothes – show them creatively on a hanger or as part of a flat lay.
- Think about new ways to approach a post. ‘What would I buy’ or recreate the style of one of your style icons. A certain piece of clothing three ways. There are so many possibilities.
Next up for me was the Vlogging session with Helpful Mum Sian.
Why Vlog?
- You enjoy it
- It helps to make you more relatable to your audience
- You can earn money
Considerations
- Do you want your family life on You Tube?
- Are you willing to be found by people who don’t know you vlog/blog?
- People can leave really harsh comments on You Tube
What you need
- Camera or a phone
- Tripod
- Computer to edit on
- Software
Top tips
- Make sure you video landscape and, where possible, in wide-screen
- Make sure the sound (cheap lapel mic from Amazon) and lighting is good (bounce light off the ceiling)
- Relax
- Remember to breathe
- Talk directly at the camera
- Imagine it is your best friend
- Be Sacha Fierce! Beyonce’s on stage confident persona
- Check the sound before publishing
- Improve audio using handbrake (for example)
- Schedule your videos
- Find out the best time to have your videos go live
- Promote your videos via linkys
- Use PicMokey or Canva to make your endslate.
- Create playlists of other content you like.
- Be confident
- Join the Creator Academy at You Tube
Channel Design
- Have a clear and consistent design
- Create a Channel icon
- Video thumbnails are so important. Create your own with text overlay and make sure you smile!
- Create a welcome video (around 1 minute) introducing your channel
- Optimise the descriptions of your videos
- Organise content into easy to navigate screens
- Featured : Add links to friends channels or collaborators
- Use an endslate/card at the end, link to other videos
Music
- You won’t earn from the video if the music you use is copyrighted
- You Tube have a list of free from copyright music
- Free Music Archive, Sound Cloud, Audio Network and Vimeo also have free music
- Credit music even if it is free
Top Editing Tips
- There is a tutorial on Tots100 YouTube Channel
- Know your editing software inside out
- Don’t start with a pause
- Cut out hesitations
- Be ruthless – keep clips under 5 seconds (if a family video)
- Using two cameras showing different angles and editing together could be interesting to watch
- Keep the transitions simple, fade to black between scenes
The activity in the initial 48 hours will determine how well the video does. So get everyone commenting asap.
I hope these tips have given you something to think about. Have you been to a blogging conference before?
