Creating Content for a Lifestyle Blog and Instagram

By Ana Oelen

Wonder how I create blog posts, Instagram photos, or my media kit? Are you curious how I keep up with everything during school? Are you wondering how I come up with so many ideas? Where do my ambassadorships come from?

Well, this is the post for you!

Creating a brand aesthetic for myself is definitely an important part of what I do. A lot of thought goes into my college fashion brand. From creating a Content Planner to creating individual highly organized folders for all of my blog posts, keeping on top of the demand for new content regularly is challenging.

I have learned that the success of my blog and the brands I work with depend on how organized, diligent, and loyal I am to my content planner and schedule. Without my schedule, I would feel overwhelmed and unmotivated to continue writing new posts. I know that to be successful you need a plan that you will follow through with.

Blogging at University

Currently, I am on break and not at school. I am getting into a daily routine of habit to try and work as much as possible as I can on my posts! One thing I am incredibly grateful for is that my schedule is incredibly flexible at school during the week so I'll be able to work during the mornings!

My class schedule allows me to have my earliest class during the week at 10 am Tuesdays/Thursdays and my latest first class at 1pm on MWF. The weekends are also pretty open for me to make time to hang out with friends or go have a photoshoot sometime! Having a flexible class schedule is vital to have a successful blog as well as planning posts ahead in a content calendar.

One of the best ways to work on writing articles is during work study, I am required to spend a certain amount of time at the yearbook and newspapers work room to achieve my hours of working. Luckily I am able to work on whatever I need for a few hours before I need to grab lunch and head back to the dorms to prep for my classes!

The Content Calendar

Having scheduled Instagram and blog posts is a big part of what makes me successful. To create one, I begin by laying out a posting schedule. Since I want my posts to reflect each other, I post synchronically. My blog post is about my IG post and my IG post promotes my blog post.

Then I think about what I might wish to write an article about. Honestly, I write about anything that I find to be interesting to me and how it impacts my life! My Instagram has a feed and filter that I plan out using the Preview app which is one of my favorites next to Planoly to plan out my story posts. The key here is your structured posting scheduale.

Posting I personally post an Instagram post and a blog post on odd days only. Sometimes, but not always, I have a blog post to promote, but I will always have an Instagram post.

Creating Instagram Pictures:

I have a feed that varies from outfit pics to “filler pics” so it won’t just be me in a bunch of outfits all the time. I have multiple different variations of my filler pics as to keep my followers interested. As for creating my outfit pics such as a Week of College Outfits, I will be taking each outfit pic in the dorm building (probably in my room everyday) to keep myself accountable to my blog and personal style.

For regular instagram posts I make sure that I can have a regular photoshoot to ensure that I get both my favorite outfits shot and any branded content shot in a timely manner. I want to have good pictures and may have to take pictures with my amazon tripod around campus, but I think that's perfectly fine.

Editing Instagram Pictures:

To edit my photos, I use Lightroom presets and Facetune 2. In Facetune, I smooth my photos and I add the detail and sharpen features, straighten the picture, and whiten what needs to be, as well as other small lighting and contrast edits. In Lightroom, I have a beige and cream preset. I absolutely love this filter and I plan to keep it for as long as I feel it represents me in the present moment.

Keeping Organized

Organization has not been a strength of mine, but this year I have been focusing on my organization and cleaning habits as I now know that I work and am more efficient in a clean and organized environment. Having an organized blog post system is super important to me because I need to know exactly what articles I need to be working on, which are done, and which need to be published. I have folders on my desktop to keep everything separate and in order. My content calendar is a big source of scheduling and organization and I highly recommend having one.

My Media Kit

I didn't know how to create a media kit for so long. It wasn't until brands started asking for them as my opportunities grew that I needed to learn what it was and what I needed on one. Basically, on your media kit, you need all of your instagram statistics like follower count, gender ratio, impressions, and engagement rate as well. This took me a bit to figure out and design, but I used Canva app and that definitely helped me get some creative ideas as well. It should reflect your style and brand, so if you are boho you shouldn't have a minimalist design, and if you are girly you shouldn't have an edgy rocker vibe media kit.

Opinion on Ambassadorships and Collaborations

I am just beginning to dive into the world of collaborations, but I have been informed many times that brand ambassadorships where you have to pay money for items, is not real. I personally highly disagree. Brand Ambassadorships are important to not only growing your brand, but vital in showcasing work as a fashion creative. The big brands want to see your dedication to the craft and find ambassadorships similar to internships of working with bigger brands and the KEY to modern advertising and brand growth. Brands do not want to see "What can I get from this brand? Or how can this brand gift or grow me?" TRUST me, they can tell. Brand Ambassadorships are proof of your ability to collaborate, advertise, create, and showcase a brand or help grow a small brand. Paying for an item at the beginning of your career also tells the big brands that you were genuinely excited about a product so you didn't mind just having the personal code and didn't ming receiving only freebies. Not to mention, brand can't just go handing out free clothing! Inventory is highly expensive for the clothing wholesale alone and small businesses (under 500k) can't afford that. Thats why many offer discount codes instead of free items. I personally love the side of marketing and advertising that small businesses have and I love to grow right alongside them.

ALSO on the presumption of "free advertising": it may be unpaid as you are NOT an advertising employee. You should also remember that you have a chance at being featured on their social media which benefits you as you are now exposed to however many followers they have which you can add to your media kit as part:

a) collaborated with b) content has been recognized and featured/reposted c) now have exposure to 42,000+ people (the brands followers) <- this is SO important when building a portfolio to present to brands. It looks incredibly impressive and you have the chance to grow your platform as well.

Your goal as a nano influencer (-10K) is to work with as many small brands to grow your portfolio, social media presence, and collaboration experience.

That way you can grow into a micro influencer (10K+) and continue to develop from there to eventually being paid!

Thank you for reading and I hope you have learned from this article something of value! Thank you for your support!

- Ana Oelen