Dear Pennies,
As you know, yesterday, I attended the Independent Fashion Bloggers Evolving Influence Conference. So today, I just wanted to give an overview of the conference happenings. My morning started off rough because I was blogging in the morning and had other housekeeping items to take care of, but, I made it to the conference by 9:30 (it started at 9). The first session featured Mattias Swenson who help create Bloglovin.com. Mattias was very insightful and discussed monetizing your blog.
The main highlights of his presentation were how to sell recommendation on your blog, and bloggers inviting their readers to shopping events. Mattias stated that a blogger can go to a store, pick their favorite items, and then recommend what they like to blog readers. He said that once the blogger brings a company income, they can ask for more money.
The shopping event is another way for a blogger to make money and the concept is the same: bring a company money, and you (as a blogger) get paid. My personal highlight from Mattias’ presentation was when he was asked by a conference attendee “How do companies measure blogger influence?” to which Mattias responded: “Companies really suck at this. They are not good at this.” I’m unsure if this was his official answer but either way it made me chuckle. Follow him on Twitter @mattiasswenson.
Next up was Phil Oh who has a street style blog called, the Street Peeper. I really enjoyed his presentation as well. He discussed setting up a media kit (even if you’re a newbie blogger) so that you have something to present to potential advertisers and sponsors. For those who don’t know, your media kit should be a PDF that includes the mission of your blog, screenshots of traffic, any press you’ve received and accomplishments you have. The most interesting thing that I learned about Phil (whose blog receives 2 million views a month) is that he has no formal background in fashion or photography. To me that’s important because it means that you can make your own way as a blogger. All you have to have is patience, drive, and motivation…the rest will come. Follow him on twitter @mrstreetpeeper.
Next up was Yuri Lee who’s not a blogger but she has a website called lookbook.nu. Her site is a collection of photos that registered users submit to share their personal style with the world. Her advice was to set yourself apart from everyone else, be selective about content, and to connect with readers. She even stated that while she found major press flattering, it doesn’t garner results, connecting with your readers does. I remember tweeting that yesterday while at the conference and was pleasantly surprised to see it on @tonywang’s blog. Check his site here http://postfashionism.com/ (p.s. it’s awesome!).
The last speaker of the morning session was Gala Darling and she was hee-la-re-ous! Yes, I spelled hilarious wrong on purpose, that’s how funny Gala was. Not only was she one of the event’s most fashionable people, she was very entertaining. She’s originally from New Zealand and her cool foreign accent made her seem even more awesome than she was. Her speech was pretty simple, she mostly shared her experiences with blogging but the main thing I got from her was BE REAL. Be authentic and be yourself. This to me is not only a great message to fashion bloggers, but, people in general. Gala stated that you have to be interested in your content and honest because if you aren’t people will know and they won’t support you. Follow her on twitter @galadarling.
With the exception of Bryan Boy’s awesomery, the second half was not my favorite. Bryan Boy was interesting because he was funny, and well dressed. He shared how his blog came to be and how much it’s grown. My favorite quote was: “I knew I made it when I was front row at Dolce & Gabbana next to Teen Vogue, no more we can’t accommodate you or smaller venue excuses from publicists.” I’m sure the other presenters were very knowledgeable and that their blogs earned them a right to present but I just didn’t learn anything from them personally. Maybe I was sleepy, *kanyeshrug*. The culmination of the day was the after party where we received cool goodie bags, and free wine. To me nothing is better than free wine, goodie bags, and networking. Overall the day was definitely worth the price of admission and it was fabulous!
And there it is. The Fashion and Style of the Pen…de la Pen.
