3 things you can do to attract brands on Instagram:

by ilove604updated on April 4, 2019March 20, 2019Leave a Comment0

One of the most frequently asked questions I get is how to attract brands on IG. I truly believe that for you to attract them, you have to put yourself in their shoes. if I had to hire an influencer for JMC, I will be looking for someone who is aligned to our values, who has great content, great engagement AND that makes sense. By making sense I mean, if I sell clothes, I would like someone who creates not only fashion content but clothes that are alike to our brand.

Now, the difficult part it is not to attract them, BUT to make them send an email. So here are some tips and tricks that you can use for making that happen:

1- Your BIO

Think about this, they see that cool picture while scrolling down, they will click to check out your profile and then.. tatan.. your profile have something like “Pedro’s mom living in Vancouver”.

Your bio needs to say what do you do, what do you stand for, what can you offer, and most importantly why are you a fit for them. Remember, if your goal is to attract brands, you bio shouldn’t be all about you, but all about THEM.

2- Engagement

Brands want to work with people that people listen too. My tip for you (and that has worked for me) is to choose 15-20 accounts that are your target audience and comment every day or every other day on those accounts. Utilize your “archives” or boards to save those accounts to make it easier for you! I also have a board for brands that I want to collab with, and I comment frequently on their pictures.

Do not forget to always respond to your comments! Create that relationship with your audience. I get so excited when I comment on a brand picture and they respond back to me. Relations are everything in this game, that’s why is called “social media”.

3- Be a leader

If they see you as a leader in their topic, they will be more likely to reach out to you. I truly believe that is the secret behind those awesome influencers like Rach Parcell, The bird Papaya, they all have a specific subject that they master and brands wants to work with those people. Make yourself a person interesting to follow, be different, have your own honest voice, find that strategy that makes you stand out from the rest and promote that a LOT.

Hope these tips can help you if you want more personalized assistance, shot me an email for a 1-1 consultation to anguloathenas@gmail.com

XO,

Athenas

Interview with My Whiskey Girl!

by ilove604updated on April 4, 2023February 27, 2019Leave a Comment0

Hello all! One of the coolest dog’s in Vancouver is here to give us some tips and tricks about photography, Instagram and content creation! Enjoy!!

Who is the person behind the whiskey girl account?

Hi! My name is Adele and I take the photos and am the one planning most of our outings and adventures! I’m Whiskey’s caterer, driver, massage therapist, trust fund, and photographer.

Tell us about the whiskey girl

Whiskey is an almost 5-year-old Vizsla bred in Quebec. I had wanted a puppy for years, and because rentals are so restrictive I had to wait to purchase a condo before being able to have one. My boyfriend (now husband) and I researched lots of breeds and found a Vizsla would be the best dog. We wanted a medium-sized, short-haired, super cuddly and extremely energetic dog that stayed close to their person on trails and was not overly friendly to strangers. I love hiking and wanted a dog that was happy with long distances and so we did our research, met up with other Vizsla owners, asked all the questions and found a lovely breeder in Quebec. When we brought Whiskey home, she was smaller than my cat! She had such a confident nature about her, so happy, sweet, and very thoughtful (the last part isn’t typical of the breed). She’s changed our lives completely and is usually central to most things our little family does.

How did you grow the whiskey girl Instagram to a booming 100k followers?

I honestly don’t know. I started Instagram because all I was posting on Facebook was Whiskey photos, so I figured a platform where people had to “opt-in” would make me feel a bit less guilty for bombarding all my friends with puppy photos. The account was always for myself, and for the amazing and inspiring community that helped push my photography skills. It gave me another fun thing to do with Whiskey out on our solo hikes and in addition, photography is such a great training tool with dogs. Overtime Whiskey would understand how to pose, understand where I wanted her to go, and then would get jealous if I took photos of other dogs! Other than using hashtags and trying to respond to all the messages people send my way, I don’t really do much in terms of trying to grow the account. A lot of times I post photos I know won’t get many “likes”, but I don’ care because I just want to post what I love and is meaningful to me. I do it because I love it and because Whiskey loves it! There is such a social media obsession with the number of followers and becoming insta-famous but outside of being able to share my photos with others, I don’t really care much for it.

Has she got any brand deals?

Sometimes we work with brands for sponsored posts, but a lot of times we promote brands and products we like, unpaid. I try never to work with brands I wouldn’t use or don’t love. We are lucky enough that Whiskey doesn’t ever need to purchase another jacket, collar, or backpack ever again. But then at the same time, we are still using a tent that’s 8 years old and I’m never sure if my car can make it up a forest road. On the other side of things, because of this whole Instagram thing, we’ve discovered a lot of amazing brands that we wouldn’t have otherwise!

For how long have you been in photography?

Since High school. I started with the first Canon Rebel (digital) and had a film camera I would develop myself. I did my own enlargements (both colour and black and white) during University and then moved into working in television and film. I’ve been working in the film industry for most of my life and photography has always been something I love. Since I was a child I’ve always been drawing, painting, sewing, sculpting, so I just see photography as another way of expressing myself.

Do you have a specific preset that you use?

I make my own presets! I’m constantly adding and creating more. I use Adobe Lightroom and really enjoy the post-processing part of photography. It’s really rewarding to take a boring photo and create something magical.

What are your top 3 photography tips?

Love what you do, and work on what you love (don’t follow trends, stay true to yourself)

Take a ton of photos, edit those photos, and actively work to get better each time (just practice, volume counts)

Don’t worry about the “right” camera, or “best” lens, just work with what you’ve got (photography doesn’t depend on a fancy camera)

What are your top 3 tips for those Doggy mom’s who wants to promote their dog’s account on Instagram?

Take lots of photos with the intention

If your dog doesn’t feel like modelling one day, drop the camera and do it another day (listen to your dog!)

Treats with basic obedience can go really far, especially if you can be inventive. For instance, ask your dog to stay, throw a treat up in the air, asking them to “leave it” and you can direct your dog’s eye line.

What are your Instagram Goals?

Just to meet nice people! I never knew, wanted, or expected to grow so big. It’s a lot of work responding to so many people! But the best thing that’s come out of this all is the people I’ve met up with or chatted to online. Dog people are the best people!

What are your favourite Dog’s accounts to follow?

@freyaeverafter_ @harlowandsage @iggyjoey @graywoof @briannamadia @henrythecoloradodog I could go on for ages.

Hope you enjoy our Instagram Live! If not, you have 23 hours left to watch it!

XO,

Athenas, Adele and Whiskey

Photos by http://www.redbarkphotography.com

Blog Archives Instagram Tips

How to become an influencer on Instagram and get paid

by ilove604updated on April 5, 2019January 7, 20194 Comments0

Hello January! I want to dedicate my first post of the year, sharing some of my tips and tricks with you regarding influencer marketing. Why? Well, I truly believe (and I know by a fact) that by sharing our knowledge and helping others to grow, we grow at the same time, it engrains what we know.

But it is important to know well your sources, so here is a little bit about me:

I got my first paid partnership with 4 figures exactly a year ago.
I got that partnership having only 1k followers on Instagram.
I was able to quit my full-time job in customer service and moved full time to do digital marketing within 2 months after opening my blog as a business.
I was within the top 30 Vancouver mom bloggers 2018.
I grew my IG from 1k to 10k in one year.
I’m now running a successful career in online marketing and booking some clients on the side, training them on social media or doing it for them.
I got paid to promote big brands like head & shoulders, Garnier, Skittles, etc.
I was able to run a sponsored 12 days of Christmas giveaways with local brands.
My pictures have been featured in cool accounts like children’s place, Earth baby outfitters, Baby Gourmet, KEWE clothing, and more.
I triple the visitors of my blog within a year.
And last but not least, I’ve achieved all of these, while having 2 kids under 4, and no help other than 3 days a week daycare. (YES, WE CAN MAMAS!)

This is not me being arrogant, it is me sharing facts. It is so important to know and recognize what we do good as well as what we lack, I know without a doubt that it is the only way to move forward.

I have a background in management, and I was trained to train/coach people. I do that on the side once in a while, and I believe it is time for me to share/pass the knowledge of what I’ve learned from others, so here’s my ultimate guide to becoming an Instagram influencer and getting paid:

Be you, DO YOU

This is my number one advice. At the beginning I was always comparing myself with these big influencers, getting stress about it, until I did learn that there is always someone who is going to be better than you. There is always going to be someone with more followers, with more budget to create better content but NO ONE is going to be YOU, and that is what makes you special.

Don’t try to be someone that you are not. Be as real and raw as possible. Give value to your audience, share things that you have learned with them. If you find a product you love, share it. If you found an outfit you love, share it. If you travelled to somewhere fun and found this cool restaurant share it. Be HONEST with your audience so you can gain that trust.

Know your target niche

This is so important and is marketing basics. Go to your followers or the people you want to attract and check where do they spend most of their time. Who do they follow, what do they like? How can you talk to them, what shared values do you have? Once you have a complete profile of who are you talking to and what do they like, focus your content on that. Pay attention to the data, do NOT ignore it.

Engage and join communities within your target niche

I think this is one of the reasons why I was able to grow my audience that quick. Find those groups, communities online AND offline that have your target niche and join them. There are a lot of groups online especially right now helping each other beating algorithms and helping with the numbers. Attend all of your target niche events, meet people in real life, connect, collaborate, share ideas, and if you see the big picture, the people who are going to support you the most is the people who understand what you are doing. Tip: If you are local from Vancouver, I love the Vancity business babes community!

Train/update yourself at least 3 hours a week

This has been another fact of my success in online marketing. Every week I take at least 3 hours for me to update or take training, tutorials in every single thing I do (And this includes motherhood lol). I have a list of people who I always go for training, either FREE or paid. For Influencer Marketing I’m always checking on Heydy Lopez, Keisha from Lovinglittles and julssolomon. For marketing tips and tricks, I’ll go to Cayley dimmock, Melissa from Self made mama or directly to the sources like Facebook, Google, Linkedin. I also have taken lots of good training at Lynda.com or webinars with marketing experts.

Write down your ideas

Sometimes we have great ideas for content, but they come to our minds and when it’s time for us to write we forget. It is so important for us to write down the ideas before they are gone. Find what time of the day, or when all of these ideas come to you, and have a paper or your phone ready. For me sometimes they come when I’m in the shower LOL! So as soon as I finish, I’ll take my phone and write as many keywords as I can on my notes. This way, when it’s time for me to sit down and write a blog post/Ig post, I know what to focus on.

Make a list

I do have my list of people, brands that I want to work with. I follow them, engage with them, and if I have some shots of tequila, I’ll reach out to them offering my services lol! Have a document/media kit with all of your stats.

Forget about the quantity and focus on the quality

It’s well known that it is so easy to buy followers out there, you can have 1 million followers but if they are not bringing any value (And by this I mean dollars) to you or the brand you are representing you are out. Quality and Engagement, it’s what makes the difference. People who trust and loves you. As I shared, I got my first paid partnership with only 1k followers on IG, why? Because my audience was their target niche.

Here you are, my friends. These are the top tricks that I hope can help you to start! If you have any questions, just reach out to me: anguloathenas@gmail.com

XO,

Athenas