In the age of the COVID-19 pandemic, being in quarantine can have us feeling like the days are endless, the nights are long and nothing really matters anymore. This uncertain time has a lot of us not just questioning what to do with our days, but what we should be doing with our lives as well. Many of us have been answering this question by delving into some things we already had a passion for but not enough time, while others have been taking up new hobbies and challenging ourselves. Whether we’re making bread, or starting a 1,000 piece puzzle you have no intention to finish and now it’s sprawled all over your living room coffee table and your roommates are mad because it’s ruining the vibe of the apartment but you know, you finished the framing and that’s the first step so you need to leave it there so you can finally find the courage to finish it one night… okay, I’m losing myself.
Let me pick up here: one thing many of us have in common and found to be a new and exciting challenge during this weird time, is we are finding our voices through social media. We are making ourselves and our friends across the world laugh and feel inspired with our TikToks, YouTube videos, our recipes, and our social media presence! Seeing so many interesting takes on how to navigate this pandemic has inspired us. I don’t know if I think everyone is suited to starting a lifestyle blog, or becoming a social media mogul, but why not try?
It’s not easy but it is definitely fun to give it a go. I wouldn’t say I’m an expert in this matter, but I think I have some key points and ideas to help you get started in this endeavor.
Step one
Find your voice. Who are you? What is your take on popular topics? What is your message? Who did you vote for? I’m just kidding, stay away from politics…. unless that is your message. Finding your voice and what message you want to spread is key in developing your style as a blogger, and in targeting your demographic. If you’re a mom who wants to share fun stories about your kids and their antics, your unique child-rearing techniques, or some real-life struggles about what it’s like to be a parent in the age of social media and the mental and physical toll it takes on you as a HUMAN BEING, that’s your voice and your message can be multi-tiered. Remember, though, just because your main topic of attraction is being a parent, this does not mean that you don’t have more to offer. This is just what you use to reel in your main demographic.
Step two
Find your style. Whatever your voice is, whatever topic you choose to touch on in your posts and/or videos, find your unique style in how you deliver your message. Are you just here to serve your wisdom and bounce back to reality once your message is sent? Are you here to work with your viewers, followers, and/or subscribers to build your message together? Are you serious and just want to get your message across? Knowing your demographic is a major key in this point. If you want to attract multiple demographics, your style can be unique, but you must be careful not to alienate any demographics. If you’re a beauty blogger, make sure you’re offering options that anyone of any socioeconomic status would have access to, strive to be inclusive by offering make-up tips and options that are helpful for people of all shades. Whatever your style is, make sure you’re being unique in how you serve it.
Step three
Be consistent!!! Consistency is key in developing a following AND maintaining that following. If your page is all over the place, you’ve got posts and videos about the election and then a tutorial on how to get that full lip— hey, good for you! But that’s crazy and you need to be more consistent. Your blog is serving a purpose, you cultivated this blog to serve a specific demographic and one demographic may not be looking for the same content as another. Yeah, we’re complicated beings and we can be passionate about different things, but I follow a beauty blog because I’m interested in their beauty tips. I follow humor blogs because I like the specific type of humor they dole out, and I follow political blogs because I look to them for info about politics. I’m not saying you can’t be multi-faceted, but be careful how often you’re mixing topics in your content.
Each step is important in starting a lifestyle blog, but one key factor in maintaining an image for yourself and your blog is consistency and cohesion in your content. Which brings me to…
Step four
Lightroom presets!! These are majorly helpful in finding a cohesive aesthetic to your Instagram feed or blog and cutting your photo editing time to almost NOTHING. First, ask yourself some questions. What kind of images will you be putting out? Your style and voice all come together when you use presets on your images. Am I edgy? Am I soft-spoken and introverted? Am I bright and elegant?!
When you use presets, your following will be more attracted to you as a blog. With the free app on your phone, Adobe Lightroom, you can edit your photos to look professional without having to take an entire course or spending hours on photo editing. Here’s an example of a one-click edit using one of our presets:
Lightroom has a lot of photo editing features to offer a beginner in blogging and editing. It’s one of the easier-to-navigate applications out there which makes it that much more exciting to create content. The easier it is to make enticing posts by adding beautifully touched up photos, the more content you will want to create. And if that content is juicy enough to catch the attention of just a handful of your target demographic, you are definitely moving in the right direction.
Everyone has a cool new phone with an amazing camera these days, but how you filter the photos you take with that dope camera can take your content and your blog from “Oh, that’s an interesting point, I’ll remember this account for later,” to “Damn, that caught my attention real quick, I’m gonna follow now.”
We are attracted to pretty things, we like bright colors, shiny objects— and we love a color-coordinated, cohesive Instagram feed!
