Project One: Serena
Serena’s project is an Instagram account dedicated to beauty and fashion, which is a continuation from past years, meaning she already has a strong following.
Concept: Serena’s idea is strong but could be taken further by utilising additional social media channels and diversifying her content. For example, expanding into TikTok (Euphoria themed makeup seems to be a trend at the moment) will allow her to grow her audience. Incorporating both fashion and beauty in response to audience feedback is a fantastic idea. Additionally, it will give her more material to work with.
Methodology: Serena should attempt to establish a posting schedule as currently, her posts seem a bit erratic. This may help in cycling her content between fashion, beauty, skincare and miscellaneous posts to break up any monotony.
There are a few steps I believe Serena could take to improve her DA and its utility for both herself and followers, including:
- If a goal is to receive more PR from brands, attempt to upskill yourself in product photography and flat lays. I’ve included some images below which could be attainable with a smartphone and simple, everyday items. In addition check out @munopiaportraits on TikTok for some product photography tutorials! Doing this would help your feed look more professional.
- Try collaborating with other small beauty and fashion brands to gain exposure as well as craft meaningful connections. I recommend checking out this website.
- Most of Serena’s photos are taken in the same location, making her feed feel repetitive. To create a more professional aesthetic, photos in different areas and public places could be utilised. Going on content shoots with other aspiring fashion bloggers and content creators may prove useful.
- Serenas content lacks personality, a quality which many successful influencers feeds have. Wiltshire (2017) outlines that it’s essential to create a brand persona in order to craft posts which resonate with your audience. By sharing more personalised content (such as IG TV vlogs, life updates, stories with voiceover, etc.), Serena will see her engagement improve.
Utility: Currently, Serena’s project shows to have great utility for her personal and professional ambitions but may prove to be lacking for her audience. To make her content more useful for her audience, she should post more regularly and diversify her content along with the above suggestions.
Project Two: Nicole
Nicole has decided to continue with her previous DA, The framed Collective, a collection of social media platforms aimed to promote her artwork and general lifestyle content. Nicole’s pitch was extremely informative and demonstrates a fantastic feedback loop as she communicated directly with her audience to find out what content they were most interested in.
Concept: Overall, Nicole’s project shows great potential and could be the perfect portfolio piece for her carer ambitions.
Methodology: Nicole outlines that she attempts to post multiple times a week. To boost her exposure, it may be worthwhile to reach out to Instagram pages like @Illawarrabusinesses or @SupportWollongong and enquire about potential feature pieces or shoutouts. Collaborations, such as a giveaway, with other local craft businesses or other BCM creatives, could prove useful with Beaulac (2020) outlining that giveaways help to: build brand awareness, increase engagement, get followers and create user-generated content. Nicole’s Instagram seems to be her primary account, her goals to successfully expand her business onto other platforms like Facebook and RedBubble would be a great way to grow her audience and assist in moentising her work.
Utility: Clearly, Nicole’s DA has excellent utility for her professional ambitions. By collaborating with other businesses, Nicole could possible make her content more worthwhile for her audience. By sharing more frequently about both her artistic creations and lifestyle, Nicole will be more relatable to her audience and provide greater utility.
Generally unimpressed. 