‘Bloggers need to be better compensated’ Becca Hermitt of Fashion Train
Blogger Spotlight with Becca Hermitt, author of Fashion Train, ranked one of UK’s leading fashion blogs in 2014 by Cision. Becca spoke to us about how her blog has evolved, why she feels bloggers need to be compensated for the work they do and the three best practices PRs need to follow for better blogger outreach.
What’s new on Fashion Train? At the moment I’ve been working really hard on the content on my blog. I’ve been working on more lifestyle and beauty content and I’ve recently had a whole new layout for my blog!
How do you use social media to promote/share content? What are the challenges? I use social media everyday to promote content for my blog. My favourite social media site is Twitter. The challenges are tweeting about your content at the right time to make it be seen and also posting photos from the content onto Instagram.
What advice would you give to a someone who wants to start a blog? To start a blog because you enjoy it and that because you want to. Nothing comes easy with blogging and it takes a lot of hard work before people begin to notice your content. Work hard, expect nothing and love what you’re doing!
How do you work with PRs? I work with PR’s on generating content, competitions and reviews. I love creating a relationship with PR’s as it sort of feels like a friend is emailing you sometimes! I only work with PR’s on content and opportunities that I think are suitable for my readers.
Give us an example of a successful brand collaboration. What did you learn from it? It was a while ago (maybe about half a year) when I did some work with Dolce Gusto to celebrate the launch of their new coffee machines – I learnt how to do calligraphy and it was so much fun!
Do you feel bloggers need to be compensated for the work they do? Yes. I don’t think companies realise that by gifting a £25 dress how much work goes on behind the post. There’s photography, styling, writing, editing and social media and that takes up a lot of time. I definitely think bloggers need to be better compensated.
What do you feel about sponsorship disclosure? I will state when something been sponsored on my blog. But as I always tell my readers, I would never work with a company I didn’t think was suitable for my blog.
List three best practices PRs need to follow for better blogger outreach?
– To be friendly. I always love emails when it’s obvious a PR has actually read my blog.
– To get my name and my blog right! There’s so many emails I get where the PR’s call me by the wrong name. I think this is bad practice as it doesn’t make me want to email them back.
– Be more open to suggestions. Just because you’ve asked for something in particular it doesn’t mean that’s what’s suitable for the blogger. Take on their suggestions to create a better partnership.
What will be big in your blogosphere in the coming months? I think in the blogosphere you’ll see a lot of military fashion, 70’s and boho styles!
Editorial information on Becca Hermitt, Fashion Train and thousands of other media/blogger contacts and outlets, can be found in the Cision Media Database.
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