This is a question I get asked ALL THE TIME. What was your “AHA moment”? What grew your blog? What is the one piece of advice you’d give to new bloggers looking to grow a following?
This is kind of a loaded question, because of course, a lot goes into creating a brand: good content, great photos, engaging with your audience, etc. etc. All of those things are small pieces of it, but for YEARS I was creating good content, taking good photos, & engaging on the regular & the growth for me was slow.
There were times I was incredibly frustrated. I saw new influencers come onto the seen & grow right past me. I will be honest- I wanted to throw in the towel about 100x. I would beat myself up over this too. What am I doing wrong? Do people not like me? It was a vicious cycle of me trying to fit a mold that people liked & I just felt so damn STUCK.
My readership was stuck, my following was stuck, & I was just all around stuck on what to do next.
I was doing okay, okay enough to never fully quit, but I knew something had to shift. I wasn’t loving blogging at this point in time. It is hard to be so passionate about something, working so hard towards a goal, & not seeing the results you expected or are seeing from your peers.
This can really apply to any job. No matter how much you love it, if you’re not growing, you’re bound to lose steam.
One day, it came to me, the blog wasn’t feeling like 100% me. I went through my latest content & really examined it. It was pretty, it definitely had my voice, but there were missing pieces. I was trying so many other formulas because I wanted to fit in to what I assumed people liked & that was where my problem lied.
When I say the second I realized this things changed, I really mean it- IT WAS INSTANT. I guess you can say I stopped caring, but by doing that, I cared so much more about the blog, about my content, about everything.
There was nothing specific I did other than just talking about what I wanted to talk about without being scared of judgement or criticism. The Mary Jane Diaries, for example, was I scared to talk about this? FUCK YES (*side note, 5 years ago I probably would have wrote F*CK YES… just another example of me being 100% me)!!!
I was honestly horrified to tell you guys I smoked weed. No one wants to be judged or stereotyped for who they are & when you’re in the position of being “known” on social media, you are opening yourself to all sorts of haters. Plus, I had the fear of turning off my current readers.
I went for it, as you know, & I found out two things: I don’t have a lot of haters which is awesome & my audience is fully down with the topic of marijuana which is also SO AWESOME because I have gained an audience who I can relate to & who can relate to me.
I honestly can’t say this enough- being say it enough that BEING 100% YOU is the best thing you can do for your brand/blog/Instagram account. This industry is so incredibly saturated, which isn’t a bad thing & shouldn’t deter you at all, but the one way to stand out is to be authentic to you & your audience.
& IF YOU MADE IT THIS FAR, LOVE YOU! You’re the people I want on my team & forever grateful you all accept me for who I am.
wearing: black ribbed tube top | Adidas Adicolor tearaway track pants | Dahli the Label cropped white denim jacket | Public Desire ankle booties (white is sold out- similar style here) | rectangle sunglasses (similar style here)
*ALL PHOTOS IN THIS POST WERE EDITED USING THE LUSH PRESET*
[ PHOTOS BY ARIELLE LEVY ]