My first reaction was to think it’s a spam and that Vogue account has been hacked. I looked at brand’s twitter account and found these older sponsored tweets for Psychic services, mall maps and custom backgrounds…At this point I realized this is no mistake, which lead me to look for Vogue’s profile on SponsoredTweets.com. What I discovered was pretty shocking - according to the site, for $50 only anyone could send a sponsored tweet to the almost 20,000 people following Vogue on Twitter.

I wonder of this was a naive mistake done by an intern/assistant/agency/social media “expert” or someone else, who thought Vogue should explore the new social media channels for monetization (which is a great intent), unfortunately this case just proves us how easy it is to make mistakes in unknown territory. This example could teach other brands to think twice and do some background check before they let anyone advise on their social media strategy.

The brand damage of seeing the great American publication right below the reality star Roxy Olin (who charges x3 for her tweets, by the way) offering itself for sale, cannot be fixed easily. Not to mention Vogue’s current advertisers who pay tens thousands dollars to be associated with the publication on its pages- how would they feel knowing you can buy a tweet for $50?…

I hope the social media experts at Vogue will reconsider their strategy soon, and focus on making their brand more social first, before they try to make a quick buck on advertising tuna to their Twitter followers…

Update: I assumed @VogueUSA was the official Vogue account since it was registered at SponsoredTweets.com as such, had a large following and has been posting the actual Vogue content. If this story will uncover otherwise (that someone actually used Vogue’s brand name to their advantage), in addition to brand damage and delusion the great American fashion publication will also have to face the consequences of improper brand monitoring on social media platforms.

Update 03/04/2010: @VogueUSA account has been just deleted after Conde Nast Executive Director of Public Relations Susan Portnoy’s notice:

It took more than 8 months for Vogue to notice the fake account, which was active on Twitter since June 30, 2009, gained almost 20,000 followers, was frequently sent @ tweets and questions by followers, and #FollowFriday mentions.

Although the story about sponsored tuna wasn’t real, there is still a lesson in social media we can learn from Vogue: Just because you are not using it, it doesn’t mean people don’t talk about your brand or inappropriately use your brand name. Even if you don’t have the resources to actively engage in social media, you can’t afford ignoring it. Monitoring is the first and most essential step a brand should make into social media, and I’m glad the fashion Bible has finally done it.

Fashion 2.0 Social Media Awards -

on February 10th we are kicking off the New York fashion week with what already became a tradition - a cocktail reception hosting all the amazing bloggers and online media publishers coming to NYC for the season. This year we added the awards portion to the reception, honoring the most innovative fashion brands, which also, we hope, will become a tradition. We are lucky to have very supportive sponsors like ideeli, L’Oreal Paris, Lucky Magazine and W hotels of New York who helped us to make this happen. The nominees got thousands of online votes so far, and we will be announcing the winners online shortly after the ceremony. Follow #fash20awards hashtag on Twitter, or read more info about the awards.

IFB Conference: The Business of Blogging Panel -

I was honored when Jennine offered to help put together the business panel by Style Coalition for the Independent Fashion Bloggers conference on Monday, February 15th. At the 1pm session we will be talking  about the future of blog monetization, working with companies, ads, product endorsements and sponsored posts, FTC guidelines and their effects on the blogosphere. I will be moderating some of the most successful fashion bloggers in the industry who managed to build a business or a career, as well as people who work with bloggers on a daily basis. Gala Darling-iCiNG, Lauren Dimet Waters- Second City Style, Dina Fierro- Eye4Style, Attention!, Aubree Nichols-Urban Signals, Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond- BlueFly.com. More info on the conference.

Collaborative Video Coverage -

The most interesting things at NY fashion week happen backstage, and this is what we’ve been trying to bring to viewers everywhere in the past few seasons. This time, I will be sharing the screen with 15 top fashion bloggers and Style Coalition members as hosts, bringing you all the scoop from behind the scenes of NYFW! The content will be syndicated across more than 10 online video channels as well as posted on individual Style Coalition members sites. Thanks to our video coverage sponsors Sorel footwear, who allowed us to bring this idea to life. Subscribe to SC YouTube channel to get the first look!

Inside The Tents Portal -

this will be our 4th season aggregating the best content from the blogosphere into one portal, where you can get your NYFW fix! Check out http://stylecoalition.com/insidethetents for live updates from the tents by almost 50 online publishers and bloggers - read their tweets, blog posts and watch the videos - all in one place.

This is a truly an exciting season, as digital coverage takes more of a central place in this biggest event of the fashion industry, and Style Coalition is definitely on the frontier of this change. Hope you enjoy our coverage and spread the word!

In my 6th season at the tents, chasing for the latest fashion scoop, I can’t help but wonder what’s the purpose. With a risk of sounding like a grandma, I will tell you that when I started covering NYFW, I was many times one of the first online to post reviews of the shows from my laptop sitting at the Bryant Park, sometimes 30 min after the models left the runway.

Today this type of coverage will disappear in the sea of blog posts, some written based on the live streamed video of the shows. And I promise they will have a better view sitting in front of their computers and zooming on all the details. And if not - there will be high res photos from the show posted shortly after. Based on these materials anyone can write a story, or review, just like they were at the show.

So what’s the point of running around this city in 4 inch heels, dealing with the attitude of PR and security at the tents, standing in lines sometimes to be turned away because the show was overbooked, all this only to get a glimpse of the 5 minutes runway action from behind people’s backs?

Then the clothes we see are not even relevant yet, because no one will be able to wear them until next October. It feels forever. So what’s the point? To mentally prepare people to asymmetric dresses coming up this fall to their local mall?

The only thing that’s left is to “WRITE WHAT YOU SAW FIRST HAND AND LIVED THROUGH IT”, even if you saw it from behind other people’s backs, I would add…

Don’t get me wrong, I still love the rush of fashion week, the excitement of the dimming lights right before the runway begins, the surprise element of each collection, the game of spotting the next “It” girl on the runway, the hair spray madness backstage, the tired and happy faces of designers right after the show is over and the chic conversations at the VIP lounges - fashion week is more than just clothes, and let’s be honest, many times what happens around the clothes has more potential for a good story.

This season I will be capturing the experience itself, rather than just the fabrics and the silhouettes. Partially because you don’t need me to explain what you see in the photos, and partially because I’m simply tired of words like “feminine shapes”, “edgy looks”, “flowing fabrics”, “intriquette details”, “designed for a confident woman”. Does anyone design for non-confident women these days, really? I’m refusing to deliver the “proper” show review, and will be focusing on blogging my own experience the way I live it. Why? Because I have the freedom to do so. Without editors and publishers dictating the rules - that’s what blogging is all about.

What will you be blogging about this fashion week season?

p.s. Follow our #NYFW coverage on Twitter, My It Things, various video channels, and on StyleCoalition.com/InsideTheTents.

All these mentions created some sort of a portrait, that many of the industry people have in their minds when they think about fashion bloggers. I feel this portrait shows one very narrow point of view, while the reality as many of us know it, is much more diverse. Living in NYC and being lucky to know personally a pretty large number of bloggers I noticed all of us come to blogging from different backgrounds, for different reasons and while we do share one similar passion, the way we live it varies from one to another.

While blogging is evolving as a business and profession for many of us, I think it’s important to recognize the differences between various groups of individuals in the fashion blogging landscape and avoid the very comfortable stereotyped thinking, especially if your job is to create and manage online media relationships for a designer or brand.

Here are the 10 most common stereotyped statements about fashion bloggers could be found:

1. Fashion bloggers are teenagers or people in their 20s. From some reason most of the bloggers that get press attention these days are pretty young - from 13 years old Tavi to 18 year old Jane Aldridge - these are the names we keep seeing in the mainstream press, but the truth is there are many bloggers in their 30s and 40s who rarely get the spotlight.
2. Fashion bloggers are skinny, tall and picture perfect. It might seem to the outsider that most successful bloggers are models who never made it. They are pretty enough to post their own editorial style photos, they are skinny, and sometimes even model-esque tall. One look at the homepage of sites like Weardrobe or Chicktopia is enough to get an idea of the stereotype. The fact is we all come in different shapes and sizes, and that’s why I applaud my friends like StyleIT, who recently started posting her daily looks in a special column called On The Plus Side.
3. Fashion bloggers are loud and eccentric. Some of the fashion bloggers do have loud and “out there” personalities, but many are also strictly business people, with backgrounds in everything from marketing to finance.
   
4. Fashion bloggers are ego driven and attention seeking. Not every fashion blogger is a subject of their own posts. Most of us actually invest lots of energy in covering the industry, designers, trends and everything that’s happening outside our own persona. We do it because of sincere interest in the industry, we spend our own time and money covering events, researching subjects and looking for inspiration, just like reporters do.
5. Fashion bloggers do it mostly for free swag. I’m not saying that some of us don’t have free products and clothes on their agenda, and I’ve also seen “cloggers” who fight for goodies at various industry events. BUT I know for the majority of us it’s just a nice bonus, and when it’s given we politely accept it (and disclose, of course).
   
6. Fashion bloggers write from home, mostly in their pajamas. As funny as it sounds in 2010, I recently met a fashion designer who seriously asked me this question. When I replied that I have an office where I blog wearing more than a pajama, he was genuinely surprised. Sure, some of us blog from home or home office, but the image of the pajama wearing blogger doesn’t make a justice to many of us who are doing it professionally.
7. Fashion bloggers love coupons, sales and discounts. While some of the blogs out there are shopping and savings oriented, majority of the fashion blogs are similar to the magazines in the sense that they are looking for newsworthy or inspirational content, and coupons aren’t one of them. Besides that, recession created a serious overload of sale events, and just because you decided to discount your merchandise by 10% on Tuesdays, it doesn’t mean every blogger “would love to share it with their readers”.
8. Fashion bloggers love any promotional events, especially those with free cocktails and gift bags. Sometimes I’m surprised by many PR pitches assuming how little it would take to get bloggers to their event. They might not realize that in the city like New York these days bloggers are invited to cover several events every night, and they must be very creative and engaging to get bloggers’ attention. They must build a personal connection first. Sorry, but free champagne and goodie bags just don’t cut it anymore.
9. Fashion bloggers are amateurs who don’t have appropriate degree or education. While not all of the bloggers have the fashion or journalism degree, some have relevant industry experience, or similar degree in communications or media. Many bloggers I know are actually working in the industry in various capacities and blog in addition to their jobs.
10. Fashion bloggers don’t use judgment, common sense or ethics before publishing content. Yes, bloggers aren’t professional journalists, but this doesn’t mean they don’t use common sense when cover news, collections or events. They are driven a lot by their personal opinions, which is much more risky for a brand than any “objective” mainstream coverage, but on the other hand the reward is much higher. When influential bloggers personally rave about a collection or a product, consumers trust them.

So why do most fashion brands still fear building closer relationships with bloggers?…

No more seasons. The chase after Spring, Fall, Resort and Pre-Fall seasons is pointless when you have chains like H&M and Target coming up with collections every week or so. Many of them cross the lines between winter and summer, and their pieces could be mixed and matched. Examples: Jimmy Choo for H&M, Rodarte and Zac Posen for Target - all included dresses that could be worn both during summer and winter, not to mention open sandals sold by H&M in December… Dividing collections by seasons might not make much sense in this fast paced environment. Although the way we dress is still influenced by the weather outside, it doesn’t mean designers have to introduce them all at the same time, twice a year during their regional fashion week.

No more full collections. Most fashion collections are consisting from basics, which don’t change much from season to season, and trendy staple pieces, which change according to seasonal trends. It’s not very efficient to start every season from scratch, creating basics and staple pieces. Sportswear companies are a great example to a more effective approach: take Adidas which has the same basic sneakers available from year to year, and releases special limited edition, themed sneakers few times a year. Designers could adopt similar approach and keep their best selling basics from season to season, and this way save on production. This will also allow them to focus all their energy on the most creative items, which truly express who they are. In addition, just like people stopped buying music albums and instead now purchase individual songs on iTunes, consumers today are not necessarily shopping for the entire look, but rather are looking for that one special piece to add to their wardrobe. Therefore designers should be focusing on creating best selling pieces which can stand out on their own, instead of worrying about making a cohesive seasonal collection which will please fashion writers. Online retailers like Net-A-Porter already are experimenting in this direction of smaller item-focused collections, by inviting designers like Roland Mouret, who launched six limited-edition mini dresses with the e-tailer last December.

Runway shows as marketing tools. The transformation of the fashion shows into highly publicized events is happening already, but it’s not very clear today who the fashion shows are staged for. Right now many of them include buyers, editors, online press, celebrities, important customers and people at home who watch them live on their computer screens. Each of these audiences have their own agenda/ reason to see the fashion show, and as more designers start using their runway shows to create buzz around the brand, they will have to redefine who they stage them for to make the most return on this huge investment. Perhaps we could learn from Melbourne Fashion Festival, Australia’s largest public consumer and retail driven fashion event, happening every year to get the general public excited about fashion and shopping. Pieces shown on Melbourne runways are available for immediate purchase, making the shows a very effective marketing tool. In addition, there is an industry only fashion week in Sydney Australia focusing on buyers, agents, stylists and other fashion industry representatives.

Computerizing the buying process. This point is directly related to the redefined role of the runway shows, where buyers are no longer the center of attention. There is lots of innovation waiting to happen in the buying process. I recently met few startup companies launching in the space, so hopefully they will start influencing the industry soon. Major challenges in this space include connecting designers and buyers, streamlining the orders, and managing the inventory - all these can be easily solved with cloud computing. Of course you might argue that buyers still need to see the clothes in person, and no computer screen can replace the touch of a fabric, but the more shoppers move online and trust their computer screens to pick their latest fashions, the more it proves buyers could use a similar but perhaps better equipped system. Besides that, the growing trend of more brands adopting e-commerce on their own, challenges the role and importance of the buyers in general.

Opening of the two way street. For the last few decades fashion brands pushed the product at the consumer, shooting in the dark, praying for the support of fashion editors, and then hoping the consumers will listen. If consumers didn’t listen - there was always another season… In the age of social media brands finally have the opportunity to listen and adjust their product accordingly. By acquiring more Twitter followers, Facebook fans and subscribers, brands are basically building their own focus groups. These focus groups could be a huge advantage for smart brands who are willing to change dramatically the way they work and utilize consumer’s feedback into the product in the early stage. It could be as radical as designers sharing the sketches online and asking consumers for voting and feedback. This connects directly to the importance of building brand loyalty. Those who fear for their ideas to be stolen should focus on building a stronger brand following instead, so their customers will never buy a fake or look-alike somewhere else.

Whether some of these ideas turn reality or not, the fashion industry will be definitely witnessing metamorphosis in the next few years, and I’m curious to watch and document here the changes. Would love to hear your thoughts in the comments section below or on Twitter @yuliz.

Idea #1. Live stream the makeup room! Lots of designers live streamed their runway shows for their fans, but none live streamed behind the scenes of the craziness that goes into preparing the show. Anyone who has been backstage before the show knows that most interesting things happen there, when hundreds of people are working together to put on a 5 min show. A camera in the makeup room would get so much more views than any runway.

Idea #2. Let the models tweet! Again, if you’ve ever seen models backstage before the show, you must know that these creatures spend majority of their time texting or doing some other stuff on their phones. Why waste the opportunity on silly messages, when they can live tweet from the backstage of your show! Many models use Twitter these days, and encouraging them (or actually allowing them) to tweet anything they want can create lots of buzz on its own.

Idea #3. Make hashtag your fashion trend! I’m pretty sure 2010 will mark the year hashtags became trendy, just like accessories. These days it’s even appropriate to use them in official invites, right next to the dress code. So there is no reason you can’t create your own hashtag for the runway show or presentation and include it on the invite. That way guests will start tweeting about your brand right after receiving the invite, and connect with each other.

Idea #4: Open a countdown blog! Although we know designers keep their collections a secret before the shows, these days it’s all about the pre-show buzz. Give fans a tiny sneak peek of the fabric, the silhouette or a sketch - and you created excitement. Give them one every day for the 30 days before the show - and you created a real press frenzy! The cost of opening a blog is zero and you will actually save money and resources by not pitching the sneak peek to all bloggers, but publishing it yourself.

Idea #5: Ask your Facebook fans for advice! I know it’s against all logic, but sometimes you have to do the opposite of your branding book to get noticed. Ask your fans to pick models for your show or vote on the tracks for the runway music, and you will be surprised by the enthusiasm they will show. Not to mention the excitement if you actually follow their advice.

Idea #6: Make people RSVP with Facebook! Please don’t think I’m crazy, just think how fun would it be to have all the guests connecting with each other before and after the show. I love meeting friends and colleagues at the runway shows and presentations, but it would be fun to know they are coming so we can grab that free Starbucks Frappuccino together at the tents before the show. Also, knowing Anna is coming will guarantee my appearance (well, you might need to get Anna on Facebook first)…

Idea #7: Check-in guests on FourSquare! I know this one is not Fashion 2.0, but more of a 3.0, but can you imagine the fun of requiring from guests to check-in via FourSquare when they arrive at the show? Again, guests will be able to see who else is in attendance and you can actually offer them special perks and rewards once they checked in (goodie bag 2.0, anyone?). Not to mention the viral spread of the message via guests networks - many people connect their FourSquare account to Facebook and Twitter. A viral dream…

Idea #8: Create a mobile App for the show. This idea requires a bit more of planning and investment, but nothing a smart kid can’t do for you in one weekend. Make an iphone & Android app for the show including lookbook, inspiration, models names and runway music tracks for download. Send install email to all the guests prior to the event and watch them play with it instead of answering emails while they wait for the show to start.

Idea #9: Incorporate social media into a collection. This is a bit of an advanced strategy that requires full designer’s commitment to SM, but can be extremely rewarding, because nothing gets geeks more excited than acknowledgment by mainstream industry sources. Examples could include the use of Twitter’s Fail Whale as a fabric pattern, Facebook blue as a key color or in easiest case you can just name each dress after your favorite blogger. Talking about guaranteed coverage…

Idea #10: Crowdsourced. In order to make this list a true 2.0 style, I had to crowd source at least one idea, so this place is yours - feel free to share your ideas in the comment section!

… and have a stylish fashion week season!

Trend #1: The decreasing relevance of search engines in the age of content farms and reproduced content. Google ranking slowly loses its value and trust. As John Battelle points in Searchblog:

The Google ecosystem is failing more - failing to get us what we think we want. Failing to not frustrate us. [...] Now, Google’s ecosystem is ripe for a quick buck - “content farms” that build article pages cheaply to make a quick buck off AdWords. But these articles, at least for a portion of us, don’t really provide the answers we are looking for.

Is it possible that the action itself of Googl-ing content won’t even exist in a few years from now? After all the more content gets produced every year the harder will be the job of finding the right one. Our frustration with not getting the results we want might turn us to seek content in different places, such as authorities on the subject of our interest. Richard MacManus at ReadWriteWeb also thinks Google should be worried:

Right now ‘quantity’ still rules on the Web, ‘quality’ is hard to find. Perhaps that’s why Reuters is betting on the subscription model - it hopes that consumers will just subscribe to quality content, thereby removing the need to search for it. I think there’s something to that, which if true implies that Google will become less relevant in the future.

Trend #2: Web curation will be of the biggest trends (and challenges) of 2010, according to Pete Cashmore of Mashable. As he writes at his column for CNN:

Who better to direct our scarce attention than experts in their fields? [...] Journalists, it would seem, are well-placed to capitalize on the trend, since directing an audience’s attention via links is not materially different to editing a newspaper or magazine.

And soon enough consumers will be willing to pay for it. This is something many media outlets are betting on these days, including the WSJ and Rupert Murdoch who declared earlier this year that the era of a free-for-all in online news was over:

Quality journalism is not cheap. The digital revolution has opened many new and inexpensive distribution channels but it has not made content free. We intend to charge for all our news websites.

Now let’s sum up these two trends and apply it to the fashion world. Instead of mourning on the rapid decrease of the glossy pages, fashion editors should be focusing on a new medium - curated web. They have the AUTHORITY and EXPERTISE to point to the right sources and answer the questions, and it seems like soon enough people will be willing to pay for this service.

Will this new service look like a search engine or like a content portal? Perhaps a combination of both would make most sense. All I know is many people out there are looking for style and fashion shopping advice, and right now they turn to Google for it. More than 4,500 of them searched for the right way “how to wear over the knee boots” this fall, and landed on http://MyItThings.com, not http://Style.com. Many more searched for “2010 fashion trends” and didn’t even find any of the fashion magazines on the first page of Google. Instead, they got advice from smaller independent sources. Of course there is nothing wrong with this (and it’s great for our pockets), besides the fact that on Google a site I founded 3 years ago is getting more authority on fashion questions than a print publication founded in 1920. In case of MyItThings.com we managed to provide the advice people were looking for, because we care about our content quality and researched the subject for the best advice possible.

But how about people who searched for “Louis Vuitton handbag”? 8 out of 10 results listed on the main page of Google are leading to fakes and replica sites, engaging in illegal activity online. Not educated well user may really think $388 Louis Luitton bags exist…

Internet democracy or wrong order? It depends on which side of the game you are. But what I’m trying to say is that traditional media can still reclaim its relevancy online. One advantage they have on blogs, social media and content aggregators all combined - they got AUTHORITY that is attached to their brand names. Sure, it’s a different type of authority than the one Google uses to rank sites, but the media outlets could be using this authority to curate the most relevant content and perhaps eventually replace Google, at least in their own niche. When most sophisticated algorithms fail to filter through the masses of content, editors with their ability to curate are more important than ever.

After all who would you rather ask for fashion advice: Google or Anna Wintour?

As always, would love your thoughts in the comments section below, or on Twitter @yuliz

]]> http://yuliziv.com/2010/01/01/curating-the-web-why-anna-wintour-is-bigger-than-google/feed/ http://yuliziv.com/2009/12/20/on-fast-fashion-content-and-the-importance-of-being-earnest/ http://yuliziv.com/2009/12/20/on-fast-fashion-content-and-the-importance-of-being-earnest/#comments Mon, 21 Dec 2009 04:26:37 +0000 Yuli Ziv http://yuliziv.com/?p=429 In his article, “The End Of Hand Crafted Content”,  Michael Arrington of TechCrunch touched a subject I’ve been thinking a lot about lately as a blogger and content creator. The discussion couldn’t be more relevant for the fashion world, just few weeks before the NY fashion week chatter begins in the blogosphere. Expect news, republished news, stolen news, opinions on republished and stolen news, even more opinions and then yesterday’s news republished again just in case our readers didn’t catch the original ones.

Let me simplify the fashion weeks publishing cycle to make the point: Style.com usually posts the collections’ photos first and then the blogosphere republishes them with few opinionated sentences attached. Sometimes there is a report from the actual show, but mostly you can’t tell if the blogger was there or actually needed to be there to write the piece.

As for the general fashion news - WWD usually gets exclusives on most of them, and then the blogosphere chews it for the next few days. As an example you could take the recent news about Julia Roberts signing as the new Lancome face. Google indexed about 4,864 (!!) blog posts since WWD broke the news on December 4th. A typical blog post included a nice picture of the actress, one sentence describing the news and another paragraph quoted from the source or the press release. Don’t forget an SEO-friendly smart title to top the story - and voilà, in under 5 minutes you created a new piece of content, your blog looks alive again, and you even feel like a reporter, helping the news spread…

…Or adding to the clutter.

With all my love to the digital words, recently I wish people would still write like they would on paper, before the days typing machine was invented. There is something about the easiness of creating content online that removes any filtering, critical look or even a thought process at all. We get caught up in the race of posting more, being first to publish the news on our own site, getting more traffic, more readers, more comments, more everything. After all we are now part of the news machine, and no one can stop us.

Imagine you were billed by the kilobytes to post content. Would you pay to publish this?

Imagine this could be the last thing you published before you died. Would you still post it?

When you republish a piece of news 50 other sites already published - what goal are you achieving? Do you seriously believe your readers don’t read any other sources and rely on you to provide them all the information? Or perhaps you tried it once and enjoyed some Google love, which left you wanting more… I don’t blame you, in the world where your influence is measured by your traffic, it’s getting hard to resist posting a hot piece of content the public is desperately searching for.

Mike Arrington compares it to fast food, I compare it to fast fashion. Why would you waste effort creating your own design and perfecting the cut, if you could just copy someone else’s work for much cheaper? Fast fashion already rules the market these days, so as fast content online. The question is whether you are contributing to it or choose not to. Are you part of the fast content chain or do you prefer to have your own quality shop and continue to create master pieces, no matter how little foot traffic your shop gets? What if you saw your blog or content you put out there as a reflection of your true self? Would you still want to post the same things everyone else is posting?

Would you like to add to the clutter or actually bring some value to this world? What if instead of requesting disclosures FTC requested to disclose your reasons for posting each piece. What would be yours?

Traffic, money, SEO, self-importance, bragging, attention, jealousy, judgment, boredom…

or

Passion for the subject, love for beautiful things, desire to help, educate, share knowledge, encourage others, craving for honest discussion with people, opening up your heart, saying simply what you feel and finding your own voice…

Today you are given the ability to express your thoughts to the world, so why don’t you tell it what you really think, instead of having a small talk quoting what other people say?

I hope we can all find our depth, even if getting through the clutter is becoming harder…

The question is how do you keep growing and monetizing your blog without losing your true audience and… your style? In the days when brands go out of their way to get the bloggers on their side, it’s more important than ever to establish your own rules and stick to them.

As someone who is constantly approached by marketing and PR people, I thought it would be helpful to share few pieces of advice. I believe together we can change the way some companies approach bloggers and eventually all benefit from it. At least I hope so….

1. Define your assets. Your blog is your media property, and you should treat it as such, whether you have 1k or 100k visitors. It is important to get a scope of your assets in order to play the blogging business game. Example: you have a blog with X page impressions, email list with X subscribers, Twitter account with X followers, Facebook page with X fans, etc. Get those numbers together, keep them handy and update often.

2. Decide whether your persona is part of these assets. Most of fashion bloggers these days are open about putting their personality out there, and some manage to close endorsement deals, ad campaigns and other opportunities based on their personality (and sometimes looks). If you are an expert in your domain, have a great niche, put your personality out there and manage to create a following (even small) - you might be appealing for some brands to work with you.

3. Decide which of these assets you want to monetize. It might be a good decision not to monetize all of these channels. Example: You might decide that even if you are fine with running occasional sponsored posts, you don’t want to send out sponsored tweets. It depends on your audience, and some might be more tolerant than others.

4. Define your rules and boundaries. They are painful and hard to decide on, but trust me it’s better to create those once, than have ethical dilemmas every time a sponsor approaches you with opportunity. If you are in the business of blogging you have to have Editorial Guidelines and Media Kit, both available online. It’s so easy to send people the link (plus, you can update both without resending to every contact). It presents you as a serious professional and eliminates unnecessary negotiations.

5. Learn to differentiate between editorial and promotional content. The recession has put lots of pressure on retail brands, which now use their PR firms to not only create the buzz, but also increase sales conversions. These days I see many PR companies  trying to push promotional and purely marketing content as editorial. Discount offers and sales are a great example of these gray areas. Many shopping and fashion blogs are posting these promotions, which sometimes look like oversized banner ads. I’m not against posting sale offers, but I believe it should be done in a tasteful way that doesn’t compromise the editorial voice. Great example is the NY mag’s The Cut blog which combines all sales offers in a daily text-only post without promoting one specific sale.  One of the consequences of posting promotional content is that once you start, you get more sent your way. Also, you largely eliminate the chances of these brands ever buying ad space or sponsored opportunity on your blog - why would they ever pay you if you keep posting their promotions for free?

6. Beware of giveaways. Companies love offering giveaways to bloggers from number of reasons: a) they “pay” in product, which in most cases are low cost compared to the exposure they are getting b) they get free promotion, as if it was a sponsored post c) they get engagement with your readers without doing much work. Not to mention all the promotion you do for the giveaways on Facebook, Twitter and sometimes via the email list. There is lots of value in these channels. They are practically using your voice and your media property to reach your readers without compensating you personally for the service. My suggestions for running giveaways are: a) the product should be high value (at least $100 for the total package)  b) you should come up with a fee for running giveaways, which will compensate you for the promotional work you do and c) giveaways should run in low frequency. I feel there is such an overload of the products given away lately, blog readers simply ignore them unless it’s something unique and valuable.

7. Set your rate card and stick to it. It’s as difficult as setting your boundaries, but it makes your life easier by saving you from individual case-by-case decisions. Every channel you decided to monetize should have its price - whether it’s public and part of your Media Kit, or private and shared based on inquiries. Don’t be afraid to ask 20-30% more than you think you deserve - creative people tend to underestimate fruits of their work, and sometimes you will be surprised how much people are willing to pay for them. It is important to stick to your rates, even if you have to say NO sometimes. You will do great service not only to yourself, but to your peers who operate in the space.

8. Learn to say NO. Every time you tend to say YES to an opportunity, even though it’s not the right fit - think about why you started blogging in the first place. Example: running non-relevant sponsored post on your blog can turn off your readers. Placing a WalMart ad on a high end fashion blog may delude the value of your blog and turn off potential luxury advertisers. Think long term rather than how to make a quick buck - it pays off, trust me.

9. Beware of bartering. This is my personal rule, which I know some will argue, but I’m against accepting anything but cash for any sponsored opportunities on a blog. I constantly hear stories about brands paying bloggers for services with clothes and gift cards, which isn’t the best way to build your blog as a business. Reasons: a) it’s not scalable - what happens if you are get paid in shoes, and your traffic has increased? Do you ask for boots?  b) it’s unprofessional - even if you sell a sidebar ad for only $50, you are still a service provider and should be treated as such by the brand.  d) it sets the wrong standard for the entire industry.

10. Don’t lose your essence. And by that I mean many things: your personality, your writing, your daily portraits, your point of view, your editorial choices and many other things. If the chase for money/traffic/audience starts driving your blog’s voice, it might be a good time to take a break and remind yourself why you started blogging in the first place…

Lastly, with all respect to money I truly believe that authenticity is the highest online currency these days. Therefore not disclosing relationships or misleading blog readers will never be in style.

Feel free to add your own rules or advice below…

p.s. I recently decided to put to work my art degree by adding drawings to my posts. Enjoy!

Fashion brands and retailers are in a big advantage here compared to other brands, since fashion products have the built in design aesthetics. Some even have artistic qualities which make them into perfect moving visuals.

Let’s take a look at some of the new web video formats the most innovative fashion brands and retailers are creating today, starting from the most direct to the most sophisticated:.

1. Video catalog.

As the most straight forward format, video can replace static product photos and allow e-tailers to showcase their products in the best way possible without actually seeing it in real life. Advantages: shoppers can experience better the movement of fabric, fit and silhouette.

Example: The UK-based ASOS.com uses specially shot runway videos to showcase the latest fashion products, which proving to be a great tactic considering their 104% growth in sales in the past year. Video catalog example

2. Video product reviews.

Similar to the video catalog, video product reviews allow e-tailers to showcase their products from multiple angles, and also add an actual overview of its qualities. Advantages: more personalized approach in showcasing the products leads to higher conversions.

Example: Zappos announced this week that it plans to create 50,000 videos in 2010, all featuring Zappos employees talking about the products. “It’s our take on it,” said Rico Nasol, Zappos content team senior manager, “Our customers want to see more Zappos people.” The e-tailer claims video demos increase conversions in 6-30%. Example.

3. VideoZine.

Unlike video product reviews and demos, video magazines feature multiple products and focus on a specific trend. Advantages: a great way to package the seasonal trends and showcase in motion a large number of products. The mood, sound and narration play a great role in the product sale.

Example: Net-A-Porter has done a great job by putting together sleek moving images of some of their hottest products. Check out this video report on Fall must have accessories:

4. Meet The Designer.

We live in the era of social media, where everything is personality driven, even marketing. Who can better sell a product than the person who’s passionately designed it? Advantages: an opportunity to create personal connection with the customer, and communicate the vision directly. Designers and creative people in general many times are blessed with unique character features, and this gives them an opportunity to turn their charm into actual sales.

Example: Shopflick, one of the leaders in the space, allows designers to sell their fashion products through videos. Product pages include designer interviews and background, as well as videos showcasing products and narrated by the designers themselves. Check out LA based Yotam Solomon “selling” one of his dresses in this video:

5. Video Blogging.

This might be the most time consuming and intense way to connect with the customers, but just ask Isaac Mizrahi what camera exposure did to his career, and you might be convinced that it’s worth it. Advantages: the most immediate and personal connection with the customers allows them to take a sneak peek into the daily life of a designer, and the creative process, thus creating emotional connection to the brand.

Example: a pioneer in the space, Isaac Mizrahi video blogs often on his site IsaacMizrahiNY.com

6. Behind The Scenes.

One of the ways the internet democracy is changing the brands today is by removing the corporate walls and making them more accessible to customers. Advantages: this is a great opportunity to give customers a sneak peek into the unique company culture, as well as create entertaining content.

Example: this season Barneys let the video camera into their headquarters to create some Holiday cheer in this video by their oh-so-lovely Creative Director Simon Doonan (as the cranky elf). The result - cheer brilliance:

7. Video Art.

These days we see more and more alternatives to the traditional runway presentations - designers experiment with installations, studio presentations and even video art, distributed purely online. Advantages: designers are able to express their vision via different medium, and create a narrative to support their collection’s inspiration. The key is finding a filmmaker with a similar style approach, who can add another layer to the fashion message, rather than making their own story.

Examples: from the SHOWStudio collaboration of Gareth Pugh with filmmaker Ruth Hogben, to the corky Cynthia Rowley movies and whimsical Erin Fetherston tales - fashion and film never worked better together:

8. Experts.

Using experts in their respective fields is always a great strategy to personalize the brand. Only these days instead of using celebrities, brands turn to influencers, bloggers and even their customers to create their video content. Advantages: real people have real voices, they are able to convey the message in an authentic way, and experts in their field are able to highlight brand’s value authoritatively.

Example: last month the NYC based department store Century 21 invited five fashion bloggers into their store to create web video segments on Holiday shopping tips and style. Disclosure: my company StyleCoalition produced the video campaign for Century 21 and I was one of the bloggers featured in the series. Check out this video montage, or watch the entire series:

9. Webisodes.

Some brands go as far as creating their own web series only to put their logo on it, as per this recent article in NY Times. Advantages: full control over content and script allow targeted message and higher engagement with the brand, the products are introduced in a subtle way without disturbing viewer’s entertainment process.

Example: among the major brands proclaiming “brought to you by … ” online are Maybelline cosmetics, which is sponsoring Candice Bushnell’s new web series, “The Broadroom,” available at maybelline.com/thebroadroom. The episodes look nothing but usual drama until one of the ladies pulls her Maybelline lipstick out of her clutch. The branding is minimal, but played well into the script.

I’m sure we will be seeing more and more retail brands exploring web video in 2010. As they experiment and measure success, less dollars will be invested in 30 sec commercial spots, and more into authentic content relevant to their customers.