360 Campaign MARKETING MYSELF AS A CONTENT CREATOR
Kit Dickson
contents introduction
5
direction
7
market
8
consumer
9
social media platforms
11
TikTok
12
13
20x20
15
§ § § § § § §
ANDROGYNOUS SAFE SPACE FEARLESS GENDERLESS RELATABLE ESCAPISM VISIONARY
16 17 18 19 20 21 22
Internship
23
Planning
24
Campaign
25
Personal Branding
30
Reflection
31
Introduction The second component of the concept marketing and promotion module is to develop a 360-campaign based on my own personal branding and the research that was undertaken throughout brand me. Identifying a gap in the market for me and accurately judging where I fit as a brand in a market sector, will be the main starting point for me to develop my 360 campaign. Drawing upon my research undertaken in brand me I will be able to create a brand that showcases my tastes and style, through my own individual methods of communication, while being successful and fitting within a market sector and reaching the appropriate audiences, ultimately connecting to consumers in the best way for my brand. This will act as the planning, research and developmental stage for my FMP visual campaign; therefore, it will act as an integral part of the success of my FMP. Mood-boarding with both primary and secondary imagery will be a key part of this project while I am finding inspiration and developing branding and visual representations for my brand to portray it in the best light. This part of the developmental process will also allow me to look into different business models and concepts to identify which will be the best fit for my own brand. This is in some ways the drawing board and in my opinion the most important part of a project due to the fact that this is where I will be drawing upon my knowledge, likes/dislikes and researching techniques the most. I want to use this as research and development that will go towards the launch of myself as a creative, a marketer and a brand into the industry. This means I will be able to draw upon my real passions and set up a career in the areas of fashion that I love. In order to kickstart my career a high level of planning, research and development is necessary.
Direction As identified in my brand me I have a passion for PR and Marketing, as well as visual merchandising. Genderless fashion and beauty are a niche market sector that I believe I sit in as a consumer and therefore a creative communicator. There is a gap in the market for ME, my raw authentic self, something that has never ‘been done’ before. Therefore, it is important that while taking inspiration and crediting influences, I don’t lose myself in the process. Staying true to myself and my values of acceptance, freedom, self-expression and escapism will be at the forefront of my business plan due to the fact my identified gap in the market is for only me. As a self-proclaimed introverted extrovert, I feel that influencing is a career I could see myself excelling in. through the brand me research process I found that I would far rather talk to a group of strangers on a live stream than open up to family or friendship circles about deeper topics. I also feel it is a form of responsibility to show that genderless fashion and makeup are not just trends. I am lucky to have the freedom to experiment and express myself how I want to, therefore if I am able to promote that and normalise this, it could make a difference whether that is helping someone who struggles with finding their own identity, or being part of a community, which normalises this way of thinking in the hopes that it will help societies to evolve and shift. For example, in countries such as Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Nigeria, Sudan, and Somalia, homosexual activity is a capital offence. Other countries face similar limitations and restrictions regarding equality in terms of queer or women’s rights. These kinds of attitudes and laws can only be changed if we normalise self-expression and stand up for our beliefs. My intention for the 360 campaign is to discover through research and development methods how to market myself as a social media influencer, creating content based on my core values and beliefs such as sustainability, genderless fashion, makeup self-expression and experimentation. Influencing encompasses all of my passions within the industry, including visual merchandising in terms of creating interesting content to be aesthetically pleasing to a target audience, Public Relations in regard to being mindful of digital footprint and representing myself in the correct light while staying true to my message, and also Marketing in terms of marketing myself as the product to my intended audience.
Market I have been able to identify from my research that one of my core values is sustainability and ethics within the fashion industry, through my placement at Redress in Hong Kong I was able to research a plethora of innovative ways to keep sustainability at the forefront of the fashion industry. From extension strategies of a product lifecycle, reusability and recycling of fabrics and deadstock to introducing the metaverse and other technologies in the industry that have a zero-waste effect. This suggests that I would sit in the luxury market, however another big part of my message and core values is self-expression and experimentation. Keeping in mind that my target audience may be younger individuals with a lower disposable income; I think it is important not to engage with this audience by showcasing a bridge between fast fashion and the luxury market. Sustainable garments and approaches to fashion advertising techniques to extend a product lifecycle, upcycle garments and focus on accessorising core pieces to create different effects so as to not buy into fast fashion but to still create a safe space with the freedom of exploration and experimentation. This is something that is really important to me and my brand as it recognises the importance of both, addressing the fact that brands do not need to be luxury and high in price to also be sustainable.
Consumer As an influencer, my brand will be harder to target towards one specific generation, due to the fact that there is such a broad variety of consumers that could find themselves attracted to the brand. That being said I would assume based on the fact that younger generations typically are more on board with LGBTQ+ movements, that the target audience would be Generation Z and potentially fall into the Alpha Generation. This is because I want to create a legacy and be a part of a positive movement in terms of genderless fashion and acceptance. The main target audience will be the LGBTQ+ community, existing consumers of genderless fashion and makeup. Lifestyle fashion and makeup have a huge audience, especially on platforms such as TikTok, Instagram and YouTube. When I factor in the exposure and loyalty from the promotion of a niche area in the market, being genderless fashion and sustainability, I will be able to communicate and connect with my audience on a deeper level with these shared values. Identifying my consumer will allow me to market myself as a social media influencer directly to my target consumer, allowing me to build a following and create content in line with my consumer’s wants and needs. This niche will allow me to make my brand identifiable and easily recognisable so that consumers will be able to find me on different platforms. It will also allow me to develop a safe space for my audience, as this is what I feel when I watch, interact and follow influencers.
Social media platforms To market myself as a social media influencer, I first need to assess which social media platforms I would like to utilise in order to build my brand. Instagram and TikTok are what I use most on a day-to-day basis as a consumer, therefore I think that these platforms would be good as I understand them the most. Twitch is a form of social media I looked into however I chose to discount it due to the fact that I feel that it is a heavily gaming-dominated platform. However, this could be an avenue I explore further down the line as I expand my brand and social media presence. Facebook is a social media platform that I believe is more outdated and targets a more mature target market, therefore I also decided to discount it for the time being.
TikTok Due to my own tastes as a consumer, I decided that TikTok, Instagram and YouTube would be the three best platforms to harness in order to market myself as an influencer. In particular, Instagram and TikTok as a starting point as I feel they are good platforms to build momentum, and a following and develop skills while creating content. Gaining confidence in myself as a creator will allow me to communicate more clearly and successfully and execute my ideas for content to the highest standard. Utilising features such as TikTok live will enable me to engage with followers and allow the app to push my profile to viewers that may be interested in my content. For example, ‘get ready with me’ live streams would fall into the Fashion and Beauty sector and therefore be pushed towards an audience that has shown interest in this category previously. Working with the algorithm will allow for the highest potential when it comes to organic growth. In addition to this, consistency is key, ‘going live’ or posting TikTok frequently and with consistency will allow the platform to recognise and push content creators to achieve a higher level of organic growth. This will allow my brand to develop faster and with a more loyal following than if I was to buy followers or get a large following from a one-off viral video. TikTok will be the first platform I will tackle, as I feel it requires less planning and structure compared to social media outlets such as Instagram and YouTube. There is more freedom and room for experimentation to figure out what works, what is well received by an audience and what is not. This will enable me to find my feet as an influencer and my niche in terms of creating content. Also utilising the Livestream function will enable me to build a schedule so that viewers will know when I am going live. This will again, build a stronger connection between consumers and my brand, creating a place for escapism. In order to create a schedule, testing when to go live and post content is something I will have to do. TikTok is a global platform and therefore, in order for me to achieve maximum outreach it is important for me to research time zones so that I can plan when to go live. For example, the USA is roughly 5/6 hours behind the UK. This means that if I was to go live early in the morning, I would be likely to sacrifice connecting with the USA audiences. Testing out ‘going live’ at different times to find a time that suits me and fits in with different time zones will be something that I will need to do in order to gain maximum engagement. Utilising the hashtag features on TikTok will also allow me to be featured in a separate area of the app. So, if someone searches a specific hashtag that I have used on my video, I will gain views and interaction that way as well.
Instagram While Instagram is a priority for my brand, it takes more planning and preparation compared to TikTok. Instagram content is often on a higher level of standard than TikTok, for example, grids require planning, posts often depend on timing to gain maximum interaction and profiles need to be held to the highest standard in order to represent the brand. Every post must be well thought out and planned to create the desired impact. If a post were to ‘flop’ it could be far more detrimental to a brand. This section will be called a guide for Instagram or Instagram for dummies: The process of evolving an Instagram account from a personal to a business or creator account is long but necessary. Firstly, the settings feature allows for the selection of your type of account.
Once the account has been set up as a business account, Instagram will give access to insights features, creator tools and other functions that help to identify your audience and analyse the reach your posts have and how well different types of content are perceived by your audience. It also helps a creator in deciding when to post, and what type of content to post as it can inform a creator of the existing audience which can in turn explore if the target market, audience and consumer research is correct. I have posted a tutorial series on how to utilise these creator functions on my online portfolio (virtual calling card): https://www.instagram.com/chameleon2.0_/ One of the biggest factors that you need to consider when posting content is timing. This could be the make or break of a post, ensuring that your content gets the right exposure is important for any business or brand, especially influencers as the job relies on exposure
from content which often leads to further opportunities such as brand deals and paid promotion of products. Correctly planning when to post to ensure the most exposure on a post can be done in a few different ways for example checking how many people are active when you are posting, I go more into detail on how to do this in my tutorial series featured in my online portfolio. Influencers often plan ahead of time so that their Instagram grid and feed will look a certain way to gain a bigger audience and following, this means that the content usually requires a lot more effort than a regular personal Instagram account used to document someone’s life. For example, if every post has been planned as thoroughly as a photoshoot with lighting, posing, staging, makeup and clothing considered, then it would be a shame not to gain the correct amount of exposure to this content. Hence why timing is so important as it is a key factor in determining the amount of exposure a post will get. Another key factor would be the use of more basic tools such as hashtags. Researching the top hashtags to use and how they can further promote your page is important as it allows your content to be viewed in several different areas of the app. Tailoring hashtags to your post will allow you to gain a following from areas of the market that may not fall into your niche however this exposure could gain more likes on individual posts, comments and potentially follows. Pushing content after posting is another way to gain traction on Instagram; for example, posting your recent content to your story again at a time when you have an optimum active audience, will again direct people who may have missed the post. This technique will allow your post to gain more traction and boost likes, which enables Instagram as a platform to push your content.
