Corcus Featured Creator ❤️ Brooke JuLyn (@brookejulyn)
Hi all,
Hope you are comfortable and in for a good read today!
Brooke (@brookejulyn) is a California based fashion blogger, fierce mom of two, and storyteller who has grown her audience exponentially in the span of a year. She’s a content creator who has found a way to use Instagram as a creative outlet for her art-through-fashion and lifestyle. Read to learn more about her journey and super insightful tips below.
Sections:
About Brooke
Tips + Advice
Working with brands
About Brooke
Tell us a little about your background. When did you start creating content? What got you to start?
I should have started my Instagram blog 5 years ago, but I was right in the middle of getting married and having kids and I thought it would be enough and I would ride off into the sunset of happiness. Little did I know that having kids would make me the most serious form of myself with 0 creative outlets. I needed to do something that would give me an artistic outlet and something that could help provide for my family. Creating a business on Instagram and working with RewardStyle the LiketoKnowit platform seemed like the best way to start a business without having to put up capital. One year ago, I started my Instagram account with 200 followers and I have grown it into 46,000 followers.
Do you see creating content as your full-time job or more of a hobby that you do in your free time?
Creating content is a full-time job. You have to be on every platform and create specific content for each platform, all day every day. Figuring out a strategy and working with a platform that is performing best for you is a very difficult balance. Recently I have been working with a few of the Amazon stores and creating Amazon Live Broadcasts so I have skipped posting on Instagram on Tuesdays because it is a slow night for me, in order to get ready for my lives at 5:30 PST.
Tips + Advice
What are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced or you are facing as a creator/influencer?
Having enough time to do it all and to get paid for what you are doing. In the LTK (LiketoKnowit) platform, we are pulled in so many directions that it is hard to know where to spend time. Because you can make commission posting in LTK, but your IG needs to have followers and engagement to even get brands to notice you and land a contract. Sometimes I spend all day editing a photo to share on IG and I have completely ignored posting anything in the LTK platform. For now, my strategy is to do the best I can on all platforms until I make it on one, and then I can put a lot of my eggs in that basket.
What are some tips for creators who are just getting started?
Know what you are committing to. You are committing to 24 hours a day 7 days a week. You have to feed the beast to be noticed. You cannot take weeks or months off and come back and say, oh I am going to be better for you guys this time, and then drop off again one week later. If you are trying to build a business, the competition is fierce so make sure you have a support system or time carved out each day to put out meaningful content. It is ok to post a picture of your coffee now and then when you have a creative block, but finding a way to make it art and meaningful to your audience is difficult to master.
What kinds of tools do you use to stay consistent and active on your social media?
I am a very driven and organized person so I always have the content ready to go each day, however; I will be the first to admit I don't use a scheduler. I have tried so hard to write out captions for the whole week, but then they just feel generic. I find that I want the caption to be specific for that day or week and I am much more confident in the post. I try and post between 4-4:30 every day so people know when to find me.
What are some of your favorite editing tools?
Lightroom is a must-have! I love the app Retouch to take out anything in the background or clone a small area. Photoshop Mix App is a great way to make collages for the LTK platform.
Do you have any specific goals set for yourself for the coming months?
I booked a few paid campaigns this month, so once the payment is complete I am going to send over the analytics in a media kit on how the campaign performed. The brands did not ask me to do this, but I know that transparency is becoming more and more important to brands. They want to know you can sell and move the inventory for them. I will work so hard for a brand so I want them to know what they paid me for and hopefully, this will stand out enough for them to continue a partnership with me in the future.
How do you balance your personal and work life?
Since I am taking time away from my family to create these photos, edit them, write the caption, post to IG, post to Amazon store, make a Tiktok in the clothes, etc. I need to be very mindful about the clock and putting away my phone before dinnertime and pay attention to my family. When the family is having a busy week, I need to be able to repeat a photo or different shot from the same shoot. I get so worried about having new content every day. It needs to be ok for me to repeat or do a throwback and not have anxiety about that.
How did you “learn” the ways of content creation? Are there any resources you see as absolutely necessary?
I just follow other influencers that I like and get inspired by them. When I first started creating content, I was doing a ton of typical blogger photos with coffee and car photos and "Happy Friday" posts, but I was wondering if that brought any value to me personally and when I asked myself this question it felt like a no. I am so drawn to the art behind the photos and I think art and clothes definitely can be one and the same.
What kind of advice do you have for creators who are not seeing any progress or success?
This is a tough one. Since I am part of the LTK platform I connect a lot with similar accounts and we put on a lot of giveaways in order to expose our followers to different accounts that the algorithm won't show you. It seems like you cannot grow unless you have followers but you cannot get followers because you don't have them? It is a vicious cycle. I have started to see Instagram promote accounts that have posted 2,000 or more photos and only have 28,000 followers but I am seeing these types of authentic accounts pop up more and more in my explore page. My point is if your content is good and can engage others you will get to the same point in 3 years that someone with 100k followers also got to just buying followers.
What are some of the biggest misconceptions that people have about you that you’d like to address?
I don't make my posts super cheery. I am somewhere in the middle. I think seeing happy families and couples all the time can make you feel bad about yourself and I don't want anyone to think my life is perfect or glamourous. We all want more and more out of life, no matter what we currently have. Finding occasional peace is really all you need. You don't need to strive for constant happiness because you will always feel disappointed.
Working with Brands
What have you found to be the biggest challenge in working with brands?
They don't want to pay you, especially now with the economy the way it is. So many brands have put marketing on the back burner until this irons out more. When a bigger brand approaches me for a "free" collab, I do my research and then I pitch an idea to them via email and I let them know my price. You really, really have to weigh your page against the brand that wants you to dedicate a post to them. I have 60,000 views on my content a week and if a brand wants that prime real estate then they need to pay for it. If the brand cannot pay then I always offer to put it in my stories only and 95% of the time they agree.
What brands have you worked with in the past? What are some that you would like to work with?
I have worked with some amazing jewelry companies recently, Gorjana, Ana Luisa, Daisy London. I did a really cool shoot for Daisy London so they offered me more work. I am trying to land a paid collab with DSW, Walmart, and get in with Revolve clothing for free trade.
The takeaway: Content creation is an art that takes time and work to master. It’s all about finding the right balance, having fun, and most importantly, not striving for perfection.
Practice makes improvement!
Love,
Corcus Team
If you are interested in being part of this series, please email lisa@corcus.io.