My 3 Biggest Hurdles in Blogging

In March of 2015 I decided to start a blog called Park Street Chic. I had thought about starting a blog before, but never really got around to it because of the amount of time I needed to put into getting the blog up and running. Here are three of the major issues I faced while creating and maintaining Park Street Chic:

1. Blog Creation. To my surprise creating a blog and the layout was super easy! I opted to find a layout I could buy because my website creating skills are not up to par. For the more technical savvy or people on a tight budget, I'm sure you could figure out how to create a custom layout! Luckily I found a website called Pipdig. The offer many different layouts for both Blogger and WordPress at a very reasonable price! Pipdig is great too because it comes with downloadable instructions on how to get everything up and running, as well as links to other sites they recommend for adding widgets like Instagram and Pinterest feeds to your blog. For anyone looking to add life to their blog, I would suggest you try Pipdig.

I knew exactly what the first post to Park Street Chic would be (see the post here), but after the initial post I began to face three major issues:

2. Content Creation. Why it didn't occur to me to come up with a somewhat organized content schedule is beyond me! Since my blog is all about personal style, beauty, and adventures I knew some things could be documented in advance for quick posts. Now I have a routine schedule that includes outfit posts, beauty product hauls, product reviews, wishlists, and adventures. My tip to you is come up with an idea of what you want to post and CREATE a schedule.

(The amount of memes I make from pictures of my sister is becoming a problem.)

3. Posting Regularly. This was probably my biggest fault in creating Park Street Chic. Much like the content, I didn't come up with a specific time I was going to post. This became a problem when I got busy with school, work, and life in general because that meant posting was pushed to the back burner. Eventually I ended up not blogging for the entire month of April! Consistent posts helps to keep readers coming back, and also keeps everyone engaged with one another. If possible, create special posts in advance that are not time-sensitive that can easily be published to your blog when you're busy or have writer's block. I currently post once a week on Thursdays, but I hope to add more content at some point in the future.

Both businesses and non-professionals alike can face these problems. While my blog is solely just for fun, learning from these three mistakes I have made will definitely help me with the growth of the blog.

Have you had any issues creating or maintaining your blog? Let me know in the comments below and check out Park Street Chic and let me know what you think!

::::Destiny

A Change in the Tides

Anybody who actually knows me understands that my love for marine life - especially marine mammals- is absolutely real. They also know that I love Twitter just as much. About two weeks ago I re-watched the movie Blackfish on Netflix and decided to take to twitter to see other users' responses to the controversial movie that accuses the animal park Sea World of numerous malpractices and analyzes the death of a killer whale handler. While the responses of others who had watched the movie were not any different than my own, I was completely surprised to see that in many cases Sea World had responded to many people "bashing" Sea World's alleged practices with links to the company's websites with information about why Blackfish is propaganda.

Sea World is trying to manage this over two year crisis by informing Twitter users that there is two sides to every story. Using Chapter Nine's Five Stages of Crisis Management in the Digital Age I will analyze Sea World's successes during the ongoing crisis.

1. Prepare in Advance. It is to my knowledge that Sea World was aware of the documentary being filmed, but I don't know if the realized how extensive the damage would be once it was released. Currently Sea World is constantly paying attention to what is being said about their company, especially on Twitter (Sea World currently has ninety thousand followers on the social media site).

2. Isolate the Origin. The crisis itself did not stem from social media, but SeaWorld is currently using traditional and social media to rehabilitate the company's image and boost sales.

3. Evaluate the Impact. The impact of Blackfish's release has been astounding. Sales plummeted after the documentary release and the company was then put under the microscope for their business and animal welfare practices.

4. Mitigate the Crisis. SeaWorld has done a pretty good job at responding to the criticism put forth and providing their side of the story. The company has recently set up a website to answer any questions the public has as well as providing information on their website about their practices and how they disagree with what Blackfish portrayed the company as.

5. Learn from the Crisis. With the countless lawsuits, drop in sales, and overall lack of improvement, SeaWorld still has a long way to go before they can start rebuilding their company, but they are definitely understanding the effects of the release of Blackfish.

(Here is a picture of better times at SeaWorld. Myself, Mom, and Grandpa are pictured)

::::Destiny

The Four Quadrants of PR and Luxury Brands

(The Four Quadrants of Public Relations)

Like any other company, luxury brand marketers, advertisers and public relations practitioners work to put their company out to the public with their best foot forward. The four quadrants of public relations from Social Media: How to Engage, Share, Connect by Regina Luttrell sets fourth the idea that four sections (media, community, business, and government) are intertwined and stresses the importance of a knowledge in each section for public relations practitioners.

Thinking about my interest in fashion and luxury brands, conglomerate Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy (LVMH) does a great job at promoting these four quadrants in their individual houses and parent company as a whole,

Media: "Public relations professionals work closely with the media to distribute their messages to the public." (Pg. 5)

In the case of LVMH, a wealthy, trend-setting public is strategically targeted. Each brand has their own social media presence - for example, Kenzo and Sephora have big Instagram followings - and place print advertising in relevant magazines and papers. Those working for LVMH and their brands must create innovative ways to attract new, lasting customers (who follow the same ideologies as the luxury company) but still keep the essence of the exclusivity.

Community: LMVH does a few things to give back to the community as a whole, but most of the work is done by each individual brand. One example of the company's engagement with their community on the focus of inspiration of young artists. LVMH has helped create programs for young students to encourage their artistic intersts (link to their page can be found here). The company even offers scholarships and sponsorships for up and coming artists and designers. This falls under the idea that practitioners are having to constantly organize and monitor community relations (Pg. 9).

Business: From my memory, I cannot think of any major scandals that have been severely detrimental to the LVMH group and its brands, but I do know that in recent times creative directors for some of the fashion brands have been "jumping ship" and heading to other non-LVMH companies. While it is not widely known if it is because of bad business practices by the group, LVMH has committed to the highest quality of products and working environments for their employees. 

Government: In recent years LVMH has worked with the United Nations and their Women's Empowerment Principles campaign. LVMH and their cosmetics branch have signed the initiative to create equal opportunity for women in the workplace (see the list of companies here). This also coincides with the community aspect of the four quadrants.

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As a whole, many luxury brands lack communication through social media and company websites. The point of public relations is “to create, cultivate, maintain, and grow successful social strategies by building strong social relationships,” (Pg. 24) and social media is a great tool to use for that. Take CHANEL for example. The fashion house has had an Instagram account since 2012, but it wasn't until October of 2014 that the page was used. Even with no content on the page, CHANEL managed to have over a million followers. I don't know if it created more anticipation about the brand or if it made it seem more exclusive, but after CHANEL starting using the Instagram page, they gained another 3 million followers. 

Times are changing though for luxury companies like CHANEL. They have a massive YouTube following (because of their mini-movie ad campaigns like this one with Pharrell). CHANEL has also announced that it will start and eCommerce website for their elusive clothes and handbags starting in 2016. While this falls more into the marketing side of things, this is a major deal for the company. Authentic handbags and clothes could only be bought in department stores and CHANEL stores since the creation of the company. This shows how much of an impact the internet and social media is playing into the business structures of luxury brands. Only time will tell if other luxury brands will follow suit.

:::Destiny Cook :)

P.s. Follow my blog Park Street Chic!