The Male Stylist

4 Things Bloggers Need To Learn/Know For The Industry To Survive

5 Things For Bloggers To Survive

Blogging (in it’s current form) is reaching its early teens, with many of the biggest having been around for nearly 15 years. It’s an industry that has seen very low barriers to entry and increasingly higher returns, resulting in an explosive growth of online bloggers, vloggers, social media influencers, internet personalities and digital trendmakers. It’s contributed to the popularity of social media and drawn many benefits from it, become a key part of the fashion, beauty and tech industries and is currently seen as a legitimate career by many children/teens despite the cynicism of older generations.

However, the blogging/influencer industry is in danger of crashing and doing so in spectacular fashion. Every single market goes through boom and bust periods and ours is no different. The question is, are we willing to evolve, adapt, learn and change to survive? Are we willing to accept some truths and learn the risks? Or will we struggle and fragment, leaving the blogging industry to fade into history as another trend that didn’t go the distance?

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Fizz, Festivities & Friends ft. House of Fraser [AD]

House of Fraser - 2

Note of Disclosure: This post was sponsored by House of Fraser

The Christmas period can often be quite stressful in the run-up to the big day, with crowded diaries, the stress of getting gifts and the office workload beginning to pile up. House of Fraser have kickstarted their new #BringMerryBack campaign, in an effort to keep spirits high during the darker evenings of winter shopping. Last week, they invited a group of bloggers, including myself, to attend a Christmas dinner in Searcy’s Champagne rooms at the top of The Gherkin. Having never been up The Gherkin before, I was more than happy to take them up on the offer and made my way, through bitterly cold wind, into the heart of The City to attend. View Post

Why Instagram is Broken & How It’s Breaking Blogging

Instagram Breaking Blogging

Back in 2014, I joined the blogging arena for the first time and, not long after, I created an Instagram profile as a way of promoting my content and photography as an extension of my blog. At the time, Instagram was enjoying massive consumer engagement with new accounts seeing overnight success through the sharing of inspirational, high quality content. Brands and PR agencies were beginning to pick up on the platform’s influence over its users and started investing in campaigns that were focused on sharing content via social media platforms, rather than solely blog posts. It was an interesting time to be entering the arena, the power and focus fell with users and content producers who elected to share content and ideas to grow their followings.

However, over the past few years there has been a significant power shift from users and content producers to brands and, as a result, the blogging platform has been pushed to breaking point to help fit this commerce-friendly landscape. So why has there been such a huge shift in attitude from Instagram? Why has user engagement stagnated/fallen and what does the future hold for Instagram and the blogging community?

NOTE: I’ve never been that fond of Instagram, I much prefer Twitter. However, I wanted to use my background in digital marketing to explain some of the struggles bloggers are having and why it’s not likely to change in the future… View Post

5 London Bars & Restaurants To Impress Friends & Parents

5 London Bars & Restaurants To Impress Friends & Parents 1

Today’s post is inspired by a variety of conversations I’ve had, both online and offline, when people have asked about interesting places to take parents or friends that have character and will impress. It is true that there are a whole host of options available to any Londoner, I have a few options that I always rely on and suggest to others. Each of these establishments feels special and has a quiet air of eccentricity without looking overly flashy. More importantly, however, they all offer an experience to their consumers which heightens any meal and will leave your guests thanking you for taking them there… View Post

A Short Word On #BloggerBlackmail

 Yesterday a story came out concerning a row between a small baking business and a lifestyle blogger. The row itself touched a nerve that both brands and bloggers have often spoken of but never fully discussed. Namely, the relationship between bloggers and brands who collaborate and how they value each other’s work. View Post