The Feed

How do you find your voice and create great content?

Being a creator who is looking for brand partnerships is no different than being an employee who is looking for a job. People will google you before deciding to work with you, and they need to be pleased with what they find.

Head on over to Google.com and type in your first and last name. Now take a look at your search results for general, images, videos, and news. All the content on the first page should either be created by you, or provided by you.

If it doesn't look so hot, don't panic. Head on over to google.com/alert and set up an alert with your name in quotations (e.g., "Brittany Hennessy"). Every time new content with your name is indexed by Google, you'll receive an email to let you know you're on the right track. Every three months, do a Google search and keep tabs on the progress you're making. Remember, if you're not telling your own story, someone else will tell it for you.

Sazan Hendrix (@Sazan) is a great example of someone who has her Google search results on point. Type in her name and the first page will pull up her website, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, and LinkedIn profiles and a few interviews.

On the video tab, you'll see a link to her YouTube channel along with a bunch of videos she created. Head over to the images tab and it's gorgeous photo after gorgeous photo of Sazan with a few of her husband Stevie sprinkled in. Under news, a bunch of articles and interviews, and under shopping her business, BlessBox.

It really doesn't get better than this, folks. But the only way to dominate your search results is to create, create, create!

WHAT'S IN A NAME?

Many of you may already have a name, so you're probably side-eyeing this section hoping I don't say something that makes you want to pull out your hair and start over. I can't say that I blame you. Naming your brand may be the hardest part of becoming a content creator. Add in the fact that nothing on the Internet is ever really deleted, and the pressure is on. Now is not the time to choose a name that you will regret in six months, a year, or even five years. Vloggers have some of the best names, and by best, I mean the most ridiculous. I am looking at you, @sexypanda89. I won't name names, because I promised myself I would only call out people anonymously, but you probably can think of a few off the top of your head.

So how do you come up with a killer name? Well, that depends on who you ask. Some people invent entire brands, like Heidi Nazarudin (@theambitionista) and Charlotte Groeneveld (@thefashionguitar) or mashup names, like Brittany Xavier (@thriftsandthreads) and Jade Kendle (@lipstickncurls). Others incorporate their name, like Jessica Franklin (@heygorjess), Alyssa Bossio (@effortlyss) and Courtney Fowler (@colormecourtney). And some keep it super simple, like Iskra Lawrence (@iskra), Rachel Martino (@rachmartino), or Nichole Ciotti (@nicholeciotti).

You can make your name as simple or as complicated as you like as long as it's easy to promote (that means forget spelling forever like FOREVEERR, dropping the numbers, and leaving the underscores behind) and consistent. If your website is FlyFashionista.com, but your Instagram is @imaflyfashionistaaa and your YouTube is @flyfashionista4lyfe_, audiences and brands alike won't be able to connect all your profiles to each other. You can get away with having a website name that's different than your social media handles, but only if they're all consistent.

Teni Panosian is one of my favorite influencers. She is a true professional and is one of the best content creators out there. Her website is Remarques.com, but she's @TeniPanosian on every platform. The consistency of her social platforms was key when she changed her site from MissMaven.com to Remarques.com. She could easily set up a landing page to direct people to the new site, but changing her name on her social channels could have had terrible results. If people see an unfamiliar name in their feed, they're more likely to unfollow. It also means that any article ever written about her that linked to one of her channels would now point to a page that doesn't exist. But that didn't happen to Teni because Teni is smart. Be like Teni.

OWN IT

The first question people always ask is Do I really need to be on every single platform? and the answer to that is no. While I would recommend securing your preferred username on every platform so someone can't steal it, you should only be active on platforms you have plans on updating. Nothing is worse than finding a great influencer on a platform only to find out she hasn't posted anything new in three months.

That said, everyone should have an account on the big four: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. You'll want an Instagram account, because it's where the majority of influencer marketing campaigns take place. YouTube is also a big market for fashion hauls and beauty tutorials and is also a great way to show advertisers your video presence. You may think you don't need Facebook or Twitter, but you would be wrong. The content you make is usually shared by brands on Facebook and Twitter, and if they can't tag you in it, you just lost a huge opportunity to pick up new followers. The biggest reason to keep an updated Facebook page is because at some point, you're going to want to get it verified. The little blue check may seem like no big deal, but if a brand you're working with also has one, Facebook will require that any influencer they work with also be verified. This is why you don't see as many influencer campaigns on Facebook as you do on Instagram, but that is changing, and you want to be ready. If you're a blogger, especially in food, home decor, and DIY, Pinterest can also be a great way to drive traffic back to your site. I've found that most clients don't ask for pins on Pinterest, and won't pay a lot for them unless you have millions of followers, but it's a good platform to join if you think you will dedicate the time to make it a success.

HOME IS WHERE YOUR BLOG IS

Blogging has come a long way from its early days of anonymous diary entries, and because it was the first medium to produce influencers, advertisers have had more time to become comfortable spending money on sponsored posts. They also love that they can easily provide feedback/edits on the content, unlike a YouTube video, and can give the influencer tracking links to see if anyone has clicked on the content or made a purchase.

Since a blog is pretty easy to set up and maintain, it's great for aspiring influencers who are testing the waters. Unlike a YouTube channel, you don't need video equipment or editing skills, and unlike...