How to Use Instagram To Dramatically Improve Your Business, With Keicia Shanta and Candice Georgiadis
Being a social media maven is a full time job! Be sure to respond back to comments on your page and also to engage with others online as well.
I had the pleasure of interviewing Keicia Shanta , Fashion Editor at FashionCrushWeekly. Keicia Shanta began covering fashion and style events before the “social media influencer” was a thing. Hailing from Birmingham, Alabama , she knew that fashion blogging was a new profession that people from her hometown knew absolutely nothing about. With a drive to cover street style fashion from New York to Paris she found her calling. Keicia Shanta began writing for a lifestyle website and that quickly transferred into her creating her own blog FashionCrush. Luckily for her local retailers hosted fashion previews and she fell in love. Keicia Shanta started to attend every fashion show Alabama had and that created an opportunity to attend New York Fashion Week in 2013. That’s when she knew being a fashion influencer was real! Keicia Shanta realized she could make a career out of this without having to move to New York or Los Angeles. Now retailers began to reach out to her! Keicia Shanta and her in-house team began creating seasonal look-books for retailers such as Belk, Saks Fifth Avenue and Nordstrom to name a few. Keicia Shanta does seasonal style segments for TV networks such as Fox and ABC. Keicia Shanta loves working with up and coming fashion designers and has turned into a new role as Fashion PR and PR Director for Magic City Fashion Week in Birmingham Alabama.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?
I always loved fashion and styling. It’s like second nature to me. I was the kid that grew up daydreaming a lot. I always made clothes for my barbies in looks that I wish my Grandma could buy me. Not having access to certain brands growing up it made me want to learn more and research the fashion houses from back in the day. I kind of became this walking encyclopedia of fashion designers and their creative directors. That’s when I noticed that fashion trickles down and retailers manufactured their looks off of what came down those runways. I could and can still till this day know off the top of my head who designed a certain dress without having to look at the tags.
Can you explain to our readers why you are an authority about Social Media Marketing?
Of course ! Having access to exclusive events and fashion previews gave me a springboard to create a social media page ie. FaceBook , Instagram , Twitter that was curated with fashion news and style influence. With the rise of social media and the ability to go live from an event or fashion week became a game changer for me and countless others. To be able to reach our readers/followers with real time fashion show coverage and reviews made me an authority in my field , especially in BIRMINGHAM. Thus being able to show what was the next big seasonal trend and that quickly opened up a lane for me to style and work with some of the biggest retailers in the country. Also keeping abreast of new technology that allows me to track the metrics behind my social media provide much needed data to back up any campaign that i may be apart of .
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started this career?
I can say by far the most interesting story that happened to me since starting this career was running into Tim Gunn. I began my career in fashion as a stage mom! My oldest child wanted to pursue a modeling career and being the vigilant parent I wanted to make sure my baby girl was dealing with reputable people in the business. Keep in mind the fashion industry was a non factor in Birmingham. So my daughter was booked to walk the Lucky Brand Jean fashion show and unbeknownst to us Tim Gunn was a consultant and stylist to the event. My daughter didn’t know who Tim Gunn was but when I saw him I was floored. I didn’t fan girl out but I had an amazing convo with him and it solidified any doubts that I had about pursuing fashion from a southern city.
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
The funniest mistake I made when I first started out was that I had to learn the hard way that not everyone shares your vision. It’s the funniest to me because I should have already known this bit of wisdom.
Which social media platform have you found to be most effective to use to increase business revenues? Can you share a story from your experience?
Instagram ! When it comes to Instagram VS Facebook , Instagram wins hands down. I had to learn early that having a cohesive, clear and concise Instagram account is a game changer when it comes to any type of marketing online. I am the research queen , and with that being said I always tell my younger influencers to always stay educated on the wave of what’s the next big thing when it comes to social media platforms. For example, I hardly ever do sponsored post unless I use a particular brand or service in real life. My readers wanted to know my skin care routine. So I did a simple Instagram story on my morning face routine along with tagging the company. In return their PR team reached out to me about doing a collab with them. I was able to increase my business revenue by securing a paid sponsorship , free product, plus a slew of new followers all by simply posting my skincare routine on my Instagram page. Plus I was already a consumer so it seemed organic and a natural fit.
Let’s talk about Instagram specifically, now. Can you share 6 ways to leverage Instagram to dramatically improve your business? Please share a story or example for each.
Hashtags are your bestie !
Hashtag and tag everything ! If it seems organic brands will come to you.
Cohesive Content !
Make sure your Instagram is cohesive in color schemes and filters. It’s most definitely a stand out.
Authenticity !
Be your true and authentic self. There is data to prove that people love real people. We have enough social media wanna be’s !
Clarity !
Be sure that your social media is clear and to the point.
Research !
You are never to old to learn! THIS is also for researching different brands that may reach out to you. Every brand collab is not a good fit.
Stay Active ! Stay Engaged!
Being a social media maven is a full time job! Be sure to respond back to comments on your page and also to engage with others online as well.
Because of the position that you are in, you are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
That would be creating a more sustainable fashion industry and supply chain. Sustainable is a word that has become popular over the last year and for good reason. The fashion industry is one of the leaders in top polluters in the world plus we have an ugly history of paying people bad wages and un humane working environments. We only have one planet and we as consumers have to reduce consumption, hold our designers/retailers accountable on the front and back end.
Some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them 🙂
I would love to have dinner with Fern Mallis ! She is the mother of New york Fashion Week and I would love to pick her brain on the future of fashion shows and if they are even relevant in this new digital age.
Thank you so much for these great insights. This was very enlightening!
Thank you so much for including me !
How to Use Instagram To Dramatically Improve Your Business, With Keicia Shanta and Candice… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.