Influencers are the New Magazine Ad | Blogging 101 with Megan McQueen
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Show Notes
In this episode, I’m interviewing Megan McQueen, founder of the well-known home-decor blog, Bloom Into Beautiful, and we discuss everything from social media, blogging, and everything in between. Tune in to the full episode for even more details about Megan’s journey and her thoughts on Instagram’s new Terms of Service agreement.
Meet Megan
Megan is a home decor blogger and a coach to new bloggers who want to learn how to enter the online space and create an income through social media and their own blog. Megan has worked with many notable influencers and is committed and passionate about helping women have healthy home lives while also pursuing their dreams.
Our Conversation
Victoria: You have your own home decor blog, and through your courses, you teach the value of not only just using your social media to market yourself and to attract brands, but then also to have a website. Can you tell us a little bit about how the name “Bloom into Beautiful” came about, because I know there's a really cool story with that?
Megan: I was asleep when I got woken up by the Lord and was given the word “bloom”. Didn't know what it meant at the time but I wrote it down on a piece of paper and put it in my Bible. A few months later, I was planning a message for a women’s conference, and written on that piece of paper was “bloom”. From that, I wrote a message about how we as women tend to put ourselves last a lot. As a gardener cares for the flowers in a garden, we have to care for ourselves and bloom into who God made us to be. I eventually started a blog when my husband joined the military, and that was just to keep up with family and friends and never thought it would turn into what it is today. It’s been a super long and winding journey for sure.
Victoria: I know that you have worked with some pretty big influencers that have hundreds of thousands of followers. How do you attract your dream clientele?
Megan: Yeah, Brittany of Loverly Grey is definitely one that I always get questions on. She was actually one of the first people that I taught when I started about four years ago. I believe she had around 3,000 followers at the time. We just kind of connected and became good friends after that. I've never put money into advertising, it has just always been word of mouth. I've never set out to have big crazy clients, it's just always been like, here's what I teach, here's kind of how I can help you. This is why all of the women who have taken the classes have to say about that. It's just kind of grown from there. I never thought that this would be my full-time job.
Victoria: Well, I've had the privilege of designing a lot of sites for a lot of your students, and they all have one thing in common - they are truly all crushing it on social media and with their website. Your bloggers clearly come away from working with you with actionable steps to grow their account to be successful. For those out there, who are struggling to see growth or to build and engage an authentic following with social media, what advice would you give them?
Megan: I know this sounds so cliche, but seriously, consistency is so important. You have to show up every day and do the things that I coach. I always start off the first session with a client with, “if you do not do this, it will not work”. You have to do the work to see the results and to be successful. Quite honestly though, you have to know your brand and your mission as well. You have to have a reason behind what you're doing or you won't be passionate about it. We have to really love what we're doing to see something come from that.
Victoria: I love that and I think your answer applies to any industry or for any entrepreneur starting a business, it's not just for bloggers or people trying to become influencers on social media. I love that you teach that to your students starting out, because I think if you don't get into it, knowing that you don't have a strong why, if you don't have a strong brand mission, you probably won't follow through and actually take this to the end. Have you seen that to be true?
Megan: Absolutely. You know, I can usually tell from one or two phone calls if someone's going to make it just because if you don't have that drive or if you're not making the time to make this a priority in your life, it’s truly not going to move forward. You'll stand still or grow very slowly and with this industry, you just you can't do that.
Victoria: I have a burning question that I think everybody listening to this episode probably has had this question themselves over the last few weeks. Instagram recently released their new 2021 terms of service agreement. I want to know what the heck is going on? What do we do you have any advice or even just any thoughts or comments on it?
Megan: So I have always preached to this, you do not own social media. You do not own Instagram, you do not own Facebook, and you do not own Ticktock. The only thing that is yours that you have control of is your website and your newsletter. Those are your things that are all that you can control from being erased. These new terms of service, I mean, what else can we expect? All of those little things, we just have to let it go, not stress over it, and just realize that social media is for marketing. It is not your home. The audience you grow on those platforms, pull them to your website, pull them to your newsletter, because, as I said, those are the things we can control. And so just really use your social media to bring awareness to what it is that you're doing. I think having a website is so, so, so important to stress that my clients and obviously Squarespace and Victoria are the best way to go with that.
Victoria: Well, as a web designer, I love that answer, but I couldn't agree with you more, Meghan. We've never owned these platforms and they have every right to do whatever they want to do if we're using their app. So just be smart with how you use it and really put your main focus on getting people onto an email list or driving traffic to your website where you do have more control over it. So what is one thing that you wish you knew when you were first starting your blog? Is there anything you would have done differently knowing what you know now?
Megan: Oh, so many things. I feel like my biggest thing is when I first started, it wasn't for being a fashion blogger, and that just kind of happened. But if I could speak to the Megan who started making money from her blog and it was turning into something else, I would have taken her by the shoulders and spoken to her that you need to be doing this for the women that need your help. Not for other’s approval, not for money, not for followers, you are here to help other people. That was not my mindset and that was not the start of my blog. It fell on my lap and wasn't anything I planned. So, I went through a whole journey and totally came back, completely different (I have a whole blog post on this if you want to learn more). I think, if you're a blogger, you got to start this with the right mindset. So if I could go back and tell myself anything to do differently, that would definitely be it.
Victoria: It’s probably a big part of why this next adventure with Bloom into Beautiful has been as successful as it's been because your mind is in the right place, and your why was in the right place this time. Definitely awesome. So for somebody thinking about starting a blog in 2021, is it too late, or is the fashion and lifestyle industry too saturated to actually make a living off of it anymore? I get this question a lot and I would love to hear your thoughts on that.
Megan: Absolutely not, blogging is now a career field. When I'm teaching clients about charging for their work because their time is so valuable, I always bring up that influencers are the new magazine and the new TV commercial. There is room for you here, just like there was room for those thousands of magazine ads. You are that person. But you’ve got to know what you want to do. You've got to have heart behind it and a mission. And if you have that, there are women who are who need you. There are women who are looking for the type of person that you are and the things that you can bring to the table. I don't care if you're a fashion blogger on home blogger or food blogger, we all do things differently. We all have different tastes and styles. God designed us to be that way. We are completely different from the next. And so just remember that, that you are unique, you have something special and if you know what that is and how you can help other people with that, there's room.
Victoria: Wow, drop the mic. Meghan, where can my listeners find you? What platforms are you on and what's your website?
Megan: I am on basically everything, but mainly Instagram is where I spend the most time and that is @bloomintobeautiful. And you can follow me on my website at bloomintobeautiful.com, which was designed by the lovely Victoria we have here.
Victoria: I love it. We have loved working with you and we're working on a rebrand right now. Things might look a little different a few weeks from now, but it has been such a privilege knowing you and doing business alongside you. I'm so excited for everyone to tune into this episode and learn about getting started with blogging, and how to use social media in a way that's not just for the fame or the money but in a way that's going to be encouraging and uplifting. I think social media needs a lot more of that.
KEEP BRANDING WELL,
Victoria
