Our beautiful influencer Zana (@theblackelegance) has a love for travel, fashion, and food.
In this interview she shares some of her top tips and her thoughts on how to be successful in social media💚
Country: Australia
Followers: 10,1k +
Posts: 176 +
Persollo: Describe yourself in 5 words
Zana: Friendly, Ambitious, Creative, Innovative, Proactive
P: Tell us shortly how did you start your way in the world of social?
Z: When I first signed up to Instagram, I assumed Instagram would only be a platform where I would share photos. I had no idea what the term Influencer meant. Having a passion for photography had made me want to take and share great photos with the world. Once day, I started to realise that Instagram had way more opportunities of using it than I first imagined. It’s incredible how we can use this platform not only for photography but for learning an deducative purposes like learning about what’s new in the world, sharing of ideas, sharing of opinions etc. That’s when I got motivated to start.
P: When did you realize that you have your tribe (kinda woke up famous)?
Z: It didn’t happen overnight; It has taken me years to realise that I have a great tribe. Once I started seeing the engagement levels growing higher and receiving so many positive feedback about my photos and what I was sharing, I naturally gained confidence in my content
P: When did you have your 1st collaboration (paid or barter)? How many followers did you have back then?
Z: My first collaboration was in 2018 when I had around 2k followers and it was through barter system. It was a great first-experience and opportunity for me. I still love doing barter because I believe it’s a way of learning about new ideas and innovation that is being invested in the various products.
P: Your best and worst collaboration experiences and why (you don’t have to call the name of brand)
Z: To be honest I’ve never had any bad experience and I believe I owe that entirely to my confidence and the expectation levels. As someone who is highly-organized, I always make sure to learn about the brand first, know what they expect from me, know if they are approach able and if there is excellent communication, that’s when I decide to move forward with the collab. So fortunately, no bad experiences thus far!
P: Who makes photos for you? How do you edit your pictures?
Z: Photography has been my passion since I was quite young and I started to be more focused and engaged when I got my first DSLR camera whilst studying at university. For me photosare just a way of expressing your unique creativity captured in a photo format. The editing formats that I use will usually be depicted by the mood of the content, for example sometimes I will edit a photo tweaking the vibrancy if it’s food photography, just to let the freshness of the food pop out of the photo.
P: You think pictures or captions are more important?
Z: Isn’t there a saying that goes “a picture is worth a thousand words”? I truly and honestly believe that pictures talk. On multiple occasions we take a look at a photo and get instantly captivated by it, without even focussing on the caption. If a photo has the wow factor, captions just disappear. That’s one of the reasons why I really love flatlay photos because a flatlay photo is just a setup of all the products that are related to each other, and paints the idea of what it is about. The caption usually talks about the details of the product and directs you to where you can find it.
Ex: This photo clearly talks about Fitness, Health and an My Active Lifestyle. Photo: Collabs @optimumnutrition
P: How do you cope with negative comments or critique on your social accounts?
Z: I’ve never really had any negative comments but if I have one I’ll definitely talk to the individual and address any issues. Criticism, both negative and positive play their own roles in allowing you to grow and overalltend to leave you stronger. It is an effective mechanism for your peers to show you the areas where you need improvement. Very often I ask my followers some quick Instagram story questions such as what they want to see on my feed. I believe it’s a way to get their in put, and this assists me to improve my feed by sharing what everyone wants to see or learn about.
P: How to become an influencer — your personal recipe, given the hot new social trends.
Z: Do you love photography? Learn about what’s on trend? Learn about new brands and their innovations? Are you a creative person? If you answered ‘yes’ to all of these, then yes you can definitely be an Influencer and the world of social media is so vast that there is a special nook for everyone, whether you love reading, writing, art, design etc. Just follow what you love, you’ll get there eventually.
One more thing that we should know when we start as an influencer, it’s not about how much followers you have, but about how engaging they are. Trends are volatile, what is considered trend-worthy one day may not be the next. It is through the unique creativity expressed by individuals that trends begin to flourish.
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