How to Tell Your Story Toolkit

TELLING YOUR STORY

WELCOME This toolkit has been commissioned as part of the British Council’s Fashion Revolutionaries film series created in support of Fashion Revolution. The short films profile the innovative stories of 7 practitioners across the world making a change in fashion, including designers, artists, architects and entrepreneurs.

The films have been created in the spirit of the grassroots movement, using content produced by the practitioners themselves. This toolkit is designed to support other creative practitioners who want to tell their own fashion revolutionary story in order to inspire others to create change.

You can view the Fashion Revolutionaries films here

TELLING YOUR STORY YOUR FASHION REVOLUTION STORY Whether you’ve always up-cycled your wardrobe, you only buy from ethical retailers or you’ve started to design your own line, it’s time to share your fashion revolution story. After all, the revolution can only happen if we’re all in it together.

However, if you’re not au fait with the latest social media trends this might seem like a bit of a daunting task.

Despite Instagram now having over 800 million users, sharing 95 million photos a day, we’ve all been struck by the paralysing fear as we scroll through our phones trying to work out which photos and videos we should post. Here’s what you need to think about.

THE ART OF BEING YOU BE YOURSELF, EVERYONE ELSE IS TAKEN

COMMUNICATE WHAT’S IMPORTANT TO YOU What do you stand for? Do you want to change fast fashion? Is recycling a big part of your design process?

Do you only buy your clothes from local retailers?

Creating social content is a brilliant way to shout about what makes you unique.

ESTABLISHING YOUR TONE OF VOICE

GIVE IT A PERSONAL TOUCH

The great thing about being in charge of your social profiles is that you - and only you - have creative control over how you communicate with people. If you use slang in real life, use it in your photo captions, if there’s one joke you and your friends always laugh at; share it with your followers. Your tone of voice, whether it be funny, serious, contemplative or loud, will allow your audience to understand you and your brand better.

Don’t be afraid to show a bit of you. Having a coffee before you start working? Put it on your Instagram stories. Unsure about about your latest purchase?

Confide in your followers. Allowing people into your world makes them feel more involved and ultimately - more interested in your story.

TIME TO SHOOT STUCK FOR IDEAS? LOOK AROUND YOU. Before you start filming think about what you find exciting or interesting, it’s likely your followers will enjoy learning about them too. If you’re still stuck, here’s some ideas: • Take them to the place that most inspires you • Speak about your day and your fashion choices • Tell them about when you first became a fashion revolutionary • Post pictures of the designers you love and respect Interview your friends about their favourite fashion pieces • Show them your personal style • Post pictures of your fashion wishlist • Take them on your travels

BE DON’T BE AFRAID TO TRY NEW THINGS Not a natural when it comes to using a camera? Don’t worry. Can’t afford expensive tech? No bother. There are plenty of apps and add ons which can make footage shot on your phone look super professional and stylised. When starting out it’s best to download a few and try them out. Play around with using filters and adjusting the exposure settings, that way you’ll quickly work out what you do and don’t like and what suits your business aesthetic.

…FOR VIDEO

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PRO MOVIE

Film in 3 or 4k, manually adjust the camera or set it to automatic and share the videos directly to your computer so you can continue editing. This slick app even supports some external microphones for crisper and clearer sound.

DOWNLOAD HERE:

8mm VINTAGE CAMERA

If you’ve got a vintage inspired brand, or you just love that old-school look, 8mm vintage camera may be the app for you.

Simple to use it gives your videos a retro feel with flickering visuals, dust and scratches and muted colours.

DOWNLOAD HERE:

RAD VHS

The days of actual VHS tapes might be long gone but that doesn’t mean you can’t emulate the look. Rad VHS gives your videos a glitchy feel and is a favourite with the likes of Beyonce and Rihanna.

DOWNLOAD HERE:

…FOR STILLS

However you want your image to look you can probably achieve it on Afterlight. The app boasts 15 adjustment tools, 59 filters, 66 textures and tons of cropping and transforming options. Perfect for even the most amateur photographer.

DOWNLOAD HERE:

VSCO CAM

PHOTOSHOP EXPRESS

If you’re looking for something slick and professional for your flatlays try VSCO CAM it has a large selection of presets which imitate film processing. You can also edit video with it so it’s ideal if you’re look for a two-in-one app.

If you’ve got a bit of experience with the Adobe creative suite then this app should be quick and easy to pick up. A pared back but still incredibly functional - version of photoshop, which you can use on your mobile.

DOWNLOAD HERE:

DOWNLOAD HERE:

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AFTERLIGHT APP

Hashtags are an easy way for people to search content on social media - you can use this to your advantage. Firstly check out the hashtags that people similar to you are using, it’s good to use a mix of generic ones like #fashion or #ootd and more niche ones that you’ve made up yourself.

UTLISE THE HASHTAG

Luckily for you there has been an awful lot of research done in to when to post your content, with most of it recommending sometime between 11am-1pm and 7pm and 9pm as the two best time slots. These are times of the day when people might be tucking into their lunch or getting in from work, meaning they have time to properly check their phones.

WHEN TO POST

One of the ways in which social media differs as a marketing tool is the ability to message people in real time - use this. When people comment on your posts, comment back, talk about your fashion experience and learn about new perspectives. On Instagram stories you can even use the poll function to get feedback on your fashion!

ENGAGE WITH YOUR AUDIENCE

If you have a bit of money to invest and you’re thinking of building your profile into a small business, you can pay a company to help you with your social media. For example, they will set your profile to a posts using similar hashtags to you, this alerts people with similar interests to you to your profile. You can also purchase small numbers of social media followers - the more followers you have, the more followers you’re likely to get.

THE NOT SO TRADITIONAL ROUTE

If you want to build your following organically then the traditional social route is for you. Start by setting up your profile and following people you already know.

Next use the explore function to find people similar to you. Make sure you engage with people, like their posts, reply to their comments - people are more likely to follow you back if you’re considered to be ‘active.’

THE TRADITIONAL ROUTE

LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION… BUILD YOUR FOLLOWERS

You’ve decided on how you want your social content to look, tried out different filming ideas and made a plan for what you want to upload... But what’s the point if you don’t have any followers?

DID YOU KNOW… INSTAGRAM USERS ENGAGE MORE BETWEEN TUESDAY AND FRIDAY

MORE THAN 40 BILLION PHOTOS HAVE BEEN POSTED IN INSTAGRAM’S HISTORY

IF YOU’VE GOT 1000 FOLLOWERS THE AVERAGE NUMBER OF LIKES YOU’LL GET IS 37

ONLY 4% OF INSTAGRAM POSTS ARE VIDEOS LET’S TIP THAT BALANCE

SOME OF THE MOST POPULAR FASHION HASHTAGS ARE #FASHIONBLOGGER AND #WIWT

USING THE MAYFAIR FILTER WILL GET YOU THE MOST LIKES

ON AVERAGE FOR EVERY 33 LIKES, YOU’LL ALSO GET A COMMENT

STAY IN TOUCH

#BCxFashionRevolution

Website / Facebook / Instagram / Twitter

Website / Facebook / Instagram / Twitter