Independent News | August 31, 2017 | Volume 18 | Number 34 | inweekly.net
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Healthy Realness with Jennifer Pierce
Jennifer Pierce has all the hallmarks of a classic blogger archetype. She's a bubbly, world-traveling yogi with green smoothie recipes to spare. But Pierce points out that what you see of her online is exactly what you get in person. "I don't think I have an online voice. I have my voice which distinguishes me from every other blogger, and it's how I speak when I blog and interact on social media." So when it comes to her online brand— both on her blog and social media—Pierce has a crystal clear idea of what people should expect. "Bright, spunky, healthy, honest. If you land on my website and you don't feel that, email me because I am doing something wrong with my online presence." By day, Pierce is a CPA. By night, she is both a yoga instructor and a holistic health coach. She shares her knowledge on her blog jenniferpiercehealth.com. "My interest in healthy food came out of necessity." Pierce's own health journey began in 212 1
earnest about five years ago. Suffering from five to six migraines a month, she turned to nutrition and diet hoping for relief. Pierce began preparing healthy versions of her favorite recipes and bringing them with her to parties. Friends began requesting the recipes, and her blog grew from that place of sharing her knowledge with others. "My content at Jennifer Pierce Health focuses on healthy recipes, eating mostly organic, whole foods and developing and facilitating online group detox programs." As far as growing her blog is concerned, Pierce has focused less on the analytics than other bloggers who rely on ad clicks as a revenue stream. Instead, she plans to share more of her knowledge via paid products and programs she'll sell on her site. "I have a new product coming out soon on how to quit sugar. I plan to pay attention
to how the sales pages and SEO keywords drive traffic to my blog." This strategy allows Pierce to draw on the strong community she's built by being authentically herself on both her blog and social media accounts. "When your brand and brand message resonates with someone, they can't help but to follow and want more." Pierce's cohesive message and bright personality are clearly evident on her Instagram feed, @jenniferpiercehealth, where she also shares her adventures from her travels, as well as at home in Pensacola. "I've been known to bust out a yoga pose or two on the white sands!" Her passion for healthy food and yoga, plus an interest in minimalism, informs who Pierce follows online. The main thing most of her favorites have in common, that also connects to a main theme in her own work, is travel.
"When your brand and brand message resonates with someone, they can't help but to follow and want more." Jennifer Pierce
In 2015, Pierce took a year away from her office job to travel the world and complete yoga teacher training. Since then, she's continued to document her travels all over, including the best healthy eating and yoga tips for each destination. "I love connecting with people in cities that I am traveling to. Meeting other bloggers in real life has been fun." While her feeds are full of bloggers based in her past destinations, she keeps up with local life in Pensacola as well. "In Pensacola, I enjoy many local restaurant feeds, Visit Pensacola and Taste of Pensacola. I follow local yoga studios and yogis as well." For anyone interested in starting a blog or sharing more on social media, Pierce recommends sticking to who you are offline when you're online. "Be you. Don't copy anyone else; don't try to a create a brand or space online that isn't true to you. If you are true to who you are, you'll never end up with a second class brand that is an inauthentic imitation version of someone else's." inweekly.net
The Cool Dad
with Phil Nickinson of Modern Dad Modern Dad is a video blog (or vlog as it's more commonly known) hosted by Pensacola native Phil Nickinson. In his vlog, Nickinson reviews tech products, provides information about them and explains how the products can or cannot be integrated into a 21st-century family or personal life style. The vlog started about a year ago thanks to Mobile Nation, the company that Nickinson works for, and has created content ever since. The vlog aimed to emulate the television show, "Modern Family," in the sense that Nickinson talks directly to the camera and is relaxed, but the company has since created its own style. "The basic idea for Modern Dad is that there were so many 20-year-olds on YouTube doing 20-year-old stuff," he said. "But not a lot of guys pushing 40 with wives and kids and mortgages and the experience to go along with that." August 31, 2017
Nickinson was born and raised in Pensacola and though his vlog is filmed here, the city does not influence the videos. But video blog does occasionally feature Nickinson's wife and daughters. "People get hung up on the fact that we work here in Pensacola, but I could do this job from anywhere," he said. "That's a testament to this town. I could do it from anywhere, but I choose to do it from here." He added, "I can't express how fortunate I am to work for a company and do this and not just be doing this for myself. I mean if nobody watches the videos, I can still put food on the table." Generally, Nickinson and his team work on two or three videos each week. The
team is constantly pumping out content, editing videos, writing scripts and posting online. "Working for this really awesome media company helps me a lot," he said. "We brainstorm the ideas ourselves, but we have an editorial team and a creative director." He continued, "Then our ideas are run through other branding companies that we work with and they help produce assets like our logos and color schemes. I weigh in on decisions, of course. But that's a big part of being in a larger company, I don't just do all of this on my own." Nickinson's vlog can be found on YouTube, where it has almost 39,000 subscribers. How does Modern Dad have so many subscribers? Well, Nickinson said having the company he works for post about the vlog helps.
"People get hung up on the fact that we work here in Pensacola, but I could do this job from anywhere." Phil Nickinson
"When you already have five million readers a month for all the Mobile Nation's sites, you can just upload a video to YouTube and all of those eyeballs will see it," he said. He added, "Our primary viewers are from the United States and big cities, but the video blog absolutely reaches an international audience, by default. It's the content that makes it that way." As the company continues to grow, the Modern Dad vlog does too. Nickinson is looking forward to continuing the vlog and creating new material. "We've very much been in start-up mode with this thing," he said. "We have found things that work and things that don't work. And we've adjusted accordingly." He told Inweekly, "It's really awesome though, there's this whole new world of jobs out there, jobs that can be done from anywhere. And I just happened to land one of those." 13
The Local with a Good Eye with James Moore of @Yesternow
James Moore didn't start posting on Instagram to become an influencer of local culture, but to many of his loyal followers that's exactly what he's become. "For me, being an influencer is sharing my perspective and what I enjoy and encouraging others to do the same." Instagram has given Moore a platform to not only share what he enjoys about Pensacola and his travels, but also a place to grow a brand for his other ventures. In addition to his office job, Moore runs an Etsy shop called "Yesternow" which is where his Instagram handle originated. The Yesternow shop features both vintage and handmade goods, some of which Moore rescues from the landfill. "I wanted the name to reflect the products I would have to offer," Moore said. "'Yester' being from the past and 'Now' being current." That fusion of past and current craftsmanship and design aesthetics has helped 414 1
him develop his own unique brand that spreads across his social media and his Etsy offerings. "If it were a brick and mortar, you would walk into a shop filled with hand poured candles, wood cutting boards, ceramic tableware, vintage furniture and accessories." But Moore keeps the promotion of his Etsy products on his Instagram feed to a minimum, not wanting to bombard his followers with his business. His focus on community led him to create channels on the photo-sharing platform to highlight other local businesses and culture in both Pensacola and Milton. Inspired by the communities he lives, Moore founded @igers_pensacola, @eat_ local_pensacola and @socialsantarosa. Specifically, Moore started @socialsan-
tarosa when he lived in Milton. He hoped to grow "pride and participation" through the account, then passed it along when he moved out of the area. Because of his own positive experiences seeking real life social connections through social media, Moore created accounts that would serve as platforms for more people to connect and get involved. "It's funny, I'm not really a very social guy, but Instagram has actually helped me. I used to post sort of quietly and anonymously, but more and more, I am getting out there." Comments are key when it comes to engaging with other Instagram users. Having just passed 1,000 followers on @yesternow, Moore still pays attention to comments on his posts.
"It's funny, I'm not really a very social guy, but Instagram has actually helped me." James Moore
He's also mindful of who he follows on the app and tries to keep that number of accounts near 600. "I want to be able to pay close attention to the ones I do follow," Moore said. Some of his favorites include @daleyplate for food and @localmilk for styling and travel. "There are lots of locals I love, but @drewbuchanan and @laurenbrazell, in particular, do a great job of highlighting Pensacola." For anyone else looking to engage more and grow their social media (and real-life) network organically, Moore stresses consistency across platforms. But most importantly, he encourages authenticity and participation as the best tools for social media success. "Just start. Don't be afraid to put yourself out there. Share what you enjoy. Find similar people, but find new and different things too." inweekly.net
Beauty, Brains and Brands With Jasmine Jefferson of Jaiologie
Jasmine Jefferson began as a consumer with friends asking for advice on how she achieved success in her personal journey embracing her natural hair and self-love. For her blog and social media presence, Jefferson took that role of trusted advice giver and grew her voice from there. And by "grew" we mean "totally took off"—to the tune of over 13,000 Instagram followers. "In my opinion, an influencer is someone who is a trusted liaison between brands and companies and consumers." According to Jefferson, influencers should provide "honest and reliable" content for brands and their audience. Her blog, Jaiologie.com, is created for women of color and covers topics such as natural hair care and style, beauty, travel, self-care and mental health. Her work celebrates the intricacies of being a black woman, with the goal of being both relatable and inspirational. "My brand is a digital beauty space creAugust 31, 2017
ated for women of color who are navigating their beautifully busy lifestyles. It consists of quick and easy avenues for women to find lifestyle and beauty hacks, as well as encouraging women to pursue the best version of themselves." Both her blog and social media presence are targeted and well-curated, with a sophistication and professionalism that makes it clear that Jefferson means business online. "I prefer to address myself as a beauty creative, because outside of being an influencer, I am also an entrepreneur and digital strategist." As Jefferson's blog and social media influence continue to grow, she is introducing more of her educational background and personal passions into her content. By expanding her self-care and lifestyle content to mental health, she is able to stoke the fire of larger conversations through her established online community. "I love helping people and my social media
presence allows me to do just that in so many different avenues." When it comes to building a community and brand online, Jefferson prioritizes engagement and authenticity with her audience. "I keep track of followers for statistic purposes, but I pay closer attention to comments because it's a good metric for engagement, which is really important to me." Although Jefferson shares many aspects of her life with her followers, she maintains a healthy balance between her online life and her offline reality. "I've created a space where it's okay for myself and others to be human, and because of this my audience is more understanding if I don't share every life moment." Jefferson appreciates how easy and quick it is to connect with so many people online and enjoys following accounts that share about the many aspects of life that she loves. "I love following like minded accounts. Anyone who promotes women empowerment,
plants (I'm an unashamed plant mother), mental wellness and black girl magic." As for local Pensacola favorites, she enjoys following Big Al's Crabs and loves to feature the white sands of Pensacola Beach whenever she can. But as a content consumer and creator, Jefferson also sees the negatives of keeping up with a constant churning of trending culture. "I'm so annoyed with stereotypes that are perpetuated by false social media trends." Jefferson built her voice and style online by sharing her story with her audience and posting what she genuinely loved. From there, she narrowed in on a community that sought her advice and relied on her as a source of trusted information. For those hoping to expand their online presence and leadership, Jefferson points to consistency and engagement as top priorities, while stressing the importance of authenticity. "My best advice is to never compromise yourself to appeal to others," she said. 15
The Upside of ‘Graming
with the City of Pensacola social media team Having a strong social media presence is important in this ever changing, ever growing tech world, and Pensacola has its foot in the door. Though Pensacola sometimes slips under Floridian's radar when it comes to coastal towns in the state, its social media pages do not. The city's Instagram alone has over 20,000 followers, making Pensacola "Insta famous" by most standards. Vernon Stewart, the city's PR Manager, works closely with Laura Bogan, the city's Social Media Specialist, to run the city accounts and keep followers informed on all things Pensacola. "By using social media, we as the account managers influence viewers perception of our community," Stewart said. "We have an amazing opportunity to show visitors, residents and anyone who looks at the account our beautiful city." The city's Instagram account has influenced locals and vacationers alike, Stewart told Inweekly. And it plays an important role in the city's image. "We want to stay up-to-date in this
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technological world," he said. "And by using Instagram, we showcase the city, local businesses and other parts of Pensacola through pictures, which is very powerful." Stewart manages the content for each social media platform, while Bogan is the city's official photographer as well as a content creator. The pair work together to create aesthetically pleasing photos and posts for the page's followers. "The social media accounts are managed by a small scale team of about two or three, depending on if we have an intern or not," he said. "Big teams are harder to work with and usually create inconsistent content, so working just the two of us, me and Laura, with an occasional intern, helps keep our content clean and consistent." Stewart added, "Laura and I bounce back ideas until we find what we feel is a good, representative image for the page and only then do we post." "90 percent of the photos posted on our social media platforms are Laura's photography," Stewart said. "We work really hard to
stage local businesses, new and old, as well as show off some Pensacola Beach sunsets and all the other outstanding parts of our city." And of course, you can't talk about the city Instagram without talking about Mayor Hayward, who seems to never take a bad photo. He makes regular appearances on the city accounts and has his own which is also worth following if you don't already—@mayorashtonhawayrd. An important piece to mastering social media is not only keeping up with trends, but starting them as well. The city proved they can do that with the best of them when they turned their slogan into a popular hashtag—#upsideofflorida. "I mean ‘The Upside of Florida' is Pensacola's slogan, so turning it into a hashtag made sense," he said. Creating a digital community is also one of the benefits the city has seen because of its social media popularity. For example, when there was a candle lighting ceremony in Pensacola for a fallen Blue Angel pilot people in the community posted
pictures, videos and then tagged the city as well as the Blues. Because the Blue Angels reach an international audience, the city's Instagram gained an international following. The pictures and videos posted brought the local and global community together. It's important for a city to have a sense of community even with its online presence, Stewart said, so locals, visitors and even people looking to move to Pensacola feel welcomed. It's also essential to showcase public areas within the city, he said. "You will see a lot of areas that don't have a lot of traffic, such as the Veterans Memorial Park," Stewart said. "So the city will post pictures of it on social media, people will see these images and want to check the areas out." The city receives overwhelming support, which is evident through the likes, shares and comments each picture or video receives, he said. "We also do fun stuff on the Instagram like hashtag contests," he told Inweekly. "We really just want to engage our audience and keep them informed." {in}
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