While a lot of middle schoolers were playing basketball, listening to the new Rihanna album, or going to the new Avenger movie, I spent Saturday’s doing photoshoots. When I started my first blog in middle school, my goal was to get free things.

I mean– come on? Whose wasn’t? YouTube was filled with content creators unwrapping 20 cardboard boxes of free product. Why couldn’t I be one of them? (At age 14, that sounded like Christmas… at the age of 21, that sounds like fun but also a lot of cardboard to recycle. *Sigh*.)

After a number of years of on-and-off blogging, I switched my focus of content creation to Instagram in 2021. Realizing that Instagram’s algorithm was programmed to promote reels, I began to dabble in video. And what do you know? After years of creation, I got my first collaboration.

Background

Last April, Naked Feet sponsored Liberty University’s 17th Annual Fashion Show. Me and me leadership team were provided freebies in return for a few photos and a promise we’d wear them on stage (can you spot them?)

During the summer, I produced the following video for fun featuring the shoes from the show. Naked Feet approached me and asked if they could use the video for marketing. I obliged and pitched a future collaboration. They accepted.

Planning the Video

I always thought being a model would be fun. I never thought about how challenging it may be to make a promotional video for shoes. How can you inspire someone with a video of someone’s feet? The answer is, you don’t. You inspire them with an idea. Give the audience a lifestyle they are willing to purchase at the price of the shoe.

While my videos are often clean and simple, I wanted this video to be a touch more raw. Short clips, a mix of black and white, a touch of golden hour, and the selected music gave the video a unique feel that I really loved. My hope was to inspire the wearer that with these loafers, she could radiate the same carefree elegance.

Lesson Learned

My biggest takeaway from this experience had nothing to do with videography or shoes. Instead, my biggest piece of advice is do research on media platforms. Discover which platforms are rising in popularity and will engage your target audience. I spent years blogging, and once I switched to Instagram, I saw little improvement. However, once I switched to reels–my success skyrocket and I landed my first collaboration. To all my content creators: the reason you’re not gaining traction may not be because you lack good content. Instead, your content may not be on the right platform to engage your audience.

Tik-Tok has been the leader to content creation lately. Who knows what’s next? Are you ready to learn a new form of social media to stay relevant?