I started Gracie Opulanza, way back in 2011 by converting my first ever Prada eye-wear I bought into clear lenses. From the moment I wore them the reactions from around Europe was amazing, people literally stopped me on the streets. This was a confirmation and it inspired me that my personal sense of style was worth blogging about. All my life my quirky approach to creating my personal style has always drawn attention on the streets.

After almost five years I am still writing about my personal style, but more so every day I tweet about where I am and what I am wearing. I do this to continue to grow my social media influence. In 2016 I am so encouraged to see lots of engagement both on my Instagram and Twitter account. I love it when people are buying into my personal style. My followers are asking about what I am wearing and which brand I bought it from. I am so impressed in the last few months I thought I would share with you some tips on how to measure your social media influence. So you understand how you are pitching to brands about your value online.

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David Gandy – I’m Wearing No Make Up

Back in June I ran into David Gandy and was wearing no makeup. Now I can’t believe after I wrote this article how many fashion magazines are writing about female celebrities wearing no make up. Maybe it is coincidence and I am noticing it more

Everyday now after I wrote this article, I am seeing celebrities tweeting out make-up free day. This is a fantastic example of how to measure your, social media influence. My David Gandy articles do very well and using a celebrity with more social media influence than me, such as David Gandy, has helped me to get my trend setting messages out there. Also David Gandy’s assistant always retweets my tweets and of course this is very important. So if you’re promoting a person or a brand then make sure you ask them via a DM to retweet. If you find they don’t engage, after a few tweets. Then stop giving them free press, it clearly shows they don’t want to engage with you. That’s ok, because with social media you do have to try new ways to get positive results.

Buying Into Brands

I have bought llts of clothes and accessories from a brand called Uterque for the last three years. I love its designs and like to tweet about it every so often. Yesterday I saw their latest shoe collection been tweeted out. So I thought let me retweet. The result below is how you can measure my social media influence. Fashion brands are always looking for bloggers who have influence to buy into their brands. On this occasion you can see thanks to my tweet. Uterque has a new buyer.

Hotel Luxury Reviews

Last year I decided to take MenStyleFashion into the world of hotel reviews. The exciting aspect of owning about owning an on-line magazine like this brand is to experiment with new creative marketing ideas. For me the big challenge in 2016 regarding hotel reviews, is discovering how to get my readers both on MenStyleFashion and Gracie Opulanza into booking a stay that is worthwhile. If I am reviewing a great restaurant let alone an amazing spa treatment, I want my readers to be inspired by the story and also book the same experience. Along side that, my photos are what I love the best and to discover how on my Instagram and Twitter to get the best engagement. This is one of the toughest challenges out there. So here is another example of measuring your social media influence.

Call To Action Tweet

This is one of the hardest things to work out. Coming up with the right sentence which is a call to action message. A call to action is where you’re trying to get your followers to interact with your message. On this occasion it was an experiment and it made perfect sense to include the brand I was referring too. Now Playmobil obviously liked my call to action. It is nice to see they are now  following me after my call to action. What does this mean in the world of social media? I have got the attention of Playmobil and made them aware of who I am as a social media influencer.

Luxury Month Amsterdam

I am currently in Holland exploring mainly Amsterdam. So it makes perfect sense to highlight what the country is very well known for. So whilst staying at the hotels, I like to mix the hotels tweets along side what I personally find beautiful in my definition of luxury. Again identifying my social media influence.

Social Media Videos

Social media videos has to be the most challenging when it comes to social media engagements. Getting engagement let alone creating an influence on Twitter or Instagram is a tough one. On this occasion I am happy with the result because in the past I never got engagement at all. So the key here is to keep doing it and to work out what works and what does not.

Choosing To Share Your Message

This is a tough one to know when, to share your views on Twitter. If you get this wrong brands may not want to work with you. So you have to trust your gut instinct and take the risk. In my case I have been holding off for two years. Now I feel it is right to share my story about being bullied in the fashion industry.

I also like to share my tips in business and inspire people to use common sense in business. On this occasion I chose to share how I use my God given gut instincts in business. It was great to see the engagement here. I know my followers always engage well when I send out one of my business messages. I don’t do it often and that is the key here too, to choose your messages carefully.

MenStyleFashion

As the female voice for menswear and being one of the very few females in the world focusing on menswear alone. It is important to keep sharing with my followers my message. My message since 2012 is still the same.  Therefore it is important that my followers know, that I founded MenStyleFashion because my passion is to inspire men to dress well.

When To use Social Media And When Not Too?

The above are my very recent social media examples of where my blog is at. The more I explore the world of social media, the harder it has become. People buy into people when it comes to social media influences. Thinking outside the box has always been the most successful tool used in growing both Gracie Opulanza and the MenStyleFashion brand. Very much now whilst on my travels, it is through my social media influence that is getting me noticed. Whether it is through a hotel, restaurant an interview, let alone a car review. One massive challenge I find is when not to over tweet or put too many Instagram shots at once. Don’t worry if there are pictures or tweets that don’t work, just simply delete them. If you don’t experiment, then you don’t know. This has been a huge roller coaster the last few months  to work out how to grow my social media influence. Not to get anxious about it, not to get frustrated and to enjoy the journey.

That saying is very true in business, when your business becomes a force that they cannot ignore regarding your business message.  Then your followers will support and assist your growth as a social media influencer.