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What It's Like to Be: Influencer Marketer Taylor Mobley

The head of the Blonde and Ambitious Blog is here to talk about being an influencer marketer and the importance of keeping your #bloguad close.

By Chelsea B. KendrickPublished 6 years ago 6 min read
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Photo Courtesy of Taylor Mobley and Taken by Erin Stubblefield

Taylor Mobley is just like you—but she lives under the microscope of 27,000 passionate Instagram followers. Taylor, the sole head and curator of Blonde and Ambitious, is a blogger and influencer marketer. Her job is to sell you on her Insta-perfect lifestyle, while also maintaining a sense of realness and authenticity.

Taylor engages with her followers every day via stories, live streams, and in the comments. She's gained a strong sense of trust from her followers, which makes her the perfect person for marketers to reach out to to sell their products. Companies can utilize Taylor as a personal and authentic liaison, or perhaps replacement, for traditional advertising where she acts as the ideal consumer for a product in order to convince her followers that they too can emulate her lifestyle if they buy the product.

To get a better feel for what this job actually means and looks like on a day-to-day basis, I spoke with Taylor about what it's like to be an influencer marketer.

Chelsea Kendrick: Why did you start your blog?

Taylor Mobley: I started my blog because I wanted to help women feel confident in their own skin. I wanted to learn a new skill and develop my own brand. I had a strong sense of wanting to be an entrepreneur and I knew I had the drive to do it. Because I was a broke college student, I couldn't afford a website designer or anything like that. I learned a lot of things myself on the fly.

What made you want to do this for a living?

I am so passionate about this job. It is so much fun, first of all, and it is also ideal. I make my own hours, work from home, and can rearrange my schedule to fit my day-to-day needs. I love that I get emails from women telling me how I boosted their confidence or helped them with a problem. When I can influence someone to change their life for the better, I consider my job well done. Even if it's only one person, I was able to positively influence their lives.

When did companies start reaching out to you as an influencer?

Companies started reaching out to me around six months in. I had a steady social media following and companies were coming to me to promote their products. I started charging (vs. accepting product for monetary compensation) around eight months in. That is when I was able to really take my business to the next level and officially consider myself a small business.

How do you decide who to take on as a client?

I am really picky when it comes to who I work with. I only work with companies I feel I can truly promote authentically to my audience. It is important to me that my audience knows that when I am promoting a product, it's because I trust it and use it myself. Authentic and genuine interaction is key.

Taylor is all about squad goals.

Photo Courtesy of Taylor Mobley and Taken by Erin Stubblefield

Tell me about your #bloguad. How do you interact with other influencers and how is that mutually beneficial?

I love my squad! I am close friends with three other girls that also blog for a living. We formed a mastermind, and we are able to bounce ideas off of each other and lift each other up. It's hard to understand this industry unless you're in it, so having other girls to vent to and talk to about is a great way to build and maintain lasting friendships. We share each other's posts, take each other's courses, and occasionally share brand contacts.

Creator is quite the buzzword these days. What does being a creator meant to you?

To me being a creator means that I get to create content that is unique and relevant to the world around me. "Creating" can mean several different things—it can mean writing a blog post, photographing a product, making a social media post, filming a video. It's very open-ended, which is why I think it's such a hot word right now—anyone can be a creator. It's all in how you personally define it, I think.

What's your preferred social platform? Why?

This is a hard one. It used to be Instagram and in terms of how posts are laid out and ease of posting, I still like Instagram the best. I like Instastories and that kind of thing. However, because of the algorithm and the way the feed is now (not chronological, suggested users instead of users I'm following, not showing my posts to all my followers) it's more of a chore to post regularly. In terms of how successful my posts are after publishing, Facebook is great in bringing views to my blog and interacting with followers.

I'm not an Instagram influencer and I hate the new algorithm, so I totally feel your pain on that one.

Hip on the Trends

Photo Courtesy of Taylor Mobley and Taken by Erin Stubblefield

How do you build your brand and keep up with the latest trends? In other words, how do you stay relevant?

I am constantly on social media, I go to things like NYFW to see what is coming in the upcoming seasons, I am on many PR lists for beauty companies and often receive products long before they are launched so that my reviews can go live when the products launch. Trends are always changing, but I am a part of lots of blogging communities where I can stay up to date on everything going on around me.

Building a brand isn't easy—I spend 60+ hours a week working on my blog. You have to make sure things are consistent across the board when it comes to colors, fonts, logos, images. Things need to be clear, your website needs to load quickly and work efficiently on mobile. There are dozens on things to consider. The most important thing is to stay true to yourself. Those who are in your "tribe" so to speak will find you and relate to YOU.

So what else do you do?

So, being a blogger, you kind of wear many hats. I am a web designer, marketing director, content creator, photographer, customer service rep, shoot designer, and more. I work hard to make sure that I am educated in each aspect of my job. I am constantly taking courses, bouncing ideas off of other creators and pitching to brands. It's a busy and exciting line of work. :)

What would you recommend to others who are interested in becoming an influencer marketer via a lifestyle blog? What are the first steps one should take?

I would recommend treating it like a business right off the bat. Have a spreadsheet to track income and free products, get registered as an official business, meet with an accountant. Do everything officially and legally. Then if you become successful, there aren't as many hoops to jump through and it's much easier to transition to full-time. Always remember to keep your passion and remember the reason you started your blog.

Before we wrap this up, any final thoughts?

Don't get caught up in the comparison game. Someone will always be bigger, better, prettier, smarter, etc. You want people to like you for who you are. When you find a group of people that relates to you and follows you because they love YOU and want to know more about YOU—it's this amazing thing. I get emails from girls all the time telling me that I helped them gain their confidence back and that they feel beautiful for the first time in a long time. That is why I do what I do. It is humbling and inspiring to know that even if I only changed ONE person's life—I changed their LIFE. They feel better because of something I did. Don't start a blog for the money and gifts (although those are very nice)—start it because you have something of value to add to someone's life.

Stay in the know with Taylor Mobley.

Photo Taken by Taylor Mobley

Want to see more of Taylor Mobley in your life? Of course you do, she's the best! Check her out on the following social platforms: YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and Twitter.

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About the Creator

Chelsea B. Kendrick

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