With Statista reporting there are 35 million Instagram users in the UK, social media platforms are a powerful tool to build brand awareness and convert followers into loyal customers.

Given this season is a focus on all things branding I was keen to speak to an expert content creator.

In this episode, I hear from Estée Lalonde, CEO and founder of bodycare brand MIRROR WATER. The brand champions mirror work and self-care, inspired by Estée’s quest to find effective relaxation tools during the pandemic. Estée has enjoyed a long career working within social media building a following of over 677k before founding her brand in 2021 which has already amassed a following of 35k.

She shares her advice on how to build your brand through social media, why doing the initial creative work on your brand is crucial for success and how DM’ing one of your idols (in this case Bobbi Brown) can be the motivation you need to keep going.

Estée’s advice:

• Always start with a good business plan
• Branding so important; to start with, concentrate on aspirational visuals that can then inform further work
• Don’t rush this stage:
• Create mood boards
• Take care of yourself and go with your intuition
• Get to the essence of what you want
• Settle on a name, which will take you in the right direction
• Look for a designer to support you and ensure you click with them, build that relationship to a point of trust
• Be strategic on social; post regularly and expect this to be a slow build
• Social media can help you launch, it is a big time commitment however it will pay dividends
• Brand instagramming is harder than being a social media influencer (owned content v earned, DM FF&M to find out more on this)
• Posting every day becomes a burden so look at process and systems to help you on this
• You can’t do it all so be clear on what success looks like and work backwards
• Keep it lean - less is more in all things in business, focus on one thing and do it well rather than trying to post on multiple platforms all the time
• Take time to reflect on what you’re doing and enjoy it
• Expect to be overwhelmed at times; but hang on it there!

If you'd like to contact Estée you can reach her via @esteelalonde on Instagram

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Recorded, edited & published by Juliet Fallowfield, 2023 MD & Founder of PR & Communications consultancy for startups Fallow, Field & Mason.

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