Choosing the Right platforms

Social media was once thought of as a fad, yet has created a significant impact on the way businesses market their brands. However, despite all the potential social media marketing has, businesses still struggle to fully embrace its effectiveness. Yet, though there are several success stories, there are still many social media challenges businesses need to understand that do not come from textbooks. In fact, there are several challenges that businesses face when using social media marketing such as not knowing which social media outlet to use, failure to understand the meaning behind hashtags, not knowing their audience, and not creating engaging content. 

As I have mentioned, Facebook is the leading social media outlet for businesses to create pages, events, and advertise. In my opinion, not using the right platforms or using them incorrectly is the greatest challenge businesses face with social media marketing. Very few businesses research their target markets thoroughly enough to identify the platforms where their target audience is active. Not understanding a business’ audience means marketers are wasting efforts and resources on platforms that are not bankable. Investing in the wrong platforms can exhaust a business budget, time and efforts. Additionally, several businesses fail to even start a Facebook page and spend all their time and efforts on Instagram, which does not hold the same audience size and engagement as Facebook. 

Moreover, in order to avoid these challenge businesses must understand their audience and how to reach them properly. For example, if you want to establish a personal connection, Twitter is your best bet. On the other hand, Instagram is great if you want to force influencers to spread brand awareness. Learning about your audience and where they are most active is vital to any marketing plan. For the most part, humans are visually stimulated beings, therefore creating good content for Facebook is essential. In the end, if you do not create a strong presence on the right platforms, a business can lose to their competitors. 

58 Gourmet

First stop on the Welcome to the Real Miami Tour is 58 Gourmet, located in downtown Doral. I stumbled upon this place when I was looking for "cute" coffee shops in Miami and it definitely does not disappoint. This family owned Venezuelan bakery is meant for any girl that loves coffee and girly Instagram-able locations. The wallpaper is to die for and the furniture gives it a very European coffee shop vibe with probably the best lighting for selfies or a quick spontaneous photo shoot. An added bonus is the delicious coffee and pan dulce they sell, because how sad would it be to visit a cute place with nasty or mediocre food. For me to say it was delicious is a pretty big deal because though I am a coffee connoisseur, I am not into sweets at all. But there was definitely something about the pan dulce and the nutella croissant, I highly recommend for everyone to go visit and support this small business.

 

Welcome to the REAL Miami: A series of Places to go

Welcome to the REAL Miami. 

I wanted to share with both locals and tourists, the real side of Miami that is not Miami Beach or Wynwood. Locals and tourists can agree that the best things to do in Miami extend beyond lounging on the sand though, spending some time on the best Miami beaches is fundamental to life in the 305. Yet, as locals we have noticed in recent years, many areas in Miami have stepped up their game with new restaurants, art, shops, and fun things to do. Since I am always chasing the next cool instagrammable spots, I dare you to join me checking off these essential Miami experiences in this Journey called 

Welcome to the Real Miami. 

Budget & Bougie

Let’s be real, we all want to look classy, expensive and well put together, but, often times our wants don't meet our wallet's need to stay green.  

While I believe that some expensive fashion items scream wealth and individuality, I also know some tips for looking bad and bougie on a budget. This post is not about how to show off that you have money but rather how to look expensive, powerful, and put together. 

Before we go on, you may be wondering why do I care to look more expensive? For me, dressing to look more expensive is less about trying to impress other people and more about feeling confident, well put together and polished everyday. Ultimately, when you look good, you feel good, and when you feel good, you attract positivity into your life. In fact, studies show that dressing well, does in fact effect our performance and makes us feel better about ourselves and more confident. So, here are a few tips to looking more expensive. 

1. Wear all black

2. Dress Monochromatic

 

3. When buying basics, stick to black, white, gray or camel tones.

4. Always wear the right size.

5. Avoid wearing distressed or ripped jeans.

6. Add gold jewelry to elevate any outfit.

7. Presentation is key, always take care of your clothes by ironing, washing and steaming them properly.

8. Only splurge on pieces that are inter-wearable to create a volt of staple pieces.

9. Avoid wearing too many labels and mixing labels. You don't want to be a walking ad.

10. Invest in quality over quantity. Do we have nothing to wear or have we spent too much money on high quantities, rather than high quality pieces? 

11. Wear a structured bag.

12. Keep good personal hygiene.

13. When in doubt simple is better. 

I hope these small tips are helpful enough to make subtle changes in your day to day outfit selections and always remember to ...

dress for the life you wish to live. 

Why invest in social media marketing

As times change and technology progresses, businesses need to create marketing action plans to reflect the trends of their targeted audience. Every business should consider social media marketing to bring in further success. Social media is controlled by customers, which means that businesses can benefit from a social media marketing action plan to enhance their brand. Each social media outlet holds their own value to businesses as they all target and function differently, yet cohesively. Ultimately, the shift in the use of social media has completely changed the objective of any successful marketing plan.

In order for any business to create a productive social media action plan, it must focus on engagement with users and get involved in active listening through the use of social media.  There are two different types of active listening, participant listening (asks for feedback and comments through business social media outlets) and unobtrusive listening (searches on conversations regarding the business product or services). Additionally, statistics show that customers prefer social media marketing as it allows them to rate and get information on products through users like themselves. Roughly around fifty percent of social media users have made buys solemnly based on social media brand recommendations.

Yet, a very small percentage of businesses have or use both social media marketing or even use social media outlets to reach their customers. Therefore, it is important to understand and acknowledge both the pros and the challenges presented by social media marketing. Some of the key positives of using social media marketing include brand recognition and authenticity, lower marketing costs, building customer trust and feedback and breeding brand communities. Though, social media marketing has its perks to create customer loyalty and build brand awareness, it is still a participation in public unedited conversation forums. Businesses need to construct a social media marketing plan that is prepared to handle negative conversations and feedback. Ensuring that what they post and how they interact creates a professional brand to its user. Additionally, businesses need to fully understand and educate a themselves on the use and rules of social media use in order to avoid legal implications. 

Unfortunately, businesses must be aware of difficult customers who seek to write bad reviews when the opportunity is presented (aka Karens), but writing down a set of rules will manage and overcome these challenges. As a result, once a business understands the main purpose of social media marketing, it can do a lot to increase your traffic and grow the success of the business. To sum it up, businesses who do not engage in social media marketing, miss out on a huge opportunity to connect with potential customers.

Websites and the benefits of Blogging

A website is the window to your brand.

There are three main objectives a great website should do and it is referred to as EMS (educate, market, and sell). In order to be able to create the constant EMS process a website needs several elements to make it a great website. These elements include but are not limited to great design, structure, content, social media integration and optimization. When a potential consumer or customer clicks on a website the most important element is visual design and navigation. 

Every website should be consumer friendly and easy to navigate whether it be on a web browser or a mobile device. In fact, a user should always know exactly where to go on the website for whatever they are searching for. Additionally, content is the backbone to any website as it is used to lure in visitors. Another key factor is the use of SEO (search engine optimization). SEO refers to a websites appearance in search engine results by the process of optimizing online content. Lastly, a key factor is social media integration which can enhance the involvement of visitors as it makes it more interesting and interactive, keeping them on the website longer and providing a positive brand experience. 

 Blogging can be vital to any website, as it helps attract and convert strangers into customers. A blog can be added to any existing website to optimize the website’s SEO as it improves the chances of ranking high in search engines. Having a blog that is updated frequently (twice a week) can create a huge flow of traffic to a website. Blogging allows websites to remain relevant and current which keeps viewers on the sites longer and gives new ways to internally link media. In fact, blogging is a good way to make those connections and start a continued relationship with the people you want to reach. Ultimately, blogging adds authenticity to you brand. 

XO Mimosas and Pumps

FADS vs. Fashion

In the world of fashion, trends come and go faster than the seasons, making it damn near impossible to keep up with the "it" styles. However, I have found some tips on understanding the differences between fads and fashion that will enable you to put an end to the fashion fueled guessing game. 

Fashion fades, style is eternal.

Usually fashion and fads are considered the same thing, but, they do in fact, have several differences. Fashion is something which is always present. It keeps changing, transforming, and adapting itself to the evolving society trends and times. For example, blazers, trench coats, the little black dress, and a well constructed suit, will keep adapting to the changing times depending upon comfort, industry, and textiles that are being developed. Take Dior's very famous Lady Dior bag, though, it has been reworked with new textures and prints it still looks just like it did when the beautiful Lady Diana wore it.

Whereas, a fad is a style moment that stays for a very short era, does not change, and just vanishes after a time period. In fact, some may say for every horrible fad that dies, seven more are born (I am totally kidding or am I?). The word “fashionable” is used for people who keep up with whatever the present fashion is and adapt it to suit their own personal style. Yet, a fad, is often referred to as fast fashion, that only fits a particular person or style, yet, everyone wants to follow it. For example, currently, the new "it" trend, is an oversized dad vest with a white button down that could be three times your size paired with Doc. Martens and tiny sunglasses. 

Do you all remember when it was cute to wear overpriced trucker hats just because they were Von Dutch? Yikes! The reason that it is important to understand the differences between both a fad and fashion is to 

1: help you create your own style, 

2: to understand when to try a trend or pretend it does not exist and most importantly 

3: to know when to dish out the cash or make the pass. 

Some examples of FADS we are all guilty of wearing

(warning graphic images may be triggering):

 Butterfly clips

Bubble Dresses

Long dress or tunics over jeans

Capris and Chunky Necklaces

Juicy Couture ANYTHING, especially the velour track suits

Von Dutch Hats

Chunky Belts on your waist not for your jeans duh

Low rise Jeans

The Hollister polo aka high school mean girls uniform

Chokers

Whatever these were

and the oversized bug designer sunglasses. 

Now, I am more than guilty of wearing all these, as they shaped my middle and high school days but, ultimately, I started to view my closet like a portfolio, only to be filled with classics that help elevate my own style and compliment new pieces added. 

So, remember:

1.Fashion is ever present.

2. A fad is just a type of fashion for a very short time.

XO Mimosas and Pumps