Hey guys! This is part two of my Branding as a Cosplayer series~ in this Blog post we are going to focus on the platforms and apps that I use to build my Cosplay Brand!
Platforms: Instagram: I absolutely love Instagram! It took me awhile to actually learn how to use it, but after I got the hang of it, I found myself constantly posting to it daily. With Instagram, you want to make sure you aren’t spamming your followers. It’s one of those tricky platforms where, if you use it too much then you may end up losing more followers than actually gaining any. I typically post about 3-4 times a day at spaced out designated times, so I won’t be annoying everyone with notifications. A big feature to Instagram, is the use of Hashtags! At first when you get into Hash tagging you may want to hashtag the mess out of anything that comes to mind. Doing so may get you a few followers here and there, but you will not be getting noticed by your target audience that you should be targeting . My targeted audience is others that love cosplay and are in the anime/geek fandom, so I tend to include Hashtags that are targeted toward them. A fancy thing that Instagram has is that it shows you how many people have already used that Hashtag on the side, as you’re writing it out. Typically I choose the hashtag with the most post number because it shows that, at that moment the hashtag is popular and you’re more likely to be seen by a large group of people rather than a small group. Facebook: I don’t really use Facebook as much as I used to because of the new updates, but I think it’s a really great starter for newer Cosplayers to document their work! A handy thing about Facebook is that it now shows you analytics of who visits your page and notifies you of recent followers. The down-side of Facebook is that your engagements and reach to others will be low unless you A: Have a large following already or B: Pay for Facebook to promote your page. Payments can vary from $1 and up~ However, I have yet to try the feature (Gotta save that moolah for more Cosplays) so I can’t be too bias toward it. A feature that I love about Facebook is that you can easily promote yourself in different groups! As well as make it easy for others to share your page and work with a simple click of the share button! When promoting on Facebook, I do recommend not doing the Follow for Follow that many tend to do. This is because it’s very likely that once they follow you, they may not look at your page ever again. You want genuine followers here! Typically when I promote groups I say something like “Hey guys! Please check out my page here! If you like what you see then give it a like! Also if you would like post your pages below also! I would love to check out other cosplayers pages! If I see something I like I’ll do the same! Cheers!” Now, I don’t say it exactly like that but you get the gist. I think Facebook is a great platform to connect and share your work with the community! Cosplay Amino: Cosplay Amino is one of my favorite platform apps for Cosplayers! It came out over a year ago, and has developed into such an amazing and supportive community for cosplayer. On this app Cosplayers are able to communicate, share, blog, write tutorials, feature their cosplays and help each other with projects! This was actually the app that started it all when I first started writing tutorials. The app is very easy to use and you can post a blog in just a few clicks! The app isn’t really there to promote. However, it is one that is great when it comes to connecting to other Cosplayers and also sharing each other ideas! I used to post on Cosplay Amino every single day, but with the recent changes I’ve slowed down. Most of the time I go on if I’m looking for a tutorial that someone may have made for a cosplay, or just to chat with other cosplayers! *You may have noticed that I haven’t mentioned twitter >.< Well I suck at Twitter…for now. I’m still getting used to the app, but once I get the hang of it I will update this blog! I did mention that I would write what platforms you can use, but what about the different apps that can help you promote yourself on social media? Below I have included just those! Editing Apps : Line Camera: I typically use this App for color correcting and adding cute little details in the picture. It’s great for quick edits and also adding dramatic affects to the photos! I also love the filters which I play around with a lot! They also have a build in Collage maker that I tend to use a lot when I want to show WIP’s as well as my line ups! The line Camera App is great when it comes to quick edits for photos that you can post in seconds! Photoshop: I love Photoshop! It can be seen as something that is a bit tedious to beginners, but when I have pictures of very high quality and I would like more than a quick edit. I tend to use this~ I also use it for banners too that you can see on my Facebook, Twitter and on my webpage! The only thing about Photoshop is that it does cost money. However, if you don’t mind paying for it I recommend it! PicMonkey: PicMonkey is a great desktop website you can use if you don’t want to use the Line Camera, and it can be seen as an alternative to Photoshop. I typically use PicMonkey for the premade overlays that it has! They do have different packages that you can buy, but I always stay with the free package. Plus anything that I can’t do I switch over to Photoshop for. Qtiie.JP: I mainly use this app for borders and the stickers it has when I’m going for a specific feel of an image! After a while, I switched from this one to Line Camera, but I tend to come back to it because the stickers are so darn cute! I also love the filters, but sometimes it over exposes the pictures! Beauty Cam: Beauty Cam is one of my favorite editing apps at the moment. If you look at my Instagram I tend to post a lot of photos that I use Beauty cam with (I promise you, I will dwell away from it soon and actually post normal photos of myself) But, I think Beauty Cam is great when it comes to grabbing your followers attention and playing around with different cosplays you may be doing at the moment. Well guys we’ve come to the end of this blog! Part 3 of Branding Yourself as a Cosplayer will be focusing on Sponsorships! Please check back for even more Blogs! Also Remember as always, Stay Happy, Stay Healthy, and Stay Creative.
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Heylo CocoBears, and welcome back to another blog! Today we are going to talk about Branding and how to brand yourself as a Cosplayer (This Blog is a part of a series that will help you grow as a Cosplayer on your Social Media Platforms). As many of you may know I am a Cosplayer and that is a big part of my brand. I’ve been on social media as a cosplayer for about a year now, and so far I have grown significantly on my social media platforms. This past few year I’ve actually learned a lot from research on "How to Brand yourself the right way" and also what platforms work for best for cosplayers. What is a Brand? A brand is what others use to identify you. It’s what makes you, you. This can come from a specific color scheme you use, your logo, the way you are generally in your post/videos. Like I said before it’s what makes you unique and stand out from others. It's best to atleast think about a Brand when you first start out becuase it will help a lot in the future.If you don’t have one, however, you can always build this over time, which is what most people generally do. How would you do this? Well as time passes you’ll notice what type of style you have with your photos, and what you’re going for. As well as what kind of post you make throughout your platforms. The best thing to do when you see the different styles that you’ve made is to choose a consistent one that will reflect across via your platforms. Once this is done it’s time to start establishing yourself more professionally. This can include making a professional website for yourself, or Facebook Page. I have a website Blog (Which you’re reading right now. Weeeee~) and also a Facebook Page that I direct many to! If you don’t want to have a website at the time then a Facebook page is a good start! What happens after building your page/website? Do you boo! Be yourself, because that is what’s going to get you noticed the most. Don’t think that spamming people will help you, or signing up for those follower scams. What’s going to catch your follower’s eyes the most is that you’re original and different than everyone around you. Don’t force people to notice you, but don’t be lenient when it comes to showcasing your work~ This is because the followers you have are there to see your content! They find you exciting, thrilling, entertaining, and the best thing you can do is take grasp of the talent you have and push yourself to grow from it. What is networking? Another thing you can’t ignore is NETWORKING! Get to know other Cosplayers! Do collabs, Meet Up, Help each other grow! Rather than being a lone wolf, make some friends in the community~ Cosplaying isn’t meant to be a lonely hobby, rather it’s meant for you to be a hobby where you connect with others and enjoy doing what you love. Well I’ve done everything? Where’s my followers? Funny thing is that in the beginning you won’t have a lot of people instantly following you. It takes time and you won’t blow up overnight (Though it is possible and has happened to a few people xD). Just focus on yourself and your craft! Before you know it you’ll be hitting your first 1k! It will just take time and patience! Also as a note~ if you lose some followers over time, dont sweat it! Some of those followers may be spam bots, or others that do the follow for follow and then unfollow you (I experienced that a lot when I first started)! Just keep being yourself and you'll earn genuine followers! This blog was a bit short, and quick but I hope you can check out my follow up blog that will focus on what apps that you can use to actually build your brand! Have any questions for me? Send me a message or ask me on any of my Social Media’s! Remember guys, Stay Happy, Stay Healthy, and Stay Creative. Hey guys! Today I will be doing a review for the site WondaWigs!
This review is also a more in-depth version of my video which is now ready to view on YouTube! Let me just say that I am extremely grateful to WondaWigs for giving me a chance to review one of their wigs. They have awesome customer service, as well as great products on their website! WondaWigs is a company located in the UK that specializes in creating customizable wigs and accessories for their customers. To start off, I wanted to let you know that I was contacted by WondaWigs asking if I would like to review a wig of theirs. Being the Wiglover that I am, of course I was so excited to receive the wig. WondaWigs even offered to handle shipping, and all that was required of me was to choose the wig of my choice. When I finally chose the wig that I wanted, WondaWigs told me that I would receive the wig in about 7-14 days (The wig was coming from the UK, and shipping could take a week to two weeks) However, the wig literally got here on the seventh day! I was so excited and impressed with their shipping! I also loved that they even contacted me to make sure I had received the package! I really do recommend WondaWigs to many other wig lovers, and after working with them, I know I will be purchasing from them in the near future. Below is a In depth review of the wig I received as well as the name of the actual item. WondaWig Review: Lace Front Wavy Wig 3 Tone Ombre 22″ Packaging: 10/10 The Packaging was amazing! I’ve ordered a lot of wigs before and this was honestly the best package I have ever seen! What I loved about it so much was actually how everything was stored in the little case that the Wig, and extra items were being held in. You could tell they had put a lot of thought in how they would like you to carry and take care of your wig. The package itself was also very inventive, especially when you think about transporting your wigs when traveling. The packaging also had a little hanger for you to hang it easily, so that your wig would not be destroyed. Before opening everything else, the cleanliness, and package itself was a big seller for the product. Color: 10/10 The Color of the wig was so gorgeous. Many complimented me on the colors of my hair, because of how many colors were included in the wig. What I loved about it the most, was that the colors were not overpowering. What I mean by that, is that there was just a right amount of each color used in the wig, which made it very subtle but gorgeous to the wearer. Some people did question what colors were actually in my hair, because indoors my hair looked brown fading to blonde. Whereas outdoors, others saw a burgundy color fading to brown and then blonde. Honestly, I loved that many were not able to pinpoint what actual colors were in my hair because then I thought it would be too obvious and not as realistic as real hair. Design: 9.5/10 The way the wig was made was awesome! In the beginning I did have a hard time styling it because I had to figure out how to part it without seeing the wefts. The reason I gave this a 9.5 was because after cutting the lace front to fit my face perfectly, I noticed that a small part of the lace front would not lay down perfectly in the front. This caused a small part where if one looked close enough, they could tell that the lace front was lifting off my head. (Note: many can wear Lace Fronts differently. Some glue down their lace fronts. While others blend with their hair, and sometimes you do not even have to put anything on the lace front because it naturally lays down and blends to the skin) I was able to fix it however, after using a bit of spirit gum in the place where it would not lay down perfectly. Texture: 10/10 The texture of the Wig was Amazing! I honestly do not know what type of Synthetic fibers they decided to use with this wig. However, the wig felt as though it was made of real hair. Many of my friends thought that it was real hair because of how the wig felt. I thought that it was softer, and more flowing than a Synthetic wig typically feels, so I loved how it felt. Customer Service: 10/10 WondaWigs was great when it came to staying in contact with me about the wig, as well as new products that were being released. They were so polite and nice about the whole process! I hardly even had to wait a day for a response from them because it typically took them 30 mins to an hour to get back to me. Overall: 10/10 Overall, the wig I received from WondaWigs was amazing, and exceeded my expectations. After having a partnership with this company, they have become my go to company when it comes to looking for new wigs. Whether that be for cosplay or just every day wigs! I highly recommend this purchasing from this company to others, because I promise you will not be disappointed! I really hope this review helped you if you were thinking about purchasing a Wig from WondaWigs in the future! I have the actual review video up about the Wig on my YouTube channel! You can find the links to both of the videos at the bottoms of this article and even via my social media links! I also have my videos posted on this website! Remember guys, Stay Happy, Stay Healthy, and Stay Creative. WondaWigs: https://www.wondawigs.com/ Hey guys! Today I will be doing a review for the site RoleCosplay! As a heads up, I would like you guys to know that this review was sponsored. However, my opinions in the article will be strictly truthful about everything that I experienced with the partnership! :D This review is also a more in-depth version of my video which is now ready to view on YouTube! Starting from the Beginning with the Sponsorship! Rolecosplay, asked me to choose any costume on their website that I would receive absolutely free, as long as I did a review from them and promoted it on social media! It didn’t take me long to find the D.va Cosplay , in which I fell completely in love with instantly. If you don’t know anything about the character D.va, just know that she is a character/Gremlin (Overwatch Fandom reference) from the hit Blizzard game called “Overwatch”. Players can play as D.va who loves nothing more than eating Doritos and drowning herself in Mountain Dew, but also kicking some butt when the time comes. After emailing Rolecosplay about which cosplay I would like to review, they asked that I at least pay the shipping fee for the package (Which was honestly no problem for me. It was only $16). It took about 2-3 days for them to get back to me about receiving the payment (all thanks to PayPal :P) and processing my “order”. Within the same week, I received an email back from Rolecosplay with my tracking number, as well as the website that they recommended me using. After the package was sent off, things did get a bit tricky. I knew RoleCosplay was sending my package by express, and that it should arrive at my house in a week or a week or a half. But, in all I did not receive my package until a month and a half later. Why you may ask? Well, it took a while to get to the bottom of it. It turns out that the package had indeed arrived in the US from China in a week, but US Customs was holding the package for a reason we still don’t know. I did some digging and came across many articles that stated that sending express mail from China typically takes a month, or more to pass through customs than an average package that was not sent through express mail (So much for express). However, I’m honestly happier knowing that it was customs that was withholding the package, because for weeks all I could picture was either my package being lost or someone taking the package. This was especially the case because, it was getting close to Halloween at the time and who wouldn’t want to receive a free costume in the mail. *Shrugs*. The package delivery itself was not RoleCosplay’s fault whatsoever when it came to arriving later than expected. It was simply Customs fault, and I wanted to make sure that many know this because the tracking service never tells you that it’s stuck in customs until you actually look for information about it. When the package arrived I was happy beyond my belief! I wanted to do a full out review and video of it! Below I have rated specific part of the cosplay on a 10 point scale (10 being the highest score possible, and 1 being the lowest) , as well as a complete score altogether! If you would like a brief overview of the cosplay rating please check out my video on YouTube! If not I hope you enjoy this written review. RoleCosplay Review Packaging: 8/10 The Packaging was quite nice, even though it came in the generic plastic wrap that included their logo and design. I forgot that L-email was actually apart of Rolecosplay! (Fun Fact: Did you know you can order cosplays from RoleCosplay from Amazon? Use those GiftCard you get from your aunts and uncles this Christmas well this holiday season kids*winks*). I thought it was pretty sweet that when I opened the packaging my Cosplay was actually nicely folded, and slid out of the wrapping very smoothly. Color: 10/10 I know, I know. You may be wondering, how the heck is she rating the color? Well, I’m an Art Major folks and I’m really picky when it comes to colors of my Cosplay’s. I wanted to make sure the suit actually stayed true to the color of D.va in the game. I honestly do not know how they print on their cosplays or where but the printer they used did amazing! I had no problems whatsoever with the colors, with and without natural lighting. Design: 9.5/10 The Designs on the Cosplay was completely accurate. However, the only reason I took off “.5” was because I noticed that some of the lines on the inside of my thighs did not match up. This is because of the way the suit was sewn. I compared and contrasted how it was when I wasn’t wearing it, and how it was when I was wearing it, and the end result was the same. But, honestly it didn’t bother me because the main points where the lines were off, was on the inside of where my thighs. You could barely tell unless you were literally eyeballing my legs for days. (Note: The gloves of the suit and foot pieces were all attached!) Cosplay Texture: 10/10 The texture of the Cosplay was Superb! I loved that they chose a fabric that was completely breathable, and it felt like a second layer of skin to me. I honestly had a hard time taking it off because it was so comfortable to me! (Also I don’t know if this was on purpose, but because of the choice of fabric. I was still able to use my IPhone even while wearing the body suit that covered my hands!) Sizing: 9.5/10 I really liked the sizing. I almost thought it was going to be too big or small, but when I tried the suit on everything slipped on perfectly! The only problem I had was that the arms were a little more open than I would have wanted them to be, but it was hardly noticeable! (Never know! My arms may grow huge one day!) Customer Service: 10/10 Rolecosplay was always on it when I contacted them about any problem I had. They always offered to help me when it came to the cosplay, and even discussed with me solutions to my shipping crisis. I was really impressed with how they handled the situation and how they made it a point to get back to me as soon as possible! Overall: 9.5/10 Overall, I think this Cosplay was a great one to review! There was few minor things, but not enough that it would stop me from wearing the Cosplay! I would totally recommend this Cosplay to others, as well as look to this company to purchase even more Cosplays in the future! I really hope this review helped you if you were thinking about purchasing a Cosplay from RoleCosplay in the future! I have the actual review video up about the Cosplay as well as a BTS Video of the whole shoot on my YouTube channel! You can find the links to both of the videos at the bottoms of this article and even via my social media links! Remember guys, Stay Happy, Stay Healthy, and Stay Creative.
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