Hello, everyone, welcome back class number eight. Today we'll talk about social media and marketing. You know, you can have the best product in the world, but if it doesn't sell, you have a business. If you don't know how to sell it and how to market your collection, your brand, you're in trouble. I think everyone is familiar with social media nowadays, right? But there's a right and a wrong way to use social media to promote your brand.

I'm sure everyone has an Instagram account, or a Facebook account. But there's a proper way to use these tools and these accounts to sell your product. For example, some of you will post what you had for breakfast this morning, which has nothing to do with your brand, which is okay if you want to share it with your friends and your family. But if you want to promote Your product, you better think again. So, you might want to consider having two separate Instagram accounts, one for personal use and one for professional use. In your professional Instagram account, you should post things that are related to your brand, maybe a new fabric that you just found, or things that inspire you.

Maybe a new designer that you discovered that inspires you. Basically anything that is professional and it's relating to your brand, and to you as a designer, as an artist. Also use Instagram to follow designers and other brands that inspire you or that you admire. The same goes with Facebook By the way, so same, same idea. All social media should be a reflection of who you are as a designer. As a brand, keep in mind that social media is global, meaning that anyone in the world can see your profile.

And you never know where your next customer is going to come from. The whole purpose of social media is to create visibility, maximum visibility. And the idea is to drive traffic to your brand. And you can choose between free traffic and paid traffic, free traffic. Everybody wants free traffic, right? Everybody wants free free is great.

But you know it free traffic is not a sustainable model because you're hoping that someone will see your post and you're hoping that your post will go viral. But you don't want to rely on hope you want results. paid traffic means investing in a specific targeted market. That will give you much more effective results. So in your budget, you must allocate a certain amount of money for promotion and marketing. Social media is always evolving and changing rapidly and constantly.

So you must be aware of all these marketing vehicles and stay on top of new platforms that that come on to the market. And you'll notice that there is always someone out there that's trying to sell you the best vehicle to market your product. So be aware of what's out there and you really have to study all these different options available to you and make the right decisions. When it comes to branding your company, make sure that all your marketing avenues are cohesive, meaning that they have one look in other words, your business cards, your stationery your website your Instagram, your Facebook account, all that they should all be consistent and uniform and have one visual identity. also learn to sell your line, your collection, practice selling your collection and the words, if you were presenting your collection to a buyer at Bloomingdale's or something, or, or a sales rep, you should be prepared to sound professional in your presentation.

So practice. One final note, look over your collection. And if there is a piece that you're not really happy with money that you're not really really in love with, okay, delete it. It's about quality, not quantity. You must be proud of your work. If you're not happy with it.

You know, get one sell. Be proud of your work. Okay. I want to see all of you and your collections. on the runway of New York Fashion Week, Paris Fashion Week, all over the world. So good luck with it.

Have fun. One final note, your collection should bring you joy. If it doesn't throw it away and start all over again. Besides, you're going to have to do it all over again for next season anyway, right. So I hope you have enjoyed this course Feel free to visit my website. That's it for now.

I'm out of here.