There I am standing on the charming Parisian balcony during one of the busy PFW seasons few years ago. Those were the days when I juggled full time job, blog, fashion weeks, shoots, travelling and was non stop creating content for my platforms. There was not an occasion where I would leave my Canon Mark II at home despite it being so heavy and always in the way. However that annoying heavy machine could capture moments and outfits in the most beautiful way.

A friend of mine from the industry messaged me few days ago and made me think. After reading that sentence…”Everytime I look at your old content I think it’s so good” I have been looking back and she is actually right in a way. My content was more curated. I sacrificed all my free time to be out there and take the best possible images. I published 6 blogposts a week and so much more. When I had Liam (my son) my priorities shifted and it was harder to synchronise my time with the people can help me to create good level of images and content. If you want to do it you need to meet that person with the same passion as you that has similar schedule to you. And that individual has to be fully committed.

In the last ten years I have been shooting with many people but there is one maybe two that meet those requirements. You need a flexible, passionate individual that is happy to meet you half way, turns up, does not cancel last minute after you sorted babysitting and that is becoming more challenging than ever.

This sequence of thoughts led me here when I am contemplating how the digital content changed for me personally but also in the world of social media as a whole.

What is audience looking for in 2021?

There is no doubt the face of social media and digital has shifted. Even before pandemic I felt there has been huge increase in showing reality rather than picture perfect dreamy images. The content went from highly photoshopped images, filters, flower walls, immaculate backgrounds, exotic destinations and escapism to showing cellulite, stretch marks and under eye circles of tired new moms. Sometimes content creators went too far for my liking in order to shock and revolt. However these kind of accounts and posts reach huge engagement as it is clearly relatable. Many people no longer seek escapism after hard day but they want to see that it is ok to struggle at work, with newborn baby or put on few pounds. Even some of the top influencers have been publishing quick Iphone images and showing off rather dress down effortless looks.

The video content took social media by storm and TikTok became fastest growing social media platform. It offers something new, something more real and very different from those still perfect images. The stranger the content the more your chances are for it to become viral. Audience is seeking content that entertains, is original and they can relate to. The most viral videos are the ones people can relate to. There are still videos that show luxury, beautiful people and immaculate life however they usually do not get that reach as something very simple. It is no longer so much about 5 star hotels, mansion houses but a video filmed in one bedroom messy flat on the other side of world can explode. Of course, Instagram did not want to be behind and brought reels which was definitely nice new challenge for those staying away from TikTok. However, due to so many influencers being on Tiktok already they replicate they content on reels and vice versa. The questions is whether the Instagram audience loves reels as it does bring in that TikTok culture to this platform. I have definitely noticed there are two camps when it comes to this.

Pandemic changed a lot when it comes to digital. Anything that was not possible to happen took on digital form. The fashion industry had to quickly adapt and the consumers and followers too. The type of content changed as we legally could not do the usual things. The brands were reporting the sales of loungewear hugely increased whilst sales of high heels was the lowest ever. That of course reflected also influencers’ content. We were all and still are on the same boat and that means we have to adapt to the situation. It is no longer about the perfect backdrops unless you change paintings in your living room on a weekly basis.

When it comes to travel and content it was like walking on a thin ice. Most my non-influencer friends travelled still a lot during 2020 however they are not in the spotlight. One of my good friends from the industry who’s content is a lot about luxury lifestyle travelled still quite a lot during pandemic however only to countries which had opened borders and she followed all regulations. Sadly due to the circumstances the audience couldn’t relate which led to hateful comments. It was only few days later when huge media noticed and thanks to her 15 seconds video she got criticised by the biggest publications including British Vogue. This is telling me that we all need to adapt and we need to be more relatable as that is what the market requires. We need to find new creative ways how to keep the audience engaged.

I cannot help but wonder..Is this all taking us back to where it all started? Instagram used to be about an instant image, instant experience and being more real? Is that the way we are heading? Maybe in a slightly different form but along those lines.

I believe audience is seeking relatable content full of entertainment, they want valuable information and fun.

What do you think?

Divam se na fotografie, ktere jsou porizeny par let zpatky. Stojim na kouzelnem balkone v Parizi behem jednoho z fashion weeku a vzpominam na to jake to tenkrat bylo. Byly to dny, kdy jsem obetovala kazdou minutu volna sve vasni. Mezi praci na plny uvazek jsem bez prestavky tvorila obsah pro sve platformy, fotila, tocila, cestovala, psala a byla k nezastaveni. Nebyla chvile, kdybych nechala svuj Canon Mark II doma, protoze jsem vzdy nasla dalsi moznost tvorit. Prestoze to je tezky, mohutny a otravny stroj, vedela jsem, ze mi muze krasne zachytit dalsi moment nebo outfit.

Pred par dny mi jedna moje kamaradka napsala zpravu, ze pokazde kdyz vidi me starsi fotografie, tak si pomysli jak jsou dobre. A ma pravdu. O obsahu jsem vice premyslela, planovala, obetovala tomu veskery cas. Kazda fotografie v sobe nesla vice usili, planovani a organizace. Vydavala jsem sest clanku tydne. Ale s ditetem prisly prekazky jako cas, synchronizovat cas s tema, kdo me mohou fotit a take jine priority.

Jedna z nejvetsich prekazek za poslednich deset let bylo najit nekoho, kdo je flexibilni, zapaleny a schopny. Clovek, ktery vam pomaha s vasim obsahem musi mit stejne velkou vasen pro to co delate jako vy. Za cela ty leta jsem potkala mozna dve osoby, ktere takove jsou a to je nejvetsi kamen urazu.

A vsechno tohle premysleni o obsahu a digitalnim svete me privedlo az sem. Je totiz ocividne, ze tvar a dynamika obsahu se meni a to nejen pro me osobne, ale pro vsechny z nas.

Co chteji videt sledujici v digitalnim svete v roce 2021?

Myslim, ze uz pred pandemii se obsah na socialnich sitich dost zmenil. Transformace byla sice pomalejsi, ale je viditelny ustup dokonale upravenych fotografii a prehnanych filtru. Naopak zacina byt popularni uprimna realita. A tak na me na Instagramu misto idylickych fotografii s nadechem luxusu vyskakuji fotografie celulitidy, plnych zenskych tvaru a unavene obliceje novorodicek. Influenceri v mnoha pripadech odhazuji fasady a jdou s kuzi na trh. Na muj vkus mozna nekdy az moc. Ja totiz rada pres socialni media unikam realite, ale jde videt, ze spouste sledujicich tento trend apeluje. Uprimne posty maji v mnoha pripadech nekolikanasobny engagement.

A jedna z nejvetsich zmen je video obsah. Ten vzdy existoval, ale diky rozmahu popularni platformy TikTok dosahuje novych rozmeru. A co je nejzajimavejsi, ze i v tomto pripade velmi dominuje realita. Na viralni video nemusite byt milionar na jachte ci vlastnit padesat tasek Hermes, viralni video muze byt cokoli a velmi casto jsou to prave videa, ktere jsou proste normalni, vtipne a obecenstvo bavi. Originalita je velmi dulezita a hlavne plati, ze cim vetsi blbost, tim vetsi sance na to, ze video bude viralni. Tim netvrdim, ze fashion blogeri se zamerenim na luxusni modu nemaji sanci. To ne. Jenom jde videt, ze sledujici miluji obsah, se kterym se mohou ztotoznit a ktery je pobavi. Instagram nechtel byt v pozadi a tak predstavil na sve platforme reels. To bylo pro uzivatele neco noveho, ale jelikoz spousta influenceru pouze duplikuje obsah z Tiktoku nebylo to uplne pro vsechny. Vice a vice narazim na uzivatele Instagramu, kterym reels nevyhovuji a nedokazou se ztotoznit s Tiktok trendy.

Pandemie ale prinesla do digitalniho sveta celkovy obrat. To co nebylo mozne uskutecnit, nabralo digitalni formu. Firmy i influenceri se museli rychle adaptovat. Zmenila se forma obsahu uz jenom tim, ze pro vsechny platila podobna pravidla a to byt doma. Socialni platformy byly najednou plne fotografii domova, pohodlnych teplakovek a stories o tom, na co se podivat na Netlixu. Podle statistik byl prodej pohodlneho obleceni nejvyssi za posledni leta a na druhou stranu luxusni znacky botu hlasi velky propad v prodeji vysokych podpatku. Svet se musel zkratka prizpusobit.

Co se tyce cestovani, to bylo v lonskem roce hodne omezene. Presto spousta mych pratel, kteri nejsou influenceri cestovalo. Bohuzel pro blogery je to trosku jine. Je to jako chodit po tenkem lede, jestli cestujete a tvorite stejny obsah jako drive pro spousty lidi je to neprijatelne. Jedna z mych dobrych kamaradek, jejiz obsah je prave o luxusnim zivotnim stylu a cestovani vydala video o cestovani v roce 2020 a to pobourilo nejednoho uzivatele na Tiktoku. Za par dni bylo video viralni a toho si vsimla svetova media a casopisy a dokonce Britska Vogue. Pro spousty tohle bylo neprijatelne a sobecke, prestoze tato blogerka cestovala do zemi, kde to bylo mozne a dodrzovala regulace.

A tak premyslim, zda nas to nevratilo vse na samy pocatek Instagramu. Instagram byl o neupravenych fotkach, sdileni reality a momentek. Mozna nas tohle vsechno vratilo par let zpatky. Lide hledaji obsah s nimz se ztotozni, u nehoz se pobavi nebo si treba u nej i pobreci. Obsah musi take bavit nebo nam neco predat. Co myslite?

Eva