Today’s Booze: Podcast Episode #1: Life Online with Antoanet Popova

Social Booze is proud to announce the release of our first podcast episode! Our first special guest was Antoanet Popova, a long-time blogger, and social media influencer. Antoanet released her first YouTube video back in 2016 and since then she reached 114k followers on YouTube and 58k followers on Instagram. Being one of the first social media influencers in the Bulgarian beauty scene, we got the opportunity to see behind the numbers that mark her success.

Antoanet started her online journey from her dorm’s room in her last university year in Austria.

“It all started in my dorm room in Vienna. I used to watch a lot of vloggers back then. I felt like they were my friends because they were sharing so much online. I could really relate to them and I wanted to establish a connection like that with others and start my own community and share my own life online. My first video was a spring look book. I shared my spring outfits if I recall correctly. However, the video is no longer on YouTube due to music copyright reasons. My video got around 50 views and I filmed it with some help from a friend,” she says.

How did you grow your channel?

Antoanet shares that even though in university she studied Media and Communications she never used a specific social media strategy. “I wish I was able to share some tips and tricks with you, but I never followed a strategy to gain followers,” she says. She did use some algorithms tricks to get her content more views but that was on rare occasions. Even hashtags were not incorporated in her posts until recently. “At the time there weren’t many vloggers and I was able to rent filming equipment from university, so the quality of my videos was much better than what other vloggers used to offer, so initially this was a big boost for me.” Laster, this led to more people watching her content due to her personality and personal qualities reflected in her vlogs.

When did the transition from a hobby to a full-time job happen?

“It certainly did not happen overnight. For around 2 years I worked hard, constantly sharing content, many hours of filming, and editing. I also invested a lot of money on the products I used in my videos. I would say that it turned into a job when sponsors started contacting me, which at the time was still a new thing and brands were not yet convinced by this method. But with one brand came another one and that’s when it became more of a stable job.”

How did being one of the very first influencers in Bulgaria impact your life?

“The most valuable thing was that it gave me a purpose and a great community. I sometimes overshare my personal life with my community (laughs). But I think this helps the people who watch me, they can relate to things happening in my life and see how I deal with them.”

Do you work with someone and do you invest often in new equipment?

“This being a fast-growing industry I think it’s important to keep up with the new technology. I think now it’s much harder and vloggers know that if they want to stay relevant, they have to be the best. When I started it was simpler because there was not so much content, so a simple picture of my food would do the job. However now with people using lighting equipment and specific props you really have to put in much more effort to create quality content.”

“As an established Vlogger, what tips would you give to people who are starting now?

Make sure you have a clear idea of what you are bringing to the table, it is important to offer your audience something new or a new way of presenting something old. Many people try to copy the content of other successful vloggers, but this is not a recipe for success.”

How do brands contact you?

“Usually brands contact me by email. They explain their brand and what they do and what they are looking for. Some brands have a clear idea of how they want you to present their product, others give you freedom. I really filter the brans I work with. I do not accept all offers, sometimes I don’t like the product, or I don’t think it is suitable for my audience. But if we match, I send them my information, things such as my audience, price sheet, and content analytics and if they like it we stay in contact.”

How do you handle new social media algorithms?

“I am not a good example of this,” she says. She does not follow any algorithms and only recently she started using hashtags which she finds very useful. She creates the content she believes in. “I aim to stay real to myself and the content I create.”

What advice would you give to brands who want to grow through social media?

“I think the best advice that I can give is for brands to use influencers who stay real. Many brands use models who are then edited, and nothing is real. People cannot relate to this, no one has shiny hair throughout the whole day. Consumers like to see real people who have messy hair sometimes.”

Do you think that you have what it takes to be an influencer? As Antoanet suggested, stay true to yourself, find a purpose in your content, and be authentic and the online world will be yours!

We hope you enjoyed the content of our first podcast episode. Let us know in the comments below what else you would like to hear (or read) about.

Cheers!