Hi, Iโm Gemma Watts, Iโm a beauty writer, and this is Milkshake ‘Asking for a friend’.
MS: Number 1 tip for building your brand on Instagram?
GW: Don’t post content for the sake of posting content. People are so savvy now that if you’re just posting fillers for the sake of getting a post up, they’ll see right through it. So only post things that are relevant to you, your personal brand, your business, whatever it is you’re trying to do on there.
MS: Biggest financial lesson as a creator?
GW: Get a really good accountant. I’m not a numbers person, I’m very logical and pragmatic, and I love spreadsheets, but as far as dealing with the money side of things, I like to just package everything up, hand it over and let an expert do it. I think just know what you’re good at, recognise if numbers aren’t your thing, and deal with that accordingly. My accountant doesn’t follow me on Instagram, but every time I come in, he goes, “Gem, I’m so proud of you.” That’s what I want from an accountant.
MS: Must-haves in your Instagram bio?
GW: I mean keep it snappy, I think obviously you have to link to whatever your, you know, preferred platforms are. I struggle with that because I’ve got a few different pages, but people should be able to look at your Instagram and know straight away what it is that you do. And thanks to Milkshake, that won’t be a problem anymore.
MS: Have you made any IRL “in real life”, friends from Instagram?
GW: I have! I have made friends from Instagram, and I haven’t been catfished either, so tick, tick. Now we’re up to the ones that match my nails, this is what I wanted!
MS: Advice for people starting their career in your industry?
GW:ย I would say find a niche. Digital beauty in particular is so oversaturated, so unless you have a point of difference, your content is just going to get lost. Your point of difference might just be your opinion, so just make sure you have a really unique voice.
MS: What is the hardest part about your work?
GW: Working in digital, I find it really difficult to switch off. I’m getting better, it’s something that I’m working on, but I feel like when you run your own business, there is a lot of pressure to always be on, and always be connected to your clients.
MS: What’s the story behind your first Instagram post?
GW: My first Instagram post is 15th of April, 2012. So I was late to the party, and it is a photo of a very fancy suite at Crown Towers that I was not staying in, my godmother was staying in it. And it’s before the Logies, and the caption was OWWWWWW!
MS: How do you grow from a setback?
GW: I don’t really dwell on setbacks, it’s just not in my nature. I’m very much a pick yourself up, dust yourself off. So I just don’t spend too much time on it, you just have to learn from these things. If you spend heaps of time agonising over a setback, it’s time that could be spent doing something productive.
MS: What’s your go-to emoji response?
GW: I do a lot of crying laughing face, because it’s easier than typing out “Hahahaha”, and much better than “lol” and I also do a lot of monkey covering its mouth cause it feels like a giggle even though I know it’s not. So good at shuffling!
Checkout Gemma’s glowing Milkshake Insta Website.
