I Like Networking

I've liked a number of pages and sites on Facebook in preparation for the future. Mine and my friend's ultimate goal is to create a Hawaii-based fashion and lifestyle magazine. In our magazine, we'd like to showcase the design, stylistic, artistic, modeling, photographic, and cultural talents of Hawaii locals. I've liked many local boutiques and companies, some of which were created by my very own high school classmates. I hope to keep these businesses on my radar and also to be on theirs, thus building interactive relationships with them over the next few years so as to develop a firm network of clients. Establishing these relationships now will better prepare myself and my friend for collaborating with these companies and launching our print magazine by the time we return to the islands.

Loli'i Swimwear is one of the many local businesses I've liked and was created by my classmate Remy Hirai. She has a blog, twitter, and Facebook page for her business, all of which I follow. She personally designs, orders, and creates each piece of her many collections and has become a self-made success story in the islands. She's also deploying great interactive marketing tactics; for example, she's created periodical online contests in which customers submit photos of themselves wearing Loli'i Swimwear for a chance to win a free bathing suit. This is a great example of positive empowerment of customers and extensive advertisment.

My friend and I will be developing the foundations of our magazine shortly, starting with a blog, website, twitter, Linked In, Facebook page, Tumblr, google account, and whatever else we need to establish ourselves on the internet. Although we won't be launching a print version of our magazine, creating an online prescence will enable us to create content with which to approach other businesses such as Loli'i Swimwear. We hope that when we have enough to advertise for Loli'i Swimwear, Remy will be able to advertise for us in turn; i.e. share with her customers the review we've written of her clothing line, "like" our magazine's page, which will be visible to all of her fans and customers, and, sometime in the future, share the magazine spread we've designed with Loli'i pieces from her new Spring line. I have a separate fashion online magazine that began as my prototype experiment for launching myself into the online fashion industry, which has proven to be invaluable as a learning experience and a starting point towards my future goals. "Liking" Facebook pages provides the basis for interactive networking with potential clients.