DIARY directory recently caught up with fashion, beauty and lifestyle blogger, Sarah Mikaela from Framboise Fashion. Having begun blogging back in 2009 to combine her interest in fashion, photography and digital media, almost a decade later Sarah's blog has grown from her own little corner of the web to a full-time business that has allowed her to work with a multitude of brands. 

Your blog covers fashion, beauty and lifestyle – what posts resonate with your readers most?  

A good mix of it all, and I love to include travel as a main theme in my posts 

You’ve been in the industry for over 10 years now as a photographer, stylist and an influencer, do you think traditional blogging will fade out in favour of social channels?  

Potentially, but if I count myself as a part of the demographic and at the receiving end of these medias, whilst there’s a definite change in attention towards social media as opposed to that of blogs, 10 years on, my desire to read a blog post hasn’t gone. I’m just much more selective with who I follow, and whereas I before would read hundreds of blogs, now it’s just a handful of people – but they are amazing. There needs to be thought and work behind it for it to capture my attention. We might well see that certain things fade, but it all depends how and in what way we consume information. Creativity always has to evolve, and it will with the upcoming changes of media too. 

Blogging can - to an extent - be seen as a numbers game, however numbers don’t always measure up to engagement. What does success mean to you and how do you measure it?  

Success is when I feel proud. The moments where I can’t wait to share, are the times I know I’m doing it right, and I look out for engagement from the people I respect and look up to. If we solely let the numbers lead us, we don’t evolve and we can easily just end up recreating what everyone else is doing. I’m a fan of originality, so when I see someone exploring their own aesthetic and loving what they do, that’s what I count as success. 

You’ve been blogging full-time for a number of years now, at what point did you realize that blogging was your career path?

I realized when I was at around 60K followers and meeting people at 30K who were full time. I was running low on time to keep it going, due to working towards a design education, and at that point, I knew it would have to be one or the other. I remember seeing it more as a window opening than a direction as such and intended on returning to design. I feel lucky it happened, and I’m truly more in love with my job than ever and the direction it’s taking now. 

We love the cohesive style of your blog and Insta! How do you go about planning your social posts? Do you have any professional help?

I manage all accounts, but I do take quite some time before I’ve decided what to post. I love working way ahead and working slowly, so I can move things around and make sure I’m content once everything goes live. I had to teach myself how to code, so I could take the layout of the blog to a more dynamic level and it’s always such a freedom when you have control over these things yourself.. 

How important is a social media strategy for bloggers?

Truly depends on what you’re trying to do with your blog and social media. I’m aware of timings and turnovers and my analytics, especially whenever I’m working on campaigns, but most of the time I try to forget about strategies when it comes to social media. I want longevity with my followers, so I don’t push unnecessarily for people to sign up.  

You’ve worked commercially with a number of brands, what’s been one of your favourite sponsored collaboration to date? 

Too many fantastic projects, I could mention many, but my recent collaboration with Michael Kors shooting the Wonderlust campaign in Positano was a wonderful experience and we really enjoyed the process of that. The surroundings were incredible to shoot in and the fragrances were beautiful.

Michael Kors – how exciting! When it comes to such collaborations, how do you make sure you balance authenticity with the commercial aspect of the job?

Yes, I’m so excited for this job! Well, the most important thing with anything I take on commercially is that there has to be an authentic connection to the brand and the product featured. This way, that part of the collaboration will always feel easy, and the way I see it is that I would be out of a job if it was any other way, as it is a business based on authenticity. With the fragrances, as any job, it’s something I love and believe in, so that’s how I place my collaborations.  What’s next for you?

I’m directing a bigger focus on photography. Nothing gets me more excited than being behind the camera and doing creative direction. I’ve been shooting some campaigns this year and having just been featured in Vogue Spain's August issue with images I took of Zara Martin - it was exactly the pat on the back I needed, to continue more seriously with this. Furthermore, we’ve been launching videos and have some upcoming projects in our sleeve, I can’t wait to release. 

What other bloggers /influencers do you follow and why?

Shini from Park and Cube, Simon Schmidt from OWOI and Anna Ponsa Lopez– everything each of them do is so visually pleasing and well worked through. 

Listed in DIARY directory in the blogs & vlogs section, Sarah is one of nearly 1,800 categorised bloggers / vloggers that PRs could work with. Subscribers can sort blogs /vlogs according to social media following across Instagram, Twitter, YouTube and Facebook, and filter by country and UK region. See our previous DIARY Influencers here!