A little while ago I did a post on Courtney's social media fame, views and advice and I wanted to share some more responses I got from a gal named B, known for her Instagram and blog, La Matte Noir.

1. Tell me about yourself, where you're from, your age, your aspirations in life, what got you started in social media, etc.?
   
   
   My name is B and I'm an 18 year old fashion and beauty blogger from the glamorous state of Iowa. Im an aspiring make up artist, maybe that's why my beauty posts get lengthy, and am currently working part-time at Ulta! I also hope to move to New York City in the near future, we'll see! 

   
   
   

   I'm not entirely sure what got me started, but like most people I started on MySpace about 9 years ago...I was hooked almost instantly at the fact that I could grow my following and share tidbits of my life to people that actually cared! I eventually moved to Tumblr and now Instagram.

   
   
   
   
2. When did you start your blog and instagram, and how long did it take to get a large following?
   I started my Instagram 4 years ago and my blog just last summer. My following didn't actually start growing until about March of last year. After dealing with tons of cyber bullying on tumblr I didn't want to allow my Instagram to become big. I just ended up realizing that nothing [negative] anyone says on the internet matters and ever since I've been working to grow. 
   
   
3. Did you try to advertise yourself, if so how? If not, was there one post or theme of posts that you found drew a lot of followers?
   
   
   I started participating in shout outs, which helped me grow really quickly. I don't do them much anymore, but still like to [occasionally] because I like to make my followers happy and if giving them a little exposure is how to do it, then that's what I do! 
   
   
   The 2 biggest tips that I have for growing a following is utilizing hashtags and figuring out which times of the day your followers are most active. For the hashtags I think it's important to use hashtags that the stores you're wearing advertise. This helps by giving you brand exposure and the potential of a repost. 
   
   
   I've come to realize that coffee posts get the most attention on my account, which in turn gets me more followers. I'm always drinking coffee so coffee shots are too easy for me, that's probably why I have so many!
4. Since you've become "social media famous" what are some of the perks and downsides? Do people in your school/community treat you differently?
   
   
   I don't personally categorize myself as "social media famous" but at the same time I don't like to discredit myself since I do have more followers than your "average Joe". I guess the best way I like to put it is that have a "wide audience". The definite perk to having a wide audience is being able to monetize what you do. I've been able to grow my brand into a part-time job and network myself with brands that I've never thought possible. 
   
   
   For the most part people treat me like they always have, but there's always the exception. I've never been the "popular kid" in school, and while most of the people I went to school with know about my Instagram, it never made me popular. It sounds like I don't like that, but honestly I don't "fit in" in any sense, so me being popular would just be extremely awkward.
5. Do you think that this could be a job for you, where you could make enough money to sustain yourself? Do you currently spend a lot of time posting/editing where it is like a part or full time job?
   
   
   Instagram and blogging was my job for about a month before starting my job at Ulta. I do hope to be able to grow it into something a little more profitable in the future, but that is something you have to work really hard for. 
   
   
   I do actually spend a lot of time with social media. There's way more behind the scenes work than people realize-- email, shooting and editing can get very stressful, especially the email portion. Since I do take what I do very seriously I do take my time to write out professional emails and a single email can take anywhere from a minute to a good 20 minutes (for me at least).
6. What advice would you give to someone who looks at these pretty girls with thousands upon thousands of followers and is trying to get their blogs or instagrams well known?
   
   
   Honestly, all I can say is just keep going. Keep putting out the content you enjoy and stay true to yourself. Always remember this is a quality over quantity industry, for example most people would prefer to follow a fashion blogger type account rather than someone that only post their Starbucks frappuccino, although there's nothing wrong with that every once in awhile. 
   
   
   Also, [using] hashtags and knowing your best posting time that I mentioned earlier is going to help you to expedite the process. Don't be scared to use as many hashtags as possible.
7. Anything else you care to share about yourself/social media world/anything?
   
   
   Something you touched on earlier that I'd like to stress, is that whatever someone says on the Internet doesn't matter. As a trans woman I get a good amount of hate, catered toward who I am of course, and if you don't have a good self-esteem [that] can really break [you] down. You just need to keep reminding yourself that you matter and are beautiful.
   
   Plus, the love outweighs the hate in every situation.