little aesthete answers questions for iq ads, a platform for the local advertising industry. here’s everything you have ever wanted to know about the blog. or something…
when have you started?
i have been posting ever since 2010. it’s complicated but also very educational. you learn a lot about your self and about the others, about the journalistic mechanisms but especially about communication.
the enthusiasm and the will are just the first steps. it also takes lots of work, eloquence, good pictures, original content, optimization, seo and social media, among many others. but it’s worth it because i feel like there’s a lot left to learn.
what was your initial plan and how have things evolved in time?
the blog started off as a showcase meant to convince some people to pay me to travel the world for three months. it didn’t work out, but i haven’t stopped posting ever since. in time, the blog developed and became mainly a social tool. when i meet new people, my blog is my business card. and i’m glad to see that it’s working, both personally and professionally!
who is andreea in real life?
i have been a free lance translator and interpreter for over 10 years and it’s a job that suits me. otherwise, i like to travel and to discover new things and new people. last, but not least, i’m trying, apparently with no chance of success, to treat my obsession for tokyo.
i hope to inspire my readers all over the world to travel more, to try to see the world. the knowledge and experiences obtained during the travels are worth the effort.
who does the little aesthete collaborate with?
for christmas, i had a project trying to convince people that we can celebrate without cutting perfectly healthy fir trees and throwing them out 2 weeks later. together with 7 local artist friends, we created a series of alternative christmas trees. the project will continue because i like the idea and the readers told me they want to get involved!
also, i’m currently collaborating with loot, a local design studio, in order to freshen up my visual identity and more.
last, but no least, i am always open to interesting propositions!
which were the most important moments in the evolution of the platform?
the blog is personal so the important moments are often my secret scores. it may be an with a super dope street artist i have recently discovered, a favourite band who retweets the post i wrote about them or an interesting job i get in part because the employer reads my blog.
what is your editorial policy, what are your topics of interest and what doesn’t fit the profile of the platform?
i’m not interested in being negative. i’m trying to write constructive things. mainly, the blog follows my interests and obsessions. i go to the end of the world to see a sad dog? you’ll see it on the blog. i like a guy who cancels onstage the contrast between a vintage suit and stoner rock? you’ll certainly find out who he is. i find a cool bar in vienna? or a great concept store in florence? why wouldn’t i tell all this to my readers? sharing is caring, right?
the blog’s editorial policy is closely related to my curiosity. the flow of news often follows my destinations so the topics end up varying quite a lot: the cosmetics industry in south korea, eye-popping street style in tokyo, an online store for luxury bdsm, vertical gardens or, very importantly, the bucharest underground. i try to provide an experience and not a simple press release extract.
the blog aims to have no hidden agenda. the honesty of my approach assures a quality of readers impossible to obtain otherwise.
what post has generated the most buzz? and which one has received the most objections?
by far, the most read and searched post is the one about mirai chan. she is a little japanese girl, the protagonist of a photo book that i discovered on a rainy day in a cat café in taipei. as the internet is great, i found her and i wrote about her. her abnormal level of cuteness has attracted over ten thousand readers so far.
i haven’t really had negative comments or trolls. it’s probably because i try to write researched posts.
what have your readers taught you?
at a certain point, i made friends online with a reader. we were bound by the shared fascination we had for a belgian alternative star rock. that fact that we didn’t know each other irl lent an interesting freedom to the interaction.
my statistics say that i have readers all over the world. and i love that. most of them are from nyc, london and bucharest, but also from sydney and singapore. i have never dreamed of such a cosmopolitan following but i think it suits me.
how much does the feedback from the readers count in decision making? have you made changes as a result of a suggestion you received?
i am very interested in the interaction created around the blog. i answer to all the comments and messages. i rely on the feedback i get from my readers. last summer, a faithful reader asked me why i didn’t introduce that feature that enabled people to comment via facebook and i did it. it counts, right? 🙂
how do you use facebook and other channels to promote your content?
i use the social media channels for interaction, promotion but also for seo purposes. i haven’t invested in self-promotion because i have little faith in the success rate of facebook’s new monetization efforts.
in brief, i use sm organically. and i aim to share different content on each channel. otherwise, what would be the point to follow me on them all, right?
how difficult is it to monetize such a project? which are the growth opportunities for the upcoming period?
monetization hasn’t been and still isn’t an exclusive purpose. i preferred to wait for the right partners. in a world suffocated by marketing, i try to keep a high standard for content as well as for the quality of the readership. the credibility of the blog and of the undertaking is essential.
how do you see the future evolution of the project?
recently, i was considering putting an end to it and starting to write fiction. but the format suits me: i’m naturally very curious. moreover, finding the right form to share my finds with the readers is a stimulating exercise. so it’s not over yet!
what other projects of yours do we need to know about?
interesting times bureau has been recently launched. first, the project brings alternative tours of bucharest. second, it aims to coagulate the underground, those super cool and unrepeatable people that make bucharest such an unmissable place right now. my tour is called meet the locals and it has a variable itinerary. i take people to my favourite places: an interesting gallery or book store, a skate spot, a painting studio or the most polarizing bar of the moment. even if you are a local, it’s probable that you don’t know all my places: some are pretty secret.
this being said, i’m waiting for you all on littleaesthete.com. all suggestions and complaints are welcome! 🙂
ps: if you guys still have questions for the little aesthete, post them in the comments!
photo credits: little aesthete
1 comment
RAGTAG Tokyo is your Future Vintage Source – GUEST POST「ラグタグ セレクトショップ」 | UNIVERSOTOKYO says:
Dec 12, 2014
[…] Through littleaesthete, Andreea hopes to inspire her international readers to travel more and to discover the world. “The knowledge and experiences obtained during the travels are worth the effort” she says. You can learn more about her and her wonderful blog HERE . […]