Nuffnang held its inaugural Fashionopolis fashion blogger’s conference in Melbourne on Saturday, 12 May 2012. The event brought together over 100 fashion bloggers from all over Australia, a record first.

The schedule was packed with talks and included ample time for networking and snapping outfits.

Whilst it was hosted by Nuffnang, a blogger agency which started in Singapore and represents some of Australia’s leading bloggers, affiliate links agency Reward Style also attended, making for a robust panel on monetisation.

Affiliate links

rewardStyle brings together fashion bloggers on currentlyOBSESSED.me, where users can ‘stalk’ their favourite bloggers and find products the bloggers recommend. Bloggers also include affiliate links on their blogs.

Display advertising

Nuffnang were a strong advocate for display advertising, which they organise for their stable of bloggers. There was some discussion over whether display advertising is still relevant, and the panel was split as to whether it’s an effective monetisation tool for bloggers.

Sponsored posts

Kyra Pybus of Pybus PR spoke about ways brands and bloggers can work together, the most obvious of which being sponsored posts. Whilst for large brands, most bloggers expect a sponsored arrangement, Phoebe Montague of Lady Melbourne was quick to assure local and independent brands that where there is synergy, she works with selected partners for no fee.

Competitions

Competitions fall into the contra category, with bloggers keen to ensure that for any promotion, either they or their audience (or preferably both) are rewarded.

Traffic

For many years the value of a blogger has been measured in traffic to their blog. Interestingly, rewardStyle reported that their highest-performing bloggers in terms of affiliate links weren’t the famous bloggers, but rather bloggers with smaller, more engaged audiences.

Social media opportunities

Following on from the blog traffic conversation is the value of social media mentions. Whilst blogging is important, for many bloggers, the real conversations happen on Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms. The advantage of affiliate links is that they are transferable to these platforms, whilst display advertisements aren’t.

The advantage for brands working with bloggers is that their sponsored post is amplified through the blogger’s social media graph, creating more engagement about the brand, led by a trusted taste maker.

Rubbing shoulders

Amongst the blogger guests were a handful of savvy independent brands keen to learn about engaging bloggers and meet them at the event.

Nuffnang Fashionopolis appeared from all accounts to be a success. Accordingly we can perhaps expect to see more of the same from Lady Melbourne and Nuffnang.