Instagram Influencer Spotlight On: Jesmer Folkerts @JesmerFolkerts

1) Tell us a little about yourself. What are you doing now and where do you come from?

I’m a surfer, competitive swimmer and photographer who loves traveling. I come from the Netherlands but my audience comes from all over the world!

2) What are your topics of interest? What do you post on Instagram the most?

At the moment I’m posting photos with a bit of fashion, a bit of surfing, and a bit of nature. This summer I went surfing again so that is why I’ve got quite a few surfing photo’s. Also; I’m trying to show my self a bit more by using burst modes on my camera. This way, I can show a bit of fashion, and a bit of myself which people seem to appreciate.

3) How did your Instagram name come about?

First my instagram name was __jesmer__ which was kind of hard to tell to people. Next it became jes.mer which already was a huge improvement because now people were able to find me a lot easier. Lately I changed it to jesmerfolkerts which I think sounds way more personal, and I was hoping the engagement to grow, which it did.

4) What are some apps you use to edit your photos? Share with us your photo-editing routine!

After I took a few shots and I selected the best one, I go to my favourite app at the moment; Toolwiz Photo’s (android only) here I edit the contrast and the color balance. That’s what I usually do, but when I’m in a creative mood, I use photoshop mix by Adobe to do creative editing.

5) Any Instagrammers whom you really like? Which Instagrammer inspires you the most?

I absolutely love @JoelThorpe @JulianGrieco and @CallumJCSmith. The four of us talk to each other a lot about photos and instagram. Even though we never met. We are all having the same style of photography. We became a small group who are helping and inspiring each other. That’s what I really like about instagram; the community.

6) If there’s one thing your fellow Instagrammers just gotta try now, what’s it gonna be?

It kinda hard to explain, but they should take a photo of a photo. And the photo they are taking a photo of should be a Polaroid, and be the exact same as the Polaroid photo. They should line up perfectly. ( Or you just edit it;) ) For instance; if the Polaroid photo, is a photo of the ocean and a sunset, and the sun is in the middle, you should point your second camera to the sun as well. Then you stretch your arm and you hold the Polaroid photo in front of the camera, while you are standing behind it.

I hope you understood what I meant;)

7) What’s your favorite part about being an influencer?

I photograph almost everything I really appreciate in life. Why not promoting brands I really appreciate?
Besides that; I actually like to interact with brands. I think that’s one of the most awesome aspects of being a influencer.
I already worked together with someone who provides polarized wooden sunglasses: those are really useful for surfers like me. So he sent me some sunglasses, I posted a photo, and we were both happy.

8) What are some of your top tips to brands for running campaigns? How do you maintain authenticity?

Don’t post more than one photo a day, otherwise it might get a bit spammy to your followers.

Think about your target audience. Think about where your followers are based and adjust your time of posting to it.

Don’t just take photos of your products, but be creative. Take photos of people using/wearing them, and make sure everything in the photo looks good: The subject, but the background as well.

9) What would your advice be on the importance of quality and original content?

Quality is key. If your photos don’t have a decent/good quality, nobody is going to like them, even though the composition is great. These days phones have decent enough cameras to take instagram photos. But if you take a photo from Google, the quality might drop by a lot. So always check how big the picture you would like to post is.

Having original content is quite hard these days. But you can get inspired and give it your own personal touch. And if you find something completely new, people are probably going to love it.

10) What do you like best about partnering with brands?

I like the interactions and getting assignments from brands, they are most of the time pretty challenging which I really enjoy. The most challenging assignments often lead to the best results.

Topics:

• Fashion
• Nature & Outdoors
• Photography
• Travel

Country:

Netherlands