Good morning! It’s a gloomy, rainy day here in Gainesville, but I’m happy we’re getting some rain. Hopefully it’ll start to cool down soon!
I know I left you hanging with my Central Florida Bloggers Conference recap, and I promise I’ll deliver! First, head on over to Part 1 and Part 2 if you haven’t read them yet.
Yesterday I left off with Jeanette Scott from J’s Everyday Fashion‘s presentation on 6 ways to makeover your blog with Facebook. Personally, I never put too much thought into Facebook promotions. I’ve had an “If you build it, they will come” mentality with Facebook, but I’m seriously reconsidering that now. J pointed out all the different ways Facebook can actually drive traffic and help monetize your blog.
Takeaways: Extreme Makeover Facebook Edition by Jeannette Scott
- Post your best content.
- Provide a service people want to see in their feed. When people comment, their friends see it, too.
- Market, but don’t spam.
- Visit other pages and leave content behind.
- Post on FB pages of other relevant categories.
- Post photos w/ content in the caption and link back to blog for mobile users.
- Partner w/ other pages.
- Trade links w/ companies in related industries, but not direct competitors.
- *If a company wants to send freebies, ask for a reciprocal link as payment. I loved this tip! This gives you a way to accept freebies, but capitalizes on a brands thousands of fans and drives traffic to your blog. Just ask for X amount of mentions when sending them your terms.
- Monetize Facebook.
- Place affiliate links within content, but use disclosure.
- Sell your FB audience as part of your sponsorship package. Use is as a measure of your value.
- Engage audience.
- Use tricks like “this or that.”
- Encourage others to post content and make it interactive.
- Targeted ads.
- Use FB’s demographic tools to purchase ads specific to your target market.
- Add a note/ about section snippet of your disclosure and link to full disclosure on your blog.
- Check out Mari Smith, Facebook expert.
That’s all, folks! That covers all the amazing, informative sessions I went to, and I hope my notes help with your blog if you weren’t able to make it. Moving on, quickly, quickly…
After all the presentations were finished, we broke out into groups by blogging niche. I got to meet Kat from Sneakers and Fingerpaints, Michelle from Crazy Running Legs (who recognized me from my Twitter pic and made me feel super special), Caroline from My Fascinating Life (who took these awesome pictures and shared them on her blog), Carissa from Fit 2 Flex, and lots of other wonderful ladies.
And because we’re all fitbloggers…
We were having such a good time meeting and greeting that the CFLBlogCon staff had to come and retrieve us for the after party. While I waited in line, I had the pleasure of meeting Katy Widrick, who is one of my biggest blogging role models. Not only was she sweet and friendly, but she had only words of encouragement when I mentioned pursuing my career in social media and Web design.
When the line winded down, we ended up in the Dino Diggs room, which featured a really cool dinosaur exhibit. At this point, most of us reverted to our 10-year-old selves and proceeded to take these types of pictures.
Yes, I changed. After 8 hours in a blazer and heels, I just wanted to be comfy, and a girl’s gotta keep a change of clothes in her car.
The after party was hosted by Yelp! and featured some awesome food and drinks from local businesses.
They had lots of swag for us, and even offered some complimentary beverages while we waited for the final speakers. That’s Beka from Rebecca Roams in the background.
Crave was serving up some warm pita and hummus, and Qdoba was there with their signature gumbo.
Intense blogger conversation ensued about how this was not sexy food as we attempted to find the best angle for food porn. However, it was warm and delicious, and just the comfort food I needed after a long day on my feet.
The last speaker of the day was Bess Auer, the mastermind behind CFLBlogCon, who announced the raffle winners and the winners of Blogging for Good. Congratulations Kat on winning the iPad! I had to leave a little early, since I had a loooong drive ahead of me back to Gainesville.
Fortunately, there was no traffic and I got to see this stunning sunset for half my drive, which made it a little more pleasant.
Taking pictures on the turnpike is super sketchy, guys. Don’t try it.
I got home around 9:30 beat, but excited. I’m thankful for the opportunity I had to learn so many new things about blogging and to make some great connections.
I can’t wait to see what’s in store for next year!
