A Blogging Conference comes to Chicago next week. Yes I said Blogging….but I hope this year the brands don’t ignore me…

Last summer about this time – I went to New York to attend a blogging conference “Blogher12” – What is Blogher you may ask? You may want to Google it, or even go to the website Blogher.com, check out the site, it will give you a big overview.

“In 2005, BlogHer Co-founders Elisa Camahort Page, Jory Des Jardins and Lisa Stone held a conference to answer the question, “where are all the women who blog?” Today, BlogHer conferences bring together thousands of these women from around the world to discuss, inspire and connect with each other.”

Last year it was in New York City, lucky for me I was able to visit with my son, and even get him to do a little (BlogHer) work for me. It was my 4th such conference, this year will be my 5th BlogHer conference, I can’t wait.

Although, did I mention to you yet, I have a small problem with blogging, I’m extremely dyslexic so it makes it hard to blog, write, and for you who are reading this, at this point you understand what I’m saying here…yes I see you nodding.

What I do and love is create “Micro Content”…What did I just say, “Micro content”..Um you may be thinking, what is that? Well I Tweet a lot, Facebook plenty, Instagram, Vine, Pin,  those are short form social platforms, and are considered by some to be “micro”, based on the size of the communications.

I also co-host a webcast, podcast, and produce large events for bloggers to attend. I have been very fortunate over the past 5 years to have found a way to market my skills. I enjoy being able to consult with brands on how to build relationships with their target market, something I have been doing for the past 25 years, it’s just cooler now.

I enjoy using these digital platforms I love. It has been so nice meeting other gals who like to do things that I like to do, for example, take photos of all their food, their friends food, and  even if it looks cool “strangers” food. Then these same group of gals will use our mobil devices and start to Tweet it, Instagram it, Pin it, and then eat it. Sometimes the food is even still hot, after we post all of the photos.

There are many reasons for me to be attending Blogher13 this summer.

 

#1.  It’s in Chicago

#2.  This year I was asked to also help out and lead a session on Podcasting.

#3. I get to connect IRL (in real life) with so many online friends these “Bloggers”. These folks are kinda all in this same world as me, and it’s fun to share stories, hints, tips, apps, and much more. Did I mention, we all stop and take photos of our food, photos of street signs, photos of the skyline, photos of everything and then we will Tweets, tag, share, well you get the picture. (Pun intended)

You may be thinking. Why do we do this, and why do Brands like to sponsor and attend Blogher?  For me the reason is simple I like to create fun content, I enjoy sharing the stories of places I have been, products I like, people I meet. The brands like it when we share, it’s much better if a user, and or consumer of a product tries it and likes it, we then may tell a friend and so it goes the wonderful, trusted, word of mouth. If MR. BRANDX tells you how wonderful his product is – how much do we care, of course he loves his own product and he wants you to buy it.

Many  brands come to this conference. These brands set up in a super huge expo area,  brands like Coca-Cola, Best Buy, Walgreens, and many more. Of course small companies come to show their products. The trick is these brands are spending a lot to be at this conference. What a chance to mix and mingle with the brands target market, but more than that it’s a whole conference filled with people that will create content the brand can use on it’s own social platforms, such as Facebook, or Twitter.  It’s a good thing that the brands are at the expo area. It means our voices matter, our opinions’ matter, and our pocketbooks matter. It means that these companies want to have an opportunity to meet us in person, see what moves us, and if things work out, will build a relationship with us. We are the “Bloggers, Vloggers, and Content Creators”. They love to see us whip out our iPhone, take a video, create content. We create content we can share with our audiences, and social channels, and it the brands content to share.

Next week I will see many of the brands that we all are familiar with, use, and if these brands plan it right, we might try a new one at some point. These brands come to meet, mix, and get to know the “bloggers”. Many brands would like to start relationships with bloggers for different reasons.

Maybe a blogger will try the product like it enough to write about it, and that becomes word of mouth marketing, advertising, for the brand.

Example if  I try a product, I like it, I blog about it, and then my readers read it, they may think – “Hey if old Beth, thinks this new xyz (skincare line) is good and useful, maybe I will try it”  When I create content around it, and my readers then try it, the brand is happy.

Last year I had so much fun in the expo hall, I took a lot of silly photos, created content that I thought my readers would find interesting, useful, helpful, relevant, and I did try to talk to the brands. I shared many of these photos and stories with my non-blogger friends, many of my IRL (in real life) friends who don’t blog, but they do buy.

I just want to say to the “Brands” the ones I may see next week, don’t ignore us, the boomers or the small number gals, the rebranders, and the newbie’s.

Also “Brands” I get it I know you’re interested in either finding the most influential bloggers, bloggers who have a big reach, names that the brands were told to look out for.  I did not have one of the brands that I took these fun photos with last year follow up with me. Some of the products I likes and others not so much, remember it’s a two way street, let’s make sure we all take the time to respect each other and see past the number. Also age is just a number. I may be a boomer, but I have young nieces and nephews, my own kids work with kids. I’m excited to meet you let’s try this again.