Last week I had the honour of attending the first women bloggers conference in Canada…Blissdom!
It was attended by the most sensational women from the blogger and social media world…women who I admire and who inspire me online everyday. The most powerful memory that I have is meeting the women I have met online, IRL. They are truly more beautiful than I imagined…inside and out.
For all of you who may not have had the privilege of being in the company of these creative, funny and authentic women…here are the Top 10 Things I Learned at Blissdom10!
1. Mommy bloggers are indeed taking over social media (next, the world!)
2. As long as you are your true self (be a bitch online, if you are a bitch offline!), you will never have any competition. Rather than keeping similar bloggers/sites at a distance…keep them close and collaborate. This is what women do- support and encourage one another.
3. It is important to take care of yourself and then spread the good using twitter, facebook and your blog! Social change can be enormous online.
4. Women have found their voice and platform through blogging. Like me, they have validated their feelings, connected with like-minded women and felt the support and love of an entire community. Meeting other moms who have kids with special needs was a connection that I was really needing to make. I will forever be touched by Julie Cole and Tanis Miller for sharing their stories.
5. Whether you have just written your first post or run a Blogging Community…we are all equals on twitter and at Blissdom. We can all learn from one another. While the “experts” were on the stage…we are all the experts of our own experiences.
6. You are your brand. You are always marketing…from talking about your family online to getting drunk at a party…you are creating your unique “brand”.
7. MILP- Mommies I’d Like to Party with! Sharon, Kathryn and I attended Mabelbliss and had a blast drinking with the one and only CocktailDeeva. It was an honour to meet this crazy and fab woman in person! I also had a chance to put a face to our own PTPA Blogaholics; Tammi and Nicole…awesome to meet you both!
8. Stick with Laura, Alex and Lindsay and you will surely be at the “cool” tables!!
9. The jury is out on editing…some love to edit, edit and edit…others write from the heart and hit publish. Which every method you prefer, not all blog posts will be homeruns…just tell your story and try to “suck less”. I came away from the conference really wanted to be a better writer…or at least finding more time to do it!
10. Twitter is for making connections. Engagement and relationships, not sales. Women are communicators, use social media to explore what we do best.