Hey, babes! A little over a week ago I flew to Raleigh, North Carolina to meet up with 45 ladies that I only knew through little Instagram squares & DM's. I left that weekend with 45 boss babe blogging sisters & filled with inspiration. A lot of people don't get blogging, sometimes I think my husband doesn't understand but he tries. I feel like there is this misconception that bloggers are self centered, want just 5 minutes of fame, & love selfies. Well to be honest I hate having my picture taken, I want to change this negative misconception of dressing, & I only have 3,000 followers on Instagram. It's so much more than what people think (but who doesn't love a good selfie once in a while)
The blogging industry is pretty saturated but we all have a story to tell & there is room for all of us. This was a major theme of the weekend. Bloggers have become a way for brands to market which they prefer to celebrities which we learned during the brand panel. (I'll get into the specifics later)
I got to my hotel room in Raleigh at 11:00pm on a Friday night. I had worked all day & hosted an event the night before, I was pooped. I stayed at the Sheraton downtown which was literally only a 4 minute walk from the Cannon Room where the Style Collective Conference was held. The venue itself was so beautiful, bright, & opened which was great for all the learning we were doing. I arrived to SCCON Saturday morning mocha latte in hand & had the opportunity to meet some of my social media besties in real life. It's kind of funny, you refer to each other as your Instagram handle names & squeal like a little school girls "It's so nice to meet you in real life". My husband has definitely made fun of me for that before. The weekend of learning & empowerment kicked off with a Influencer panel which included Holly Boyd , Keke O , & Courtney Inkpen which was moderated by AdrinaRose . I think the nugget that really stuck out to me most was to delete any apps that I had to track who was following or unfollowing me. I had 2 apps that showed me such things & it does get you down. When I deleted them it felt kind of freeing. Also staying genuine to yourself, finding your niche, & posting daily is the key to finding your tribe. We were also encouraged to pitch brands no matter how small we are. After taking all this in we had some photo booth fun.
Which was followed by the founder, CEO, & total boss babe of Style Collective, Annie Spano's workshop. She helped us narrow down our mission & vision statements along with discovering our authentic selves. This workshop was deep. We looked at our past experiences good or bad to understand our stories to help define our purpose & values. Some of my values include faith, honesty, compassion, respect, & growth. Which brings me to my mission: empowering women to live life confidently one closet at a time. I envision a world where women can lift each other up fashionably instead of tearing each other down. To say this workshop was a doozy is an understatement. Any time you have to do soul searching it can be intense but so insightful!!
We broke for lunch & on to our next workshop, Content Planning & Writing Emotional Headlines that convert with Jessie Undorfer. You know that saying "by failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail." ? Well this workshop stressed the importance of looking into the future & really methodically planning content. It literally gave us an entire calendar through the end of the year. The second half of this workshop we learned about EMV. Do you know what that is? Because I certainly didn't. It's Emotional Marketing Value & each headline has a percent anything above 40% is solid. The website they suggested was Coschedule , it is literally game changing. (this post scored a 57%)
After a day full of learning it was time to eat & party! A group of us went to St. Roch for some amazing oysters then to the after party where Kendra Scott had a pop up shop! We laid our full brains down to rest just to get back to the grind the next day.
Sunday begun with the brand panel which I had mentioned prior. Angel from Beam Collective, Sarah, & Jordan both from Kendra Scott where there. My biggest takeaways from this was that when pitching brands they like to use the word "partnership" in email subjects to make it more personable & collaborative. Along with giving metrics, numbers don't lie. They also reiterated that the fact that brands aren't looking to work with just huge influencers but influencers that have a real following with a sense of community.
Our next workshop was Media Exposure, brand deals, & leveling up with Amanda Berlin PR Strategy Expert & Annie Spano. We dove into different types of media exposure & took a test based on our personalities to see what kind of media would fit us best. I got digital print & television. The ladies also covered pitching to brands which is something I definitely need to work on. When pitching you want to keep it simple. Starting off with a compliment to the brand is always a nice touch then introduce yourself & develop a connection. Tell the brand how you could serve them to reach their goals, back it up with your metrics, & close it out with a call to action. I always feel awkward about pitching myself but it is apart of the gig & I need to go outside my comfort zone.
The last & final workshop of the session was about podcasts with Courtney Bentley of Fit, Fierce, & Fabulous podcast & Annie. I had been thinking about starting a podcast for a while & this has inspired me. Podcasting gives you a voice to your community so they can put a voice to the face. They are to inspire others & to meet amazing people. It all starts with defining your objectives, picking a topic, & crafting your intro! The same pitching method above applies!
This was literally the most inspirational & encouraging weekend of my entire life. They even treated us to a trolley ride around downtown Raleigh as a send off! I've been a Style Collective member for a little more than a year & it has helped me so much! They have so many resources & e-courses that you can use. Not only that but you are involved in a community with such wonderful women. In a world where females tear each other down it is unique & powerful that you can find people you bond so much with through the internet. Anyway if you are a blogger I hope that you gleaned some useful information from this post. (Sorry it was a long one) If you are just a reader yourself maybe you got inspiration to start your own blog or at least realign with your core values & purpose.
Well babes, I thank you so much for reading along & following my journey. I'm so blessed to be able to start this little positive vibe tribe & be apart of a movement that inspires women to live life confidently. You can find out more about the Style Collective Sisterhood here! They will be offering a digital ticket so you can get the entire weekend if you are having serious FOMO.
Here are some other articles from boss babe's that were there if you would like to read more :)
Beautiful on a Budget // Hems + Heard // Divas Never Settle
I hope to see you at SCCON19!
