August 12, 2016 By Heather Serdoz,
One week out of BlogHer and I’m still soaking it all in, was that real life? In short- yes! A week ago I sat down in a room with hundreds of creative individuals to talk all things content. From getting your content discovered in search all the way to Snapchat best practices, we covered quite a bit. Three days really wasn’t enough time and the hour long panels only scratched the surface of their topics. I could have sat there for hours picking the brains of all of the great speakers. They talked to us about passion projects, their personal trials and failures and of course that “ah-ha!” moment.

A Few Key Moments

  1. First SMG…. nough said. Sarah Michelle Gellar, for those of you who aren’t use to speaking in acronyms, graced us with her presence as our morning keynote speaker. The brilliant mother is on a mission to bring people together through the art of baking… for the modern individual. To all of my toast burners out there, you can do this! She’s joined forces with two other moms and created Foodstirs a company that specializes in quick-from-scratch mixes. With wholesome ingredients and an honest mission SMG is juggling a business, raising two great kids and working on a Cruel Intentions reboot. That last bit was insider info so- shhh. She left us with this lasting bit of advice- “Stop worrying about your legacy, enjoy the moments”- SMG
  2. What was for lunch you ask? Well I’ll tell you this, SheKnows and BlogHer do not disappoint. Lunch started with Sheryl Crow and ended with Kim K… as in Kardashian. Both women are absolutely brilliant there is no denying that, no matter your stance on reality TV or taste in music.
  3. Sheryl talked about how life started over for her after her breast cancer diagnosis. She wanted to remind us to advocate for our own health and really start to look at what we put into our bodies. Sheryl had powerful message she closed with- “For us to have peace in the world we have to manifest peace within ourselves.” I’ll just let that sit there for a while.
  4. Kim reminded us that the haters will always be there no matter what avenue life leads you down. She talked to us about mentorship, entrepreneurship having a sense of humor. Remember Kim isn’t just a reality TV star, she co-owns DASH with her sisters, has a hand in developing a handful of apps and works a ton of projects on the side. She’s a business woman through and through. I’ll leave you with this piece of advice Kim hopes to pass off to her kids- “I hope they see that everyone makes mistakes and as long as you grow from them you’re doing okay.” - Kim K.

The Panel Round Up

The only downfall to attending BlogHer 2016 alone is not being able to sit in on every panel. This was when some hard decisions had to be made. Ultimately as a content marketer for the agency I sat in on the panels that would make for the most effective use of the agency’s time as well as my own. Without further ado… SEO: Get Your Content Discovered in Search - There was literally so much information given during this panel. We didn’t just talk about basic SEO planning, but dove into creating a content marketing strategy that works for you, your clients and most importantly those you want to target. Our panelists stressed the importance of not being afraid of making changes because you’re worried about messing up your SEO rankings. Remember you can always change it back. The panel also touched on Google answer boxes, increasing your page authority and how to get the most out of evergreen content. Grow Your Influence with a Social Media Strategy and Plan - You’ve got to start with your community, get to know your audience. The panel couldn’t have stressed more about getting to know your readers, consumers and loyal followers. Yolonda Spinks reminded us that our analytic tools should be doing the hard work for us. Let analytics tell you when your readers are most active and then utilize social planning platforms and schedule out all of your posts in advanced. For the majority of us this should sound pretty familiar. But it doesn’t stop there, you’ve got to find out what medium your audience likes to absorb content in. Is it video? Articles? Tweets? Vlogs? Give the people what they want. This may mean a little more research, but your end results will be worth it. I left feeling inspired, empowered and excited about how I could take all of this great information and apply it to my daily tasks here at Digital Operative. Needless to say I’m already pumped for BlogHer 2017! As always reach out, get in touch or follow us on social and let us know how we can help you on your journey through content marketing.  

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