I’m kind of slow to do a SNAP recap – it’s because I know some of you want lots of details. I’m just going to recap some things I took away from the classes, etc. Lumped by day.
Headed to the conference….
good thing we rented a minivan – and this is only the way there. Most of us had a rollerboard suitcase packed inside of each of those big suitcases – to make way for SWAG and shopping, so there were tons more bags on the way back.
THURSDAY…
First off, I don’t live by IKEA. But I love it. So we were there bright and early to get some shopping in before registration started. I got some awesomeness. I’ll share it coming soon.
Classes…
Google+
From this class, I realized that I knew more about G+ than I thought – it was an overview of what G+ was, how to set up your profile, etc. I was familiar with all that was covered – but just in case you aren’t, here are a few points of interest:
-integrates to YouTube (hangouts on air – my favorite G+ feature)
-with searching, your friends results come up first, integrates with +1 feature
-when sharing posts, upload a photo – gets more exposure
-photos upload from your phone into a private album
-use a personal page (blog pages are just “eh”)
-find trending hashtags and post relevant to those topics
-set up Google Authorship (I did this a few months ago – so cool!)
Remember: G+ plugs into the Power of Google – – that’s huge!
The Power of Pinterest
This was one of my favorite classes – it was great! I have never given any purpose to my pinning, and this let me see Pinterest in a whole new light. It was an “ah-ha” class for me. A few highlights:
-there are over 4 million daily Pinterest users, bu they’re quick readers, hop around, etc
-take your project pictures a step further – how are you going to present it to your readers?
-Pictures: staging, composition, lighting, branding; **Portrait orientation is KING** you get the most space; if titling your photos, use the same fonts to brand yourself
-stay true to yourself with your pins
-write descriptions for your boards (I went home and did this right away)
-get a personal AND business account (this is still on my to-do, maybe)
-Build your following by: be social, comment and repin, follow top influencers, use unique content (key!), focus on holidays and seasons 1-2 months ahead, timin
-add collages to old posts
-on your blog, ask readers to pin “if you like this post, share/pin it!”
-it all comes back to creating great content
-Tools: Hello Insights, Google Analytics Real-time Stats
Keynote and Pajama Party
I didn’t take any notes from the Thursday night Keynote Speaker – honestly I wasn’t that impressed. He had a great life story, but I’m not sure that speaking was his thing, which is fine – everyone has different strengths. His back-story was inspiring and about bringing gardens and fresh produce to the inner-city.
On to the pj party – – complete with big cookies and milk. When was the last time I had strawberry milk?! dunno, but it was awesome.
The Pajama Party was TONS of fun. There were bunches of craft stations where you could choose to make lots of different things. I loved the opportunity to relax and create with a big group of people. I know some of you have “craft nights” and things, but we don’t have them in my area, so I was excited to get to participate in one. Wearing PJs was just a fun added bonus.
Door Decorating Contest
Sometime between classes and the pj party, we decorated our hotel door for the door decorating contest. We of course think it was awesome! Apparently several others thought a photo booth was the way to go – bummer that we weren’t unique, but still, we won this:
For more about my experience at the SNAP Creative Bloggers Conference, see this post.
