Social Media Week 2011 #SMWBlogOff!

On Monday I headed through to Glasgow for Social Media Week 2011. It was a free event and no invitation was required. I managed to register for four events, one of which was Blog Off! which was by far my favourite event as I felt was really informative and fun.

It was held at the rather fancy Mansion House Bar which has to be one of the fanciest places I've ever been. It has a lovely decor which pink accents and chandeliers. Me likey! I didn't manage to try any of the food so cannot give a full review but the decor was just lovely. I did however take a look at the bar menu and was pleased to see a few vegetarian options which were more exciting than just a cheese salad.

Saskia the Style Fairy telling her blog story.

Some recognisable faces!
The event was hosted by Transatlantic Blonde but also featured appearances from Ellen Arnison and Saskia the Style Fairy, who's blog I have followed for some time. And I can confirm that she is also as lovely in real life! And was dressed amazingly that day in a leopard print top, leather trousers with some henna on her hand. I probably sound like such a creep.

Nice To Tweet You
Something that might sound silly to non-internet people is the idea of a "real life Twitter event". Yes, really. You have to find another person to describe yourself to, and then you move onto someone else but within the new conversation you have to "re-tweet" something about the previous individual. A good way to show how Twitter works and also an exercise in listening! All this time however Transatlantic Blonde was walking around listening in, a reminder that unless you use Direct Mail, anyone can follow the conversation you're having.


A small snapshot of where to add your keywords

SEO
Search Engine Optimisation is something I had yet to learn much about so was really excited to gain some knew knowledge. Whilst I'm not exactly going to cry if mo'adore doesn't display first when you type in "Scottish girl who like open-source softeware, is vegetarian and takes photos of herself" I am in the process of opening up my own professional blog which means SEO is going to be HELLA important.


The presentataion from Addams Design

Design and Video Blogging
These were the other two sections of the day. Whilst informative for other people I personally didn't feel I took much away, but that's maybe because my interest in the internet was design before it was ever blogging.

Other Events I Attended
I also managed to attend Fashion Blogging 101 which certainly had it perks. Was able to meet some bloggers I had come across before such as Les Garcons de Glasgow whilst discovered some new ones, such as Bee. It wasn't so much a workshop but more a bunch of fashion bloggers getting together and discussing blogging, including an interesting perspective from Sarah about why she doesn't advertise on We Shop Therefore We Are. I also stopped by Yomego's "How Clean Is Your Rep?" but sadly I felt they were pitching their company more than informing anyone else on how to manage their reputation themselves. The hashtag for the event was even #SMWYomego rather than #SMWCleanRep. Also took part in a Twitter event (yes, a Twitter event) hosted by SIE about supporting student entrepreneurs.

A Small Bit of Networking
Maybe the biggest benefit I took away from this event was the large amount of networking that took place. Since the event I have gained 15 new Twitter followers (I've also been added to another list) whilst my blog has gained a small amount of new followers. I met some lovely like-minded people with whom I was able to speak Twitter and share our favourite bloggers with.

Thank you Social Media Week and Transatlantic Blonde for a lovely event, which was both friendly and informative. I took away so much in terms of both information and a fuzzy feeling.

Morag x