social media

Blog

Behold the power of social media and Friday fill ins…

October 11, 2012

Blogging has changed my outlook on a lot of things and brought many more interesting and yes, time consuming “hobbies” into my life. One of those things is my love for all things social media… Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google+, and by far my favorite Instagram! I have been using Facebook for quite some time and was happy and comfortable with it. I never gave Twitter much thought but when I started blogging some of the advice I got from others was to set up a profile. I did but didn’t expect much from it. Fast forward a year and I have over 800 followers – Thanks guys!!! – and use it daily. I have conversations with people all over the country and the world. It’s awesome. You know what else is awesome? Getting on Twitter to let off a little steam because you felt a company was not on the up and up. And the company in question seeing it because you tagged them.

It didn’t exactly happen to me but to the hubby. We had some issues with our cable company today and had to pay a bill even though we get our cable through our homeowners association… long story. So, I paid the bill to be done with it. An hour later hubs gets on the Twitter and “complains”. Bill from the company tweets back, asks what the problem is, they go back and forth and voila, at the end of it… we got our money refunded and an apology. How freaking cool is that? Behold the power of social media. I LOVE it. Is it any wonder? 🙂

*************************************************************************************************************

Each week, Hilary plans on listing four statements with a blank for us to fill in on your own blogs. If you want to join the fun and come up with four fill in’s of your own, please email them to her at feelingbeachie@gmail.com. If she uses them, she will add you as co-host to the hop! This week’s co-host is Janice from Janice’s Footsteps – she came up with the last two statements

She would LOVE it if you could please help her spread the word about this hop…. So, please tweet, FaceBook share, and add the linky to your post…

This week’s statements:

1. Given the choice of ___ or ___ for ___ I’d pick ___
2. If you told me ____ I would never have believed you
3. The last time I cooked_______it came out_______.
4. My favorite color is ___

My answers:

1. Given the choice of being inside or outside for my workouts I’d pick outside any day.

2. If you told me a year ago that I would be a blogger I would have never believed you.

3. The last time I cooked flounder it came out a little dry.

4. My favorite color is blue, any blue will do, but sky blue is by far my fave. (Interesting fact… we all have blue eyes in my family!)

Wishing all of you a wonderful weekend.xo, Susi

24 Comments

Blog

My Take {#CFLBlogCon}

September 18, 2012

I’ve told you about the pleasure side of my weekend trip… all that good food, great company and lots of laughter. If you haven’t read it, go here. I’ll wait. All done? Okay. Then let’s move on to the real reason hubby and I got a weekend off from the kids.

Saturday, September 15Th we attended the Central Florida Blogger and Social Media Conference at the Orlando Science Center. I loved the fact that it was a one day conference and that it was within driving distance from home.

Here I am, enjoying the view from our hotel room balcony, ready to get the day started.

I was very happy that my friend Nicolette who I met prior to the conference was going to be there and we stuck pretty close together all day and attended most of the same sessions. I found her sitting way up in the nose bleed section of the Cinedome where the opening keynote was held.

See that little guy down there? That’s Lou Mongello, he’s host of the WDW Radio Show and he gave the opening keynote. Katy Widrick who was on the planning committee for the conference introduced him and was as surprised as the rest of us when a flash mob broke out. What a way to start the day! I jotted down a lot of notes during Lou’s speech. There were two things that really resonated with me:

1) Treat your fans as friends!!!

2) BElieve in YOURself!

But there was so much more and I’m still digesting it all…

Hubby and I (and Nicolette) went to most of the same sessions. After the opening keynote we went to Callie Cowan’s session on how to built your media kit. (Sorry no pictures.) Something I’ll be working on this week and have been meaning to add to the blog. It was really helpful and pointed me in the right direction. Thanks, Callie!

After Callie’s session, we were able to stay in the same room to find out how to fit blogging into your life. The session was held by Jackie of Momjovi, Michelle of Crazy Running Legs and Christine of Cook The Story… all busy working moms. I wanted to see the session for two reasons, one, I had started reading Jackie’s blog before the conference and had made contact with her on Twitter. She seemed so sweet and friendly that I wanted to see for myself and also to say Hello (which I did) and the other reason was to see if I could find some time management tools to help me. One of the things that sticks in my mind was something Christine said… she recommends to work in batches, i.e. take a day during the month and cook up a storm! Something I’m definitely planning on doing.

For the next session we had to go to a different room and hubby and I ended up going to two different sessions. Nicolette and I ended up going to a session about SEO by Tom Jelneck… Let’s just say it’s still just as over my head as it was before I went into the session. I took notes, so I’m hoping after going over them I might have some clarity. If not, I’ll pester hubby about it! 🙂

After lunch which was served by Bahama Breeze and delicious we all went to a session on analytics by Mark Krupinski. Another one I would have happily skipped. I wish I had sent hubby alone and gone to the Twitter session instead. It wasn’t that it was useless information, far from it. But this is so hubby’s domain and not something I profess to understanding. Sorry, Mark. 🙂

The next session more than made up for it. Working with brands was presented by the lovely Julie Deily of The Little Kitchen. I found the session very informative and can’t wait to put some of her advice to use. Thanks, Julie.

By the time Julie’s session was over it was close to 4 pm and I was getting pretty overwhelmed with all the information I was trying to soak up. Can you say information overload? I’m glad I took lots of notes to go over at my own leisure.

Here is hubby getting a massage in the Recharge Room while Nicolette and I chatted about some of the things we had learned that day.

We ended up ducking out after this since we still had plans with my friend that lives in Orlando. Remember that good food and wine I mentioned in my previous post? Yeah, that… 🙂

All in all, it was a wonderful experience. I’m so glad I went and had hubby at my side. I’m already looking forward to next year.

I have to say that I got more out of this conference than another one I attended prior. It was more organized, the sessions were more informative and the vibe as a whole was more positive and friendly.

Thank you to Bess Auer and the whole team behind CFLBlogCon as well as all the other bloggers there for making this a great experience.

If you would like to see more photos from the conference go here. Macbeth Photography of Orlando did a great job capturing the day!

18 Comments

Blog

I'm a blogger… and proud of it!!!

January 24, 2012

The house is quiet, most of the cleaning and straightening is done for now and I have an hour before I have to pick up my two big kiddos. I spent most of the morning trying to figure out what to write today. There is so much swirling in my head right now. I’m learning so many things and I’m trying to set myself a schedule so it doesn’t get too over-whelming. I want to know everything, now. And I know, that’s just not possible or feasible.

I know, some of you who know me probably have no clue why I have this blog and what it’s all about. Up until about 4 months ago, neither did I. I started blogging as a way to make connections, to not always feel so alone and to make myself, if not understood, heard. It’s a way to share things and “meet” some great people. And let me tell you, I have met some fantastic people that otherwise I may never have had the pleasure of knowing. This blogosphere, although daunting at times, is a beautiful community where you can meet like-minded people.

Unknowingly, it has also become something that has changed my outlook and things I want to do in the future. It’s opened doors to new and exciting things for me. I’ve become interested in web-design, learning html and css and I’m enjoying it. Go figure. I’m turning into a geek. 🙂 I’m learning that Facebook, Twitter, Google + and all the other social media sites out there are valuable tools and should be used to their full potential.

I’ve become a blogger. There, I’ve said it. I’m a blogger and proud of it. I love getting on my computer every day and seeing the comments others have left and reading what others out there have to say. I discover something new every day and I feel like I’m growing as a person because of it. I enjoy tweaking my blog design and forever find something that I want to change and add. It’s a learning process and I think, on some level there will always be something new around the corner and that’s exciting.

It amazes me that things could look so different from where I was 4 months ago. I was lucky enough to have dinner with a fellow blogger a few days ago and it is just such a relief to speak to someone who gets it, who understand the why’s and how’s. It is also a big help that hubby is a tech geek himself so he totally understands when I go off on a tangent. He is always available to lend a hand, to give advice and to help me move forward. The kids obviously have a big part in this, as well. They are and most likely will be, the subject of many of my posts. They are what I’m passionate about… being their mommy.

Another side benefit is my new love of photography. I’ve always loved taking pictures and showing off the kids. But now, I look at things differently. I’m reading up on how and why to use certain settings on a camera. I’m paying more attention and I’m loving every minute of it. There are some great photography blogs out there with great informative articles.

It is a time-consuming but oh so enjoyable thing and there are many possibilities out there. For those of you who already follow me… Thank you from the bottom of my heart. Thank you for welcoming me to this big community of bloggers for sharing your thoughts with me and for making me smile. For those of you who are new here or who haven’t yet followed me, I’m on Facebook and Twitter !!! I look forward to seeing you there.

8 Comments

I love Instagram