What I Learnt At Britmums Live 2015

It seems like so long ago since I attended Britmums Live 2015 thanks to my wonderful sponsor MAM UK. I wrote about my experience of Britmums Live soon after the event and I came away with a notebook full of tips and a head full of ideas on how to improve this little blog of mine. Then I came home and I was exhausted, seriously it took me days to recover.

I have been reading my notebook of tips I learnt whilst I was there and I thought that I would share with you some of the things that I learnt from Britmums. I have loved reading what other people learnt as everyone seems to have had different experiences and learnt completely different things. 

The sessions I attended were Google +, Social media, Bloggers and brands, Beginners SEO and Photo styling. So this will be a quick rundown of little things I learnt in each of those sessions.

GOOGLE +

• If you are a blogger it is best to have a profile rather then a page, as profiles perform better and pages are more for businesses. 
• You can post anything you want on Google + but a good rule is four pieces of others content to every one piece of your own. 

That is about all I learnt, I know that sounds terrible and other people in the session learnt so much but I just don't get Google +. I know I have a profile as I am on blogger so automatically have a one, but I never go on it and don't understand it, even after going to a session on it. 

SOCIAL MEDIA

• Have consistent account names on all your accounts. It is also best to sign up to new channels such as Periscope and claim your name and then just park your account until you decided you want to grow it.
• Have a presence on all the main social media channels but make sure you concentrate on doing two well and just let the others tick over, or you will wear yourself too thin. 
• If you want one account to just tick along get into the habit of posting from other social media accounts, such as linking your Instagram to your Facebook page. 
• Watermark your Pinterest images so if it gets re-pinned it will have your logo on to link back to your site.
• Make sure you are active on all accounts daily and always reply to every social media comment. 
• Use Google + daily as it is good for SEO.
• It is best to focus on the big four channels Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram and let the other ones such as Google +, Tumbler and Linkedin just tick along. 
• Update Facebook 2-3 times per day to increase engagement, don't post more than this as it is seen as spammy, also share posts from high performing pages. 
• Post a lot of other peoples content regularly, not just your own.
• Brands want to work with bloggers with good engagement over high followers. 
• Use lots of hashtags on Instagram and comment on lots of peoples photos.
• That I really need to start scheduling as I have never scheduled anything before and everyone else is, as it is the only way to stay on top of Twitter. 

BLOGGERS AND BRANDS.

• When brands are looking for bloggers to work with they will look at your reach, social following, your tone of voice and if you are a good fit for the campaign, your photography skills and your willingness to work together.
• Social reach is important but a loyal engaged audience is more desirable to a brand. 
• Make sure sponsored post/reviews are always followed by an original post you have not been compensated in any way for. 
• It is OK to work for a low-value item or for free if you want to build a relationship with a brand.
• Be proactive when approaching brands, I have only ever contacted a brand once before and never even realised people were contacting brands to work with them. So maybe I will start doing this as I always think my blog is too small, but I have realised my stats are actually not to bad. 
• When working with a brand always mention the brand in social media coverage and either take screenshots or send the social media URL to the brand of any positive comments/shares etc.

BEGINNERS SEO

• Always use titles with keywords in.
• Always add a link to a previous blog post in every post.
• Only use one label when tagging your posts.
• You need to add a description to each of your photos.
• Always write your posts naturally then optimise them for SEO afterwards.
• Only use one external link per post. 
•  Use no follow if you don't trust the site, its a review or paid for posts and use follow links for sites you trust such as other peoples blogs etc. 
• Use alt tags on images if you want them to appear in google images. 
• The main elements of SEO are your title, the first line of your post, your URL and the categories/labels you add to your post. 
• If you search site: your URL without WWW it will show you what posts have been indexed by Google. 

PHOTO STYLING FOR YOUR BLOG AND INSTAGRAM

This was my favourite session and is something I really need to work on.

• Always have a story behind the photo.
• Objects should not be touching, if they do touch you need to overlap them.
• Group things together in odd numbers.
• Pick objects of different heights, textures, sizes to bring the image to life.
• Make the background clutter free and use little objects from around the home to help style the photo.
• Always use natural light.
• Make cheap DIY backdrops with wallpaper, foam boards or cards. 
• Focus on small areas and remember to crop photos.
• Keep Instagram photos simple
• Use the grid to keep your Instagram photos straight
• Don't use Instagram filters, just brighten your photos. 
• Find your style and stick to it.

The biggest thing I brought away from Britmums though was friendship, I was lucky enough to meet so many some lovely bloggers who were all just as nice as I expected them to be in real life and who I really hope I can meet again someday. I will defiantly be going to more blogging events from now on and if anyone is thinking of going to a one then go, as I am sure you will have a great time.

Have you attended a blogging event yet?