Recap: Portland Bloggers Holiday Mingle Event
On Wednesday, October 16 I had the pleasure of attending the Portland Bloggers‘ Holiday Mingle with PR Professionals event (yes, my recap is a little overdue!;-) Let me just say: what a fabulous event! Being able to hear from some truly experienced and business-savvy PR ladies was so worthwhile, and I jotted down notes furiously (in-between Tweeting out all the great info!)
Organized by Portland Blogger organizer Bee from The Spicy Bee, the Holiday Mingle event brought together local PR company Little Green Pickle and a number of bloggers raring to hear their advice. In addition, Little Green Pickle’s office was filled with local Portland vendors supplying us with fantastic bite-sized treats and tastes of their wares. From homemade salmon chips by The Bent Brick ($6 at the NW Marshall St location) to Olympic Provisions’ flavored salamis (available for order online here and I recommend all of them but especially the Cacciatore!) to Double Dragon‘s variety of Banh Mi (available at the SE Division location) and deviled eggs.
After noshing on all the deliciousness we sat down to hear a presentation from PR mavens such as Carrie Welch from Little Green Pickle, Meaghan Burns from Broussard Communications, Lisa Hill from Lisa Hill PR, Heather Jones from Heather Jones Consulting, and Vicky Hastings from Maxwell PR. They touched on a variety of topics including how big of a following a blogger should have before reaching out to a PR company (1000 readers is a good rule of thumb, they agreed, but often reader engagement through comments, retweets, shares etc. is more important than just numbers), what kind of bloggers are a good fit for what kind of brands, and as a blogger, how to work with a brand and make it into a relationship. Here are a few things I Tweeted out during the event:
“It’s all about the fit and the relationship on top of that” gr8 advice from @LittleGreenPick re: #bloggers working w/ brands @pdxbloggers
— Chic Steals (@ChicSteals) October 17, 2013
Did u know? Brands tend to use Facebook more than Twitter! Says @MaxwellPR @pdxbloggers #holidaymingle
— Chic Steals (@ChicSteals) October 17, 2013
Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest: what order to prioritize ur #socialmedia and track insights says @LittleGreenPick @pdxbloggers
— Chic Steals (@ChicSteals) October 17, 2013
“Bloggers: get.your.site.design.together in order to work with brands” from pro PR @LittleGreenPick As a designer, I agree! @pdxbloggers
— Chic Steals (@ChicSteals) October 17, 2013
“Beautiful photography on your blog is a double whammy (for #blogger marketability)” from @BroussardComm @pdxbloggers #holidaymingle
— Chic Steals (@ChicSteals) October 17, 2013
“Big or small, you guys are the tastemakers…and clients want to know what you think” from @LittleGreenPick to #bloggers @pdxbloggers
— Chic Steals (@ChicSteals) October 17, 2013
(And if you’re not able to make it to any of the Portland Bloggers events – or don’t live in the area- you should Follow me on Twitter if you’re not already because when I’m at an event I’ll post tons of great tips and advice from the pros about blogging, social media, etc!)
During the evening, due to the sheer volume of Tweets all the bloggers and vendors and PR reps were putting out there tagged #holidaymingle, it actually trended on Twitter in the Pacific Northwest region! How cool is that?
If you are a local blogger looking to attend some of our upcoming events, definitely check out the Portland Bloggers site to connect with us! Likewise, if you are a vendor, PR professional, website dev company, social media marketer…or anything that might be of interest to our large group of bloggers (over 300 now!!), drop us a line to see how we can connect you and your services to our network.
You can also read the official Portland Bloggers recap of the event here.
xo
Carly
Photos by Macey Snelson & Chloe from Little Green Pickle – thank you!!
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