WordCamp US 2016 was held in Philadelphia 12/2-12/4 – and will move on to another city in the U.S. next year – with emagine making the quest for the second year from our HQ in Massachusetts. A recap of the entire weekend is coming (so have no fear!), but today I’m going to fill you in on one talk that inspired me the most: “Finding Your Voice By Blogging” from Chris Lema.
Chris is a successful public speaker (on and off stage!) and knows WordPress and the WordPress community very, very well. Impressed yet? Just wait until I tell you about his talk… A lot of people have a hard time blogging: finding the time to blog, coming up with blog topics, making sure it’s relevant to your audience, etc. Like many other emagine team members, this talk was inspiring and relatable to me. The list goes on and on. I used to be so scared to write a blog post for emagine. I’m intimidated to write and (quite frankly) insecure in the sense that I don’t think I have good ideas or ideas that other people will want to read about. But I quickly realized what was missing: my personality. I was taking myself too seriously and self-inflicting writer’s block.
How did I get past it all?
I took someone I’m passionate about and brought her into my writing: my 14-year old, 6-pound white Chihuahua! Jessie was appointed emagine’s Corporate Evangelist in 2014 and became a part of my blogging strategy shortly after.
The first time I incorporated Jessie into my blogs was with my series of Cinco de Mayo posts connecting website and digital marketing with her Mexican heritage. The first was “5 Secret Ingredients For A Successful Website Margarita Mix”, which came to light after Jessie asked me one day “Senorita, what is the secret to a killer website?” The second was “How a Corporate Evangelist Throws a Fiesta on Twitter” that gives social media tips on engaging your followers.
It sounds crazy but it worked for me (and Jessie!) During his talk, Chris made me realize that I am proud of my blogging efforts. One thing that is still tough for me is coming up with blog topics, but I’m learning how to get better at that by not taking myself too seriously and letting my personality show.
And I’m always learning
I continue to consult Jessie, but I’ve found that holiday themes work well too, like “17 Reasons Why I’m Lucky To Be In Business Development” for St. Patrick’s Day and “How I Learned to Fall in Love with B2B Lead Generation” for Valentine’s Day.
I’ve also learned to use my personality more for recap posts like this one on the Hospital Marketing National Conference “My Perspective on Hospital Marketing National Conference – Part 1”. They had a good lunch at the first conference in Atlanta and when there’s good food, I’ll let you know!
What’s the point, you ask?
Two things to remember:
- Take every opportunity to learn from thought leaders in your space – whether it’s live, podcasts, webinars, or on social media. Just get out there and find your inspiration.
- Write. Even if you think it’s crap (although it probably isn’t), it’s still your crap. Own it and be proud of it! Just start somewhere.
