Disney Social Media Moms Celebration

Disney Social Media Moms Celebration 2015 – Be Inspired! That’s what I wrote about when I returned from my experience 3 months ago. It was a theme throughout the conference that really stayed with me once the weekend was over. I have always looked at every experience as a lesson. My weekend in May was full of many lessons – lessons about myself, What I Learned About MYSELF at Disney Social Media Moms Celebration 2015, about the blogging world, about social media and more!

Disney Social Media Moms Celebration is one of the most coveted invites sent out each year to some very lucky bloggers. Space is limited. You can only attend by invitation. It’s a big deal!

When the weekend was over I was determined to focus on what I had learned from the experience, from other bloggers and from the many wonderful speakers at the conference. I was still absorbing much of what I heard and saw but set some goals and timelines for myself. I decided to give myself 3 months to tackle 2 goals. At the end of the first 3 months I would set 2 new goals and slowly work my way through the list of things I was inspired to take on. 3 months sounds like a long time but believe me when life gets in the way, and you have set a timeline you are determined to stick to – 3 months flies by in a second! Knowing myself I knew that I could only focus on one or two things at a time.

My first 2 goals were simple: Tackle Twitter and master one of the APPS discussed in one of the sessions – Magistro. (I wrote about my love/hate relationship with Twitter right after the conference – What I learned About MYSELF at Disney Social Media Moms Celebration 2015.)

Twitter was up first! When you no longer have a quick wit, a quick thought, a quick way of doing things, Twitter can be a challenge. I have to process and think before I move forward, before I engage, before I type. I had a decent but small Twitter following and wasn’t in the habit of engaging on Twitter so I made a point of spending 20 minutes each morning engaging on Twitter. Then I added some time mid-afternoon. Then I added some time early evening. It was a chore. It was a chore that I wasn’t sure I could continue but I was inspired and determined! Now, 3 months later Twitter is much more natural for me and I no longer have set times to engage. I have more than doubled my followers and find myself engaging more naturally. I am, for the first time, enjoying Twitter!

Magistro – while I sat through this session at DisneySMMC, I loved what this APP could do but for some reason felt like it would be difficult to master. I was wrong! I love Magistro! I love the fact that it’s usable on your phone, on your laptop, on your desktop, on your iPad. I love the fact that it’s easy to use and makes it easy to walk yourself through the steps of turning your own photos and videos into movies – with music! Within a day or two I found myself comfortable enough with this APP to know it will be a huge part of many of my processes. Since I’m not very good with video (yet!) it’s a simple and easy way to include a movie stream of photos and short video clips in lots of areas and I’m ready to use it regularly.

What’s Next?!?

Now that I’ve accomplished my goals for the first 3 months and they have become a natural habit, I’m moving on to the next 2 on my list: Video/YouTube/Periscope and Pinterest.

Pinterest

I have never really looked as Pinterest as anything other than a place to “pin” some photos. At the conference I listened to Eva Smith from Pinterest Marketing. At the conference I learned there is so much more to Pinterest if I used it correctly. Then out of the blue (and just recently) my partner, Moms Panel Tania and I realized that a post written over a year ago was still getting traffic, and that traffic is coming from Pinterest. I know after listening to Eva Smith at the conference that I wasn’t using Pinterest to my advantage – I plan to change that over the next 3 months!

Video/YouTube/Periscope

This may not be easy for me. Video remains one of the areas that is so far out of my comfort zone it is almost non-existent! I think that Periscope will be the easiest part of this trio for me (if I can hold a steady hand!), since it’s more of a short “hey, look at this!” sort of thing that doesn’t really require me! I am hoping to find a happy middle ground with YouTube.

I will have to dig deep into the inspiration and determination I came away with to master this area but I am still – 3 months later – DETERMINED and INSPIRED!