The (at times) wonderful world of Social Media.

As soon as I saw the advert for this Mothers Meeting I booked with no hesitation probably 2 months in advance. You have to be quick with these Mothers Meeting events as tickets go like hot cakes.

The event was held at the forever gorgeous Shoreditch House and was fronted by Matt Hodkinson who is a digital marketing professional. Matt introduced himself and told us some of what he does and specialises in. He also provided us with a little background story which included clinical trials, Peppa Pig, BBC Breakfast and non other than Twitter. The four elements tied together quite well, as we all know Peppa rears her little head all too often in the parent world. I am sure this was also his youngest and most diverse audience, with babies ranging from all ages and breast feeding mumma's, He handled it all like a champ and provided a light and serene atmosphere for us all.
More info on Matt can be found here.

Jenny Scott, founder of Mothers Meeting was also there in full force with her 5 week old baby girl. Supamum!
I do look in awe at mummies and their little babies who have made it out the house, looking gorgeous, using public transport and everything. I tell you it gives me so much aspiration and fire to do this myself when we eventually have baby number 2. Public transport and public places when my son was 5 weeks old was all but a nightmare lol. I was not doing that at all! So a big shout out to all the mummies who make it out the house for human contact and to Jenny [ and your wonderous trainers. Seriously what a collection you must have :)], for providing us with a little mummy haven.

Majority of us came prepared with notepads, phone notes, Ipads, to gain as much knowledge as we could. I think all of us present aimed to pick up tips and listen to someone who actually knows what they are doing on Social Media, as I know I have no clue.

Social media has proved so effective in so many ways. Businesses deal with complaints made via Social Media expeditiously quicker than the old fashioned email or dare we say it phone call. All the big businesses use it, the celebs use it, the news and my aunt use it and it is nice to know that with decent utilization of social media it can be very beneficial to you.

The main problem I have with social media which was shared by a few mummies is, feeling rather uncomfortable promoting yourself.
I get real nervous and feel silly when getting ready to post something in regards to my blog on social media, and sometimes I don't know why. As logically, how is anyone meant to know what you have to offer if one does not promote oneself in a totally non braggy way? Although, why not blow ones own horn a lil' bit. Blog posts are not just thrown together out of my ass, they do take time and effort and I really enjoy writing them so why not share with others on the slim chance they may enjoy them too?
I'm working on it.


After questions and discussing why we use social media, we gained some handy tips from Matt and each other :

• Blow your own trumpet
• Build an online community and trust before you need it
• Use Linkedin! Be prepared for the spam emails at the beginning
• Be discoverable and use the right terminology
• Take part in a twitter chat
• Start with why 
• You can never really tweet too much 
• Gain outsider perspective
• It is a positive to mix business and personal accounts as it allows people to get a sense of who you are
• Use app's that help to schedule updates and monitor your social media activity such as : Google Analytics and Buffer App.

We were also taken on a journey by Matt using the word NOTICE, in which he broke down each letter and gave us information and/or purposive tips in using and understanding social media positively. Which I found so so helpful.

All in all I had a lovely afternoon and came away from this social media special with a new insight and strong interest in building an online profile for myself and my blog.
It can't hurt to be more open on social media, as well as being discoverable and consistent with great content too. Just as long as we stay away from the twitter wars (which is what Khloe Kardashian and Amber Rose DID NOT do this week #awkward).

A big thank you to Matt for helping us to see that we do not have to be so dubious when it comes to social media. Although I still struggle with promoting myself on good ol' Twitter and Instagram (don't even mention Facebook), I have made it top of my to do list, to do so. Like I said.....working on it.

I managed to take a few sneaky snaps while at the event and I am in no means a photographer, but a lady who is trying to develop her relationship with Bert the gorgeous piece of Nikon equipment.
xx