The Blogger Union: Blogger Communities, Education, Networking & Collaboration

The South Florida Bloggers had their March meetup at Le Provençal. Thanks to fashion photographer Bonnie Rodriguez and veteran fashion blogger Valentina Tamayo, attendees got all kinds of helpful tips on how to monetize their brand with new avenues, in addition to affiliate marketing and working with sponsors. Some of the questions asked were: Can you give us a breakdown of how you diversify your revenue streams? How did you come up with the idea for the products and services you offer to your audience? In terms of revenue streams, do you find sponsored collaborations to be the most profitable way to make an income as a blogger/influencer vs your other products and services? What research did you apply to these ideas to find out if they are feasible sources of income and worth investing your time and money? How do you market your products and services or attract clients? (For example: affiliate marketing, influencer marketing, social media, digital marketing, etc) How has your influence helped you monetize your additional revenue streams? Do you have a team or is this an amazing one-woman show? What were the major difficulties or setbacks you encountered when creating your products or services? Special …

We’ve been seeing an increase of social media accounts getting hacked. Members who’ve been devoting time and energy to growing their following see all their work disappear overnight as someone takes over their Instagram account, changes their email/password, and locks them out. Sometimes they ask for money to restore the account. Sometimes they just wipe it out maliciously with no way of getting in contact with them. Some of these accounts are restored by Instagram, some are not. Those unlucky ones unable to get Instagram to restore them, have to start from scratch. Don’t let your hard work vanish before your eyes. Make a few changes to reduce your chances of getting hacked and locked out of your Instagram account. In this article, we’ll be focusing on social media and your website, but these tips are also relevant when it comes to your bank account, and any other sensitive information you’d rather not fall into the wrong hands. Phishing: Don’t click on spoof emails Phishing is when a hacker tries to convince you to give them your username and password by sending you a spoof email that imitates an email from a service provider like a social media network or …

This past weekend, The South Florida Bloggers had their very first meetup of 2018! Thanks to our wonderful speakers, photographers Luccia Lowenthal & Bonnie Rodriguez, and model Nadia Peña, we got all kinds of helpful tips and tricks for killing it at a photoshoot. Some of the things that were discusssed: -How to pose for the perfect selfie -How to pose with accessories -How to pose with the right posture -How to pose in a picture with a friend or significant other After the Q&A, everyone paired up in teams to practice what they had learned. Special thanks to Capital One Cafe for hosting us in their amazing space and for providing delicious Peet’s handcrafted beverages and chicken & waffle sandwiches from Ms Cheezious! They also gave out goodie bags to every attendee. And thanks to Vintage Unicorn for her beautiful brush lettering! Keep scrolling for more photos:                 Thanks to all the lovely bloggers who attended! Can’t wait to see you all at the next one! <3     — ***Capital One Café in Coral Gables recently opened their doors for the public. What is Capital One Café, you ask? It is a one-of-a-kind inviting …

Learn how to pitch hotels for staycations, tourism boards for complimentary tours and attractions, free stays at travel destinations or media rates. Join us as we discuss travel collaborations with Mitch Nover, Director of Public Relations and Communication at Four Seasons Resort Nevis, and Mei from Blame it on Mei. RSVP Your Spot Powered by Eventbrite Powered by Eventbrite About Mitch Nover (@mmtakemiami) Mitchell Nover is a travel and hospitality PR professional and the co-founder of the blog Mitch and Mel Take Miami. A native of the DC Metro Area, Mitchell has lived in Miami since 2005. Since moving here he’s really grown to love the city, so much so that he’s even adopted the distinctive Miami accent – literally!  In addition to co-managing Mitch and Mel Take Miami and constantly on a quest to discover the ins and outs of Miami food scene, Mitchell spends his days as the Director of Public Relations and Communication for Four Seasons Resort Nevis, West Indies. Mitchell’s passion for adventure and exploration melds perfectly with these two roles as he’s traveling about the globe and trying some kind of new and different cuisine.  About Mei Jorge (@blameitonmei) Mei Jorge is the founder and creative mind behind the award-wining and bilingual blog …

Learn how to capture your audience with your food photography. Join us alongside the talented Patty Ruiz from The Mad Table and George Arango from Mr. Eats 305, as we discuss tips and tricks to improve your photographs, composition, lighting, photography gear, and more. RSVP Your Spot Powered by Eventbrite About Patty Ruiz Chef Patty Ruiz’s mission is to inspire people to discover and enjoy the importance of food as a social medium. Her passion for food, entertaining and food styling has been recognized throughout the industry. As founder of her company, The Mad Table, Chef Patty provides private and group classes, hosts interactive dinners, and provides private chef services. She also enjoys working on styling projects helping food bloggers and influencers make their food images pop on their websites and social media accounts. This experience has led to professional food and prop styling work for commercials, print media, film, and restaurants. This behind the scenes part of her job is one of her favorites! This is where she gets to combine her talents and creative eye to every aspect of food styling and entertaining, from creating props to producing a story to developing recipes. About George Arango George Arango …

Last week the South Florida Bloggers celebrated the launch of Coopers’ Craft Barrel Reserve – the latest expression of Coopers’ Craft Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey. It all took place at The Deck. This Coopers’ Craft branded outdoor bar is located inside Wynwood Market in the heart of Wynwood. It’s open to the public so head on over and check it out. As soon as you walk in you’ll find a photo backdrop with hand painted whiskey barrels. We had fun with the barrels while we enjoyed our welcome drink – a lemonade bourbon slushie. It was perfectly refreshing while spending the evening outside. We also tried a bourbon coconut punch and a Coopers’ berry lemonade. If you are in search for Summer cocktail recipes, head over to Coral Gables Love where I shared how to make these cocktails. We then enjoyed some Bourbon bites: sticky bourbon chicken skewers, bourbon spiked ponzu salmon tartare, and bourbon marinated pork loin sliders. They were so delicious! The bites were followed by a Coopers’ Craft tasting led by brand ambassador Fitz Bailey. In a unique twist, we got to experience the different bourbons by rubbing them in our hands. It’s the first time I’ve …

If you’re not going live on social, you’re missing out on opportunities. Learn how to leverage livestreaming to reach your audience and monetize your efforts. Social Media Trainer & Consultant Daphne Leblanc is a livestream pro who will show us the tools and techniques she uses to create live content that stands out.   We’re having a joint meetup with the South Florida Mom Bloggers chapter at the beautiful Marenas Beach Resort in Sunny Isles Beach. RSVP to Save Your Spot Date: Saturday, July 13th, from 12 to 2 pm Location: Marenas Beach Resort, 18683 Collins Avenue, Sunny Isles Beach, FL Fee: $10 (Light bites and refreshments will be served. Space is limited.) Guest Speaker: Daphne Leblanc Daphne F. Leblanc has more than fifteen years of experience in the social media and web-based marketing fields. She helps entrepreneurs and small business owners with all aspects of social media. Her clients call her their business’s personal trainer. She helps her clients make sense of their social media and digital marketing goals. She helps them create workable, on-budget strategies to achieve those goals, just like a personal trainer helps you achieve your fitness goals. As a presenter and speaker, she’s worked with organizations …

We’re switching things up this month with a Blogger Social instead of a Saturday meetup. Join us to network with blogger friends at Xtreme Action Park in Ft. Lauderdale. Xtreme is offering one free beer, wine or well drink per person. See you there! RSVP to Save Your Spot Date: Thursday, June 6th, from 6 pm to 8 pm Location: Xtreme Action Park (the Pit Bar) – 5300 Powerline Road, Ft Lauderdale, FL 33309 Fee: No fee (One free drink per person and light bites. Space is limited.) Sponsor:Xtreme Action Park Thank you to our sponsor, Xtreme Action Park in Ft Lauderdale! It’s the largest indoor entertainment complex in Florida and was awarded nationally as the Family Entertainment Center Location of the Year. Find it online at www.XtremeActionPark.com or on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Interested in sponsoring the Ft Lauderdale Bloggers? Contact us.

Brands and businesses often tell us how hard it is to find influencers. A Google search doesn’t always work. Should they look on Instagram or other social media? Check hashtags? Make it easier for brands to find YOU. Learn SEO hacks and social media tips to get you found online for your influencer niche or blog categories. We’re meeting at General Provision’s new location in downtown Ft. Lauderdale. RSVP to Save Your Spot Date: Saturday, May 4th, from 11 am to 1 pm Location: General Provision’s new location, 300 SW 1st Av, #155, Ft. Lauderdale (Paid parking available in Governmental Parking Garage, 151 SW 2nd St. – $3 for two hours) Guest Speaker: Feuza Reis Feuza Reis is the founder of Get Found With Fuse, a blog about DIY SEO, social media and blogging. Feuza, best known as Fuse, teaches creative entrepreneurs how to get found online. She loves empowering bloggers with sustainable SEO strategies and tips so they can pursue their passion business. In her free time, she loves drinking red cab, traveling and laughing with her kids and husband. She has been featured in Rangefinder Magazine, Belong Magazine, Sixth Bloom, the Honey Book Blog and has spoken at …

Did you know 80% of content consumed online is video? Did you know YouTube is now the second largest search engine online? Making video is becoming more important each day. Stay ahead and learn how to create video content and edit videos with Marj Suarez from @marjanne.co RSVP Your Spot Powered by Eventbrite Speaker Marj, raised in Dubai, studied Marketing & Economics and has been in the Creative industry since 2014 carrying creative multiple contents for brands/companies locally and internationally. Her content creation has developed within the years and opened an opportunity to pursue her passion full-time. Now that Marj has moved to the USA, working with different cultures and markets, she is all the more determined to step up her craft that is suitable for personal and business content creation. She believes that being true to your brand and being creative goes hand in hand and her goal is to inspire people to do the same.”

On Wednesday, February 16 th 2019, Madison Messer from @sweetteawithmadi delivered an amazing presentation on “The Dos and Don’ts of Blogging” at Lulu Lemon Athletics in Georgetown, DC with a sold out crowd. After 6 months in the corporate world, Madison quickly realized the “9-5” job was not for her. She then took a leap of faith and became a full time fashion and lifestyle blogger. She quickly grew a following after posting affordable outfit photos and was on the fast track to having over 115k followers and making more money than she ever did working in the corporate environment. Now Madi posts at least once a day with the current algorithm and uses only phone pictures for content. Madison added, “Going full time as a blogger was one of the best things I ever did. It allowed me to give my blog the time and attention it needed.” Here are some helpful tips Madi shared with our DC Blogger Union members: 1. The algorithm is awful, but there are ways you can work with it and continue to grow. The first thing is consistency. Even when she is sick, she never misses her daily posts. Madison added having a …

On Wednesday, January 16th 2019, Yasmine Nashed from @yasminenashed spoke at the lastest DC Blogger Union event located in the Chandelier Room at La Vie, a beautiful new restaurant located in the heart of DC at The Wharf. The atmosphere at La Vie is super fancy with beautiful views overlooking the water. This place is sure to impress any guests you bring there! As a full time blogger and with a full time job working at the Pentagon, Yasmine spoke to Time Management Tips and Tricks for Bloggers and here’s just a few things we learned: 1. Make time for the priorities in your life. Think about all the free time you have in a day that you let pass you by. Most of us have way more time (30,40,50 hours per week) than we realize to work towards our goals. We all have time it’s just whether we utilize it or not. Get a planner and prioritize your time! 2. Find a partner to help. Surround yourself with people who have similar goals. Get together and create content to have for the upcoming weeks. This way you a repository of pictures to post and you don’t have to scramble …

We kicked off the new year with an exciting presentation made by Sian and Lorna from The Roman Guy and Katie from The Hostel Girl at the brand new hostel, The Rome Hello, located in the center of Rome, just a short walk from Repubblica metro station. February’s meetup was all on brand and influencer collaborations with Katie sharing her tips and advice on the influencer side and Sian and Lorna sharing their advice on the brand side. They spoke about their experiences working with brands/influencers, the right way on approaching collaborations, and do’s and dont’s. The evening started with a brief introduction by everyone. We had a full house this evening with a total of 25 people present! The Rome Hello was kind enough to offer those attending complimentary wine and prosecco to start the evening off. After the initial introduction, we went straight into the presentation with Sian, Lorna, Katie, and Estrella answering questions and speaking on their previous experiences with collaborating. Some of the points discussed during the meetup were: The Different Ways to Collaborate in return for product/service testing sponsored posts and affiliate programs social media takeovers co-creating content together How to Find One Another How …

We had such a great time during our April meetup with journalist & public radio professional, Katy Sewall, as she spoke on the topic of interviewing. The meetup took place on a beautiful Sunday afternoon in Rome at the Alembic restaurant in the neighborhood of Trastevere, as we welcomed a packed house full of bloggers, writers, and photographers. During the presentation, Katy gave us practical tips & tricks we can use for interviewing- not only in a professional setting, but also when having day to day conversations with others. To become a better interviewer, Katy spoke to us about how to bring out personal stories of the people we encounter, how to mine for more depth in their answers, how to create a narrative arc in our questions, and even find out about the common mistakes interviewers make. Katy Sewall is also the host of the internationally known podcast, The Bittersweet Life, alongside co-host Tiffany Parks. Together the duo discuss expat life, repat life, travel, and try to answer some of life’s biggest questions, with some guest interviews along the way. To tune in and subscribe, click here. To summarize the conversation on how to be a good interviewer, here are …

To kick off the end of the year, Rome Bloggers hosted a fun, interactive aperitivo meetup at the Peaky Blinders cocktail bar located right in the center of the city, between Piazza Navona and Castel Sant’Angelo. Peaky Blinders cocktail bar is the perfect place to go sit down and enjoy a drink from their carefully crafted menu. During the aperitivo, they provided us with drinks, cheese, and curated meat while chatting about holiday plans, travel, work & more. Although many of our Rome Blogger members were traveling during this time, we were able to keep the meetup small and intimate to really get to know one another and chat about ideas for future blogger meet-ups. Having this time to chat was well-needed to settle into the end of the year. We plan on having very exciting events to come in the new year and can’t wait to have everyone participate. If you are new to Rome Bloggers, be sure to follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for updates on events which are hosted monthly. Also, a huge thank you to Peaky Blinders for hosting us in their beautiful space. If you’d like to check out Peaky Blinders while in …

Vibrant, colorful, fun, and informative—there are too many ways to describe the blast we had at our June meetup. Our June 8th meeting was held at STORY at Macy’s inside of Memorial City Mall. We had the privilege of learning photography tips from Maritere Rice, Houston’s very own the color queen and professional photographer. If you don’t know Maritere, you’ll want to follow her ASAP. Maritere Rice is a contemporary portrait, travel, fashion and lifestyle photographer and content creator located in Houston. She has a passion for inspired living, travel, and color—all of which you’ll see on her vivacious Instagram page. The morning began with members browsing STORY, dining on breakfast from New York Deli & Coffee Shop (catered by Houston Catering Concepts), and indulging their sweet tooth with themed cookies from Dessert Gallery. When the workshop kicked off, Maritere and Chapter Officer Jillian Goltzman kicked off a lively Q&A on all things photography related. Following the Q&A, Maritere gave one-on-one advice to each Blogger Union member so they could perfect their photo game. When our bloggers weren’t striking a pose or staging products at our flat lay station, they were connecting and making new relationships with local content creators. …

Join us for a Q&A session and hands-on tips with Houston photographer Maritere Rice (@mariterec) to learn about photography styling, shooting, and editing. Let STORY at Macy’s be your colorful backdrop as you learn to craft the perfect photo!  What to Expect:  Explore a world of color in one of Houston’s most Instagrammable destinations! From photo walls to flay lay stations, STORY at Macy’s is a colorful playground where our special guest Maritere Rice will be hosting a hands-on workshop to help you craft the perfect shot. Light bites and beverages will be provided by Dessert Gallery and Houston Catering Concepts. What to Bring:  Bring your camera/phone for a hands-on workshop to practice what you learn.  About Maritere:  Maritere Rice is a contemporary portrait, travel, fashion and lifestyle photographer and content creator located in Houston, TX. She has a passion for inspired living, travel and color. Maritere was born and raised in Mexico, and moved to Houston almost 20 years ago after marrying her husband, where they now live with their 4 children. About STORY: STORY, the narrative-driven retail concept shop brings to life an editorial approach to retail in 36 Macy’s stores nationwide. Opening with “Color” as its inaugural …

Growing a business isn’t easy, and we constantly applaud all of our members for taking the leap to hit publish on each and every blog post they create. No matter where you are in your blogging career, having a coach to guide you can be instrumental to your success in business. This month, we were lucky enough to partner with LaShanta Green, a multi-hyphenate entrepreneur who has made a career through coaching brands and businesses. LaShanta took us through her exciting workshop, “Going & Growing From Basic to Boss Blogger.” We gathered at Latitude Med Center, a stunning luxury high rise apartment building in the Texas Medical Center. Of its many amenities, the 35-floor Latitude Med Center features a sophisticated meeting space called the Sky Club. We gathered in a mastermind group of 12 budding bloggers at different areas in their career and got to work! After enjoying refreshments and taking in the sweeping views of downtown in the Sky Club, our guests opened up their new workbooks and a lively discussion began. LaShanta had us openly discuss her tried and true “5 Strategic Steps for Purposeful Planning.” We opened up about our challenges working in such a competitive industry, …