Food Bloggers do Social Networking in Ayrshire

Chapter 2 - Food Bloggers do Social Networking with Colin Kelly

No Food Blogger Conference would be complete without a session on social media.  At the Taste of Ayrshire Food Bloggers Conference we were joined by Colin Kelly a journalist and social media trainer.   Here are a few key messages that Colin shared with us:

• Build a community
• Start a conversation
• Using You Tube increases your Google Score (because they own You Tube)
• People trust Twitter recommendations because people are accountable, they are on Twitter as themselves
• 55-65 year old females are the biggest growing demographic on social media
• 20 minutes a day is the most you should spend on social media (err I think I must be doing something wrong - ha ha!)
• Do you have a primary objective?
• It takes time
• Be human
• Give the audience a say over what you put on your blog e.g. what would you like me to cook, blog, bake?
• Have Facebook events
• Use the customisable tabs on Facebook to integrate your blog into Facebook
• Put yourself in your customers shoes
• Posts with pictures are 30% more engaging
• Finish your blog posts with newsletter sign up, follow by email etc
• Use Google + gives you an advantage in google ratings
• Create a consistent style/brand

 In the spirit of making the post more engaging here are some of the Food Bloggers at the conference.

And here are Jacqueline, Tinned Tomatoes and Louise, Please Don't Feed the Animals   you might want to visit their blogs to get a different perspective on the conference.  You may also recognise some of the photographs as we are a caring, sharing bunch :)

What are your tips for social networking/social media?

Chapter Three coming very soon (almost written)