Chicago Moms Blog - Navigating Social Media

Last weekend I had the pleasure to join other mommy bloggers at an event sponsored by SVMoms Group, the organization behind Chicago Moms Blog, and Chevy. We enjoyed an afternoon and evening at the Hard Rock Hotel (complimentary valet, too!), discussing the intersection of blogging and branding - and then enjoyed some good food, wine, great conversation, and yes, some swag.

I'm still new to this blogging thing - and I felt like I was a bit out of my element at our roundtable discussion.  Our lovely organizers and moderators, Jill Asher and Linsey Krolik, guided the conversation to flesh out ways that brands and bloggers can work together using social media outlets.  I guess I was surprised/amazed at the role social media is playing in marketing and branding these days.  I mean, I am a fan of our local park district on Facebook and everything, but it somehow never occurred to me that a company might want to use a mommy blogger to connect with the "real world."

Call me naive, I guess.

But the more I thought about it, the more it made sense.  It makes sense the way teaching your kids makes sense - moms are the first point of contact between their children (future customers!) and life outside the nest.  From the beginning, parents are the ones to choose what to expose their children to and what to withhold.   And besides, moms talk.  Seriously, when I was a kid I couldn't figure out why moms did that all the time. Talk, talk, talk.  At the time, playing seemed waaaay better (sometimes it still does!), but still, my mom and her mom friends would just, well, talk.  The truth?  I'm one of them now.

And I'm picky.  For example, I don't have time for companies that shamelessly use inappropriate images to sell clothing to teenagers. (I'm looking at YOU, Abercrombie & Fitch.)  Well, truthfully, I don't have time to shop at all. It takes a ton of effort to shop (successfully) with two kids, and I only go places with them when I really need to get something.  And I've learned that the power that crouches in my wallet is possibly the most vocal of all.  We're trying to put our money where our beliefs are - or at least consciously keep our money out of places that we don't agree with.  That's a big reason why we joined a CSA for our meat.  And you know what?  I'm proud of those decisions.  I feel like I'm standing up for something valuable.

But back to last Sunday - the companies that took the time to come talk with us were terrific.  A big thank you to all of them, especially Chevy - our main sponsor - for spending the evening with us!  I'd like to share a few of my faves, but this post is getting a bit long.  A separate post with more info to come!