A few months ago a banner popped up on the top of my Facebook Fan Page, saying Facebook was going to be hosting an event in Minneapolis. We might be a big Midwest city but it seems that anytime an event happens, it happens in Chicago, not Minneapolis. I jumped on the chance to get training from Facebook itself. The Hubby even was intrigued by the event description and decided he was going to join me. Double fun, an afternoon learning and the Hubby was going to join!
Then with the craziness of work, I forgot about the event until the day before I noticed it on my calendar. Always a fun surprise when you realize you have a half day off of work.
I headed over to the event, and cursed at the location. Parking was horrible and took forever to find. The morning session of the event was letting out while the afternoon peeps were arriving, leaving parking a total mess.
After securing a parking spot 6 blocks away, I walked in the 85 degree heat only to find a line outside the building. They were not letting people into the building until event time, so all of us prompt people got to stand outside melting in the heat. Just fabulous! One positive was that they brought around water for us melting outside….
Once inside the event, my little annoyances went away. In true Facebook fashion, the event was stylish and interactive.
There were booths where you could chat with the sponsors of the event, as well as learn from the Facebook Creative Team representatives. Also, tons of material to take home and learn about different features Facebook offers.
AND Giveaways galore. In addition to the swag bag there were also treats from Kind Bars, Gold Fish, Waters, Coke products, and locally made Izzy’s ice cream sandwiches. Pretty much all my favorite things!
Companies such as Visa, MailChimp, Shopify, and Zenefits co-sponsored the event. In our swag bags Visa gave us portable charging sticks– this will come in handy on my upcoming Europe trip. MailChimp gave away some pretty sweet knit hats. They really hit the nail on the head with that give away, given that winter will be upon us in like 10 weeks here! Shopify gave away card readers, which I might not need one today, but look forward to having for the future. I didn’t stop by the Zenefits booth, cause really, I am the sole employee of this little old bloggity blog!
Like I mentioned, the hats were pretty great! I think my nephew and brother might be getting these in their Christmas presents this year 😉
Let’s get down to what the event was actually about. Boosting Your Business. I am sure many of you don’t really want to hear about the logistics of what I learned, because you come here to read about my adventures, recipes and overall craziness. Not how to build your business.
However, I will give you a small snapshot of what I took away from the event.
#1: As a business, you have to be authentic with your content. Your clients/guests/followers are looking for you to be real and share what is really happening. I liked this message because it reaffirmed that people like to see the “behind the scenes” moments, not just the perfectly timed and captured moments. I tried to remember this with my post on Instragram the other night.
#2: Have engaging content. The biggest ah-ha moment for me was when the SVP of Facebook Business said, “Remember your content is going to come up between photos of peoples’ friends and family, the people that mean the most to them. Make sure you are not disrupting that experience for them but adding to it.” From that day forward, my plan is to keep that message center when I am planning a post or sharing content.
#3: Use your Facebook Page to engage and grow your audience. The bulk of the event was about training small business on the tools that Facebook has available to them in terms of analyzing their guests, and how to advertise to them in the best ways possible. This is both beneficial to business and the consumer, because the business is connecting with the right audience and the audience is receiving relevant content.
Overall, I took a ton away from the day. I look forward to implementing it all here for you guys, as I work to create more and build My Urban Oven as a business. It took me a long time to really think of this blog as a business. I have realized that the more I think of this blog as a business and grow it like a business, I will be able to provide my readers/guests with the best experience possible. So look out everyone, there’s lots to come from My Urban Oven!
XoXo,
Rachel
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