One of the presenters at MN Blog Con, Donna Hup, related a story of bloggers floating down the Chicago river on a tour of Chicago architecture: all wrote posts, all were very different. Thus, this post is a take on Saturday’s events at Concordia, but a very personal take and focuses only on what popped out for me.

I had a secret mission; should I blog again? I put my personal blog, Shareology, to sleep after 5 years. I was in the midst of 4 years of corporate blogging; after 9 years of blogging, what did I have to say?

So, I arrived at Corcordia Saturday at 7:00 am toying with picking up my laptop and tapping away again, but doubtful about the whole rebooting process.

The first 2 speakers, Arik Hanson and Suzanne Yang Jaochico, pretty much kicked me into Go mode. This is how they did it.

Arik Hanson is My Hero

His blog is the only one I subscribe to; he is always smart and focused. So, I was super excited to be there for his Keynote. Several things had changed in the 8 years since I started Shareology; would he talk about them, and how would I use this in a decision?

• He doesn’t use a content calendar!
  • Granted, if you’re blogging for Target you need to plot out your Halloween and Valentine posts. But for people like Arik who are reacting to today’s events, a calendar can be overkill.

• He doesn’t focus on making money through the blog!
  • This is a big one. Huge change since I started blogging in 2009. So huge that this was a gigantic barrier for me. Per Arik, do what feels right to you. For me, that means no revenue generated by Shareology. (Yep, I have an MBA, and I’m aware of basic financial principles.)

• He is consistent (Boy, is he ever!)
  • He publishes 2 or 3 times a week. He has consistent features which appear repeatedly. Being consistent is a key reason he is around after 8 years.

• He is willing to Piss People Off.
  • He states opinions when he has them. You can’t make everyone happy; if you do, you are not offering your particular perspective. Sense the freedom Arik is offering us?

Bottom line? Arik just killed off a lot of the “Ya gotta do it this way”s that were standing in my way. Next up, Suzanne Yang Jaochico!

Utilizing Your Heart to Grow Your Blog

Suzanne really hit the core of how I blog. Yes, I can behave in a left-brained manner if necessary, but I soon scurry back to the right-brained side of life.

• Suzanne told us how she arrived where she is now.
  • She listens to her heart. And she is willing to take a break if it is not working for her.
• To truly blog from your heart, you may have to abstain from analytics for a bit.
  • Being obsessed with analytics (guilty!) can really get in the way of listening to your heart. Wait until you nail it to then use analytics to create next steps.

I can also highly recommend Haley Nelson’s session on 5 Mistakes Even the Most Experienced Bloggers Make with their Content.

Decision?

I’m resurrecting Shareology. Consider this the first 2017 post. I’ll focus on Events that interest me, and hopefully you. I’ll include my first five years of Shareology content because some of that stuff was pretty good!

I will not be afraid to Piss People Off. And I’m gonna be oh so glad people like Arik and Suzanne exist and are willing to share!

 

Author: Kay Roseland

Marketing Maven.  Social Media Strategist.  Life-long Learner.

After receiving her MBA in marketing from the University of St. Thomas in 2008, Kay began exploring this new thing on the horizon called social media.  After building her presence on LinkedIn and Twitter, she launched her blog, Shareology, in 2009.  The blog is a labor of love from a marketing professional with deep expertise in marketing who also happens to be one of the savviest and most resourceful networkers.

Based on her interests in social media, marketing, networking and retail, Shareology has been the basis for her new purpose:  to connect individuals and organizations with customers via social media.  Kay tweets as @KayLoire and is exploring Instagram.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/kayroseland/
https://kayroseland.wordpress.com/
Shareology:  https://kayroseland.wordpress.com

Photo credit: Kay Roseland