The Create and Cultivate Conference is back in Seattle on September 9th! This is a great opportunity to meet and mingle with different brands and bloggers to collaborate and grow. I had the opportunity to attend Create and Cultivate earlier this year and wanted to share my experience with you.

On May 6th, 2017, I attended the Create and Cultivate Conference in New York at the Knockdown Center in Flushing Queens. I thought this would be a great opportunity to learn more about the industry and network with other women with the same interest for advice while having some fun. I parked on site where they had a few first come first serve spots, however majority of the attendees arrived via shuttle buses provided by create and cultivate leaving from a hotel nearby where many of the girls from out of town were staying in case you ever plan on attending the event from out of state, you’re covered.

The event included two separate tracks for the attendees to choose from. Track one was geared towards Social Media, and track two was geared towards Entrepreneurship/Business. I had a VIP pass and was on Track 1, and the VIP pass allowed you to have a separate VIP seating and food and drink area, with a few additional brand pop up shops to attend in a smaller group. It also allowed you with more panel flexibility, additional lunch options, and first dibs on some giveaways. This was going to be a long day with registration and breakfast beginning at 9:00 AM and the day ending at 8:00 PM, so breakfast and lunch was included on site. I was super excited that Jamba Juice was one of the vendors providing breakfast for the event as they have always been one of my favorite places to stop for oatmeal and smoothies. Coffee was the first stop for many ladies on-site which was needed since the conference ended at 8PM, and the gift bags were held hostage until the very end so that told me I was not leaving until the 8PM.

The venue included pop-up booths, an open bar, and panels throughout the day. There were also a ton of brands as well as aspiring influencers/bloggers, including established blogs like Something Navy, Color me Courtney, Fashion Bomb Daily, and The Skinny Confidential on panels lined up throughout the day. One of the nice things about this event was it included guest speakers specifically for mentor power hour which allowed each person 30 minutes in more of an intimate group to ask any questions to specific influencers that may have been missed during the bigger panel discussions. There were also photo booths everywhere and Laura Mercier on site providing makeup and beauty consultations, and that’s really all I needed for the day to go down as a success, but there was more.

I learned a lot from the day, however I narrowed it down to a few key messages from the event that may be useful:

Collaboration Over Competition- This was the theme or main message from the event. Women supporting women and collaborating with each other is the best way to grow together in this space. I know personally I would not have known where to begin in this process without the support of other women whom have been super supportive before I even launched my website. Find people to network with, join groups, and collaborate with other bloggers to grow. This event was refreshing to see women come together rather than bring each other down or working against each other.

How Will I Grow?- Much of the discussion was around how the panelist speaking built their following and brand, and if the industry was too flooded at this point to grow. Obviously most of the Bloggers that began blogging 5-10 years ago have a well-established audience already, and many people felt how would they would never reach their level of followers; however, they did share a few tips and advice on how to build your audience. For one focus on building your BRAND and establishing what that is and take the time out to think about what you represent and where in this large space you fit in. I think the most common phrase mentioned was BE YOU. Keep things original and don’t focus on what other people are doing. FIND YOUR NICHE. Stay true to what makes sense to you to stand out from the crowd. Stay in your own lane and don’t compare yourself to others. Also, CONSISTENCY is key and it’s going to take TIME. Some people become an overnight success, go viral from a post, but that is rare, therefore take it step by step. Also make sure you’re in it for the right reasons and it fulfills a passion because it is a lot of work.

Content- Focus on your content strategy and allow yourself ample time to plan for your upcoming weeks and months. You want to be sure that you have content calendar if that helps, or at least an outline of what you want to achieve for the months ahead. What will your viewers get out of your post? What do you want to share with your audience and how will you relay this message throughout the different social media outlets? Pick which outlets work best for you depending on your audience. What will give value to your reader? You may want to pick separate content for each outlet so it is not all the same whether followers are on your Instagram or snapchat.

Instagram- I feel like this is the biggest question how to build a following on Instagram, but the best way is to collaborate with brands, other bloggers, use hashtags, and tag the brands that you are targeting. Remain active weekly, honestly daily if you can, and engage with your audience. Ask questions, reply to all their comments. It just really takes time. Also invest in the best quality tools within your budget to produce the best picture quality pictures and stand out from the crowd. This includes cameras, to ring lights, tripods, whatever you need to produce the highest quality content. Be authentic with your audience. Also, be sure that you also are spreading your content across channels and not just focused on Instagram. You want to be sure to have your own channel that your audience can find you on as we know social media platforms are always changing their algorithms and formats. If Instagram was gone tomorrow, would you still have your audience?

The Business Of Blogging- There was a lot of great brands that work with influencers and PR agencies on site which offered great insight into what brands look for when they consider working with an influencer. Clearly, you should only work with brands that fit your style and seem true to your brand rather than take any and every opportunity that comes your way. At the end of the day it’s about what your followers want to see and what feels right to you. Also, when you do make the decision to work with a brand, inquire if there is the option for you to have creative control on the content being produced. You also need to know your numbers in regard to analytics, conversion rate, media kit, ect. The more prepared you are the better. Try to download tools that help you gather this analytics information like Iconoqaure for Instagram. It’s more about engagement rather than increasing your following without any real engagement.

Now back to the fun stuff:

Here are some photos I took throughout the day.

One of my favorite brands were the GorJana #livelovelayer booth, which were providing aura readings for everyone. I was the FIRST person to get a reading for the day. Yay me! Because after that the line was so long throughout the day. I loved the print out provided that described my energy (which seemed really accurate by the way), and I purchased this cute power gemstone bracelet with Howlite stones to help calm and balance my energy.

I also received this cute chase Swell cup which I love and use daily since I love to drink water all day, only water, unless it’s a smoothie. I love smoothies!

Kopari was giving out samples of their products. I found their products earlier this year and love using it since it’s alcohol, sulfate, and paraben free. I use Kopari Coconut Rose Toner to refresh my face throughout the day especially after a flight for hydration and a quick pick me up.

Then after the closing message from Gloria Steinman & Amy Richards which was a very inspiring and refreshing discussion on creating your best life, the day finally ended at 8PM and it was on to receiving GIFT BAGS!

The gift bags were well worth the wait! It was literally packed with all kinds of goods. I will follow this post with a in depth look of my gift bags and goodies I collected during the event in the beauty section of the site. Be sure to subscribe to my page so you do not miss the latest beauty finds and gift bag reviews!

I hope you enjoyed this post and that I provided you with some insight in regard to the world of social media or helped you decide if you want to attend this event in the future. I would highly recommend this event if you are interested in building an audience online and more conferences are held throughout the year. Check the Create and Cultivate website or sign up for the newsletter to keep up to date on the latest info.

Have you attended create and Cultivate before? Do you plan to attend the Create and Cultivate event in Seattle September 9th? Let me know if you have any other questions I can answer or share your thoughts and experience in the comments below. Check out the hashtag on Instagram to see more from the most recent event in Seattle. #createcultivatesea