Earlier this year, I received multiple emails and then calls from a man named Manny Ruiz. I’m a one-woman operation here and often times, I’m bad at getting back to people. I try my best, but things slip through the cracks. Ack, little did I know the powerhouse that Mr. Ruiz is! He founded the Hispanic PR Blog and is mover, shaker and shimmier in the Latino marketing world. Luckily he was very persistent in hunting me down and telling me all about an even the puts on every year called, Hispanicize.
It’s a four-day event jam packed with education, networking, sponsorships, music, and art all with one mission: to showcase Latino bloggers! I accepted Manny’s offer to speak at the event and it was life changing! I met so many new people, and I was able to connect with some of my mentors in person, like my editor from Harper Collins, Rene Alegria (now he runs Mamiverse!), and even mega TV producer Nely Galan (she wants to talk tv show ideas with me!). I also had some down time to hang out with my online besties, Margo Porras from NachoMamasBlog.com, the Makeover Maestro, Martin Amado, and the inspiring Aurelia Flores from PowerfulLatinas.com.
I was one of the few DIY/crafty experts speaking and I brought tubes of my Crafty Chica glitter to hand out and told my story about working with iLoveToCreate and Michaels Stores to bring my brand to the masses. I had goosebumps the entire time.
Many people at the conference asked me what I did to expand my brand and make it what it is today. They tripped out that I had more than 13k Twitter followers and almost 10k on Facebook. I never actively went out to say “I MUST gt more followers!!” I let it happen organically. Stepping back and examining the big picture throughout the 11 years of CraftyChica.com, I’ve never really catered to a single audience. I share what I love to do, see, make and etc. If something bad happens, I’ll share it and try to offer tips to help the next person. I’m not just about crafting, or being Latina. I’m also about being positive, being a wife and a mom, living in Phoenix, being creative, screening movies, reading books, soaking up pop culture. I share all of it here and hope there are people who like it!
There is not one magic formula, I think it is about being true to yourself and always offering value or a takeaway from your content that will make readers want to return to see what is next!
Also, (somehow this post has turned into tips?) when you build your blog content, always keep in mind that perhaps a book editor or TV producer is reading it. Imagine your blog as a book, what would the theme be? The tagline? The cover! Imagine the table of contents. Keep it fresh and entertaining!
Anyhoo – see how inspired I still am? Hispanicize was last month and I’m still feeling the afterglow!
Thank you, Manny, for the invite! Hope to see you again next year!
Here’s a video about Hispanicize 2012 that gives an overview of the excitement!
