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I don’t know about you, but my life has ballooned with chaos recently and I just feel so disconnected. Yet, here I am about to share my experience at the “She’s Connected” conference.

First and foremost, I felt very flattered to be invited to participate. Secondly, I wondered if I would really belong. I had never worked with brands before, aside from promoting the causes I support like “Team Diabetes” and my local candidate for the federal election. I knew I was willing to work with brands in some way, but wasn’t entirely sure how. Here I was joining 199 other bloggers, many of whom have far greater online presence than I do.

You can relate can’t you? Maybe it’s not in the social media world, but you’ve been there too I am certain.

I don’t see myself doing paid product reviews or product giveaway posts for a brand. However, there has to be some way. Nearly every brand can benefit from social media promotion, whether they be retail or otherwise. This became my goal for the conference. Aside from wanting to connect in person with some other active digitally active women, I hoped to identify how I might make this brand connection work for me and my online experience.

So here I am finding my way around the huge downtown Toronto Sheraton Centre bumping into bloggers and tweeters with much greater presence online than I. Many of these women have already established a source of income and were there to hone these avenues and expand.

When people ask me what my blog is about, I reply: “life”… I blog about whatever strikes a passion in me.

For some time now I’ve been thinking I need to get more focused, find a niche that will appeal to a “readership”, then I “met” Casie Stewart and Shannon from Shasher’s Life. Lifestyle bloggers who have made a big online presence for themselves. Women who stick to their scruples, represent their real selves and have developed a following as well as many advantageous opportunities/connections for themselves.

What are you all about? Have you figured this out yet?

When I talk about my blog and my writing I talk about: effecting change, about being real, about thought-provoking posts. Why can’t I continue to write about these things that I care about, however diverse they may be? It seems the trick will be in developing relationships with people who will care about what I have to say, but more so about the thoughts that are triggered within themselves.

Working with brands can happen in many different ways for every one of us. The area that makes the most sense for me is to get involved in helping to promote social change activities and corporate socially responsible campaigns.

A few of my new digitally connected friends from #SCCTO have utilized a variety of options for generating income from their work. Sheri was generous to provide me with a whole list of the platforms she works with. Jody and Pam each have their strategies. And many other new connections may result from this trip. Do you have great ideas for making your blog work for you?

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The conference speakers had a range of topics, some of which were interesting but not entirely relevant to me, some inspiring, and others allowed me to see that this truly can be achieved!

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Now, time to strategize!

I’d love to hear from you about where you fit into the social media world. Are you (hoping to) making a living at it? Have you identified strategies for moving forward? Do you wish to connect further and support one another?

Drop me a note in the comments below, or connect with me on Twitter @ceilidhontherun, email me at ceilidho at ceilidhontherun dot com, or use my contact form!

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