Kitchen3N

Recipes and food fun from Apt 3N

  • About
  • Gallery
  • Recipes

Level Up: #BlogHerFood2016

October 10, 2016

img_0136

REAL TALK ALERT: What follows are some hard truths about my shortcomings as a blogger, but what’s even more real is my determination to succeed!

I’m going on year 5 of this blog and I’ll admit, things have not gone as I expected. When I started this blog, with my terrible smartphone photos, shot at night under fluorescent lighting (cringe), I thought people were going to visit my page in DROVES. Because hey, I’m a decent writer, right? I’m going out and transcribing Bangladeshi recipes from my mom and loved ones so that others wouldn’t have to. Here I was posting those very recipes so you wouldn’t have to do the hard work of figuring out what exactly two finger widths of water per cup of rice actually meant! A nice market, but, no, I haven’t been able to work it between kids and my day job. The Blogging Universe does not reward those who do not produce content like a Southern kitchen turns out biscuits.

So I had a bit of a learning curve. I consulted with my awesome food photography specialist friend, Aaisha Shaikh of LattesandChai (formerly BakingPartTime). I consulted with local lifestyle blogger and my junior high buddy Aileen Olmedo of TheStyleBoro about blogging as an industry. She pointed me in the direction of SheKnows and the BlogHer conferences as a resource for female content creators and social media influencers. For context, SheKnows is a parent company of BlogHer, an advertising network built by women for women. They hold two conferences yearly, one for bloggers across the spectrum, and another food focused. I decided the latter would have the right mix of the resources I was looking for: industry insights, networking, and practical applications. Boy was I right.

This year’s conference included:

  • Instagram best practices and editing tutorials from Jane of A Taste of Koko
  • Trends and the strengths weaknesses of each social media platform from Ashlee Marie Cakes
  • Strategic advice for bloggers and entrpreneurial women from a really awesome person, Elisa Camahort Page, co-founder of BlogHer

img_0128

I learned a lot, and now I see why so many who had started their blogs before mine, were able to take off in a lot shorter time. People with experience in media, marketing are in the know. Before my conversation with Aileen, I’d never heard the term “influencer” or “working with a brand” or even “content creator”. With the rise of blogging and social media, the advertising industry has changed on a fundamental level. It even changed drastically from the early days of blogging before the rise of social media and big data. Now there are “influencer agencies” to match up bloggers, IGers, Pinners, Youtubers and the like with the brands that would fit best with them. Instead of generating revenue from ads placed on the site, influencers now earn income from sponsored posts (the following is not an #ad rather swag!).

img_0130

It was as whirlwind of information. In an industry that changes so quickly, it’s important to stay informed in order to stay relevant.

img_0129img_0134img_0135And meeting my idols were just the cherry on top. Elise Bauer of Simply Recipes, Elise Strachan of My Cupcake Addiction, Jocelyn Delk Adams of Grand Baby Cakes, and the craziest one of all…

img_0133

FREDDIE PRINZE JR.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! If you are a late 20 something, early 30 something women, you are swooning right now. I see you. I watched She’s All That, too. And I Know What You Did Last Summer, and the episode of Friends where he played the male nanny. And yes, he is just as cute and funny and endearing in real life as he is on screen. He was part of the closing keynote with Lisa Lillien of Hungry Girl and Carla Hall from The Chew and Top Chef.

Year. Made.

I picked up his cookbook (yes ladies, he cooks and is happily married to Buffy the Vampire Slayer) since I was intrigued by the New Mexican recipes. I LOVE New Mexican food, made so tasty by the local hatch chili peppers. They are out of season now and I am far from New Mexico, but I did pick up a bunch of canned peppers from my last trip and apparently, you can order them online!

I forgot to ask him if he was red, green or Christmas. So I ask all of my New Mexican readers: which one are you?!

img_0131

Thanks, BlogHer and SheKnows for a great conference! And for my readers, wish me luck as I attempt to implement the strategies and learnings I’ve come away with to level up to Kitchen3N 2.0!

2 Comments · Labels: Uncategorized Tagged: advertising, bloggers, blogher, challenges, conference, female entrepreneurs, industry, industry trends, influencers, insights, learnings, media, sheknows, strategic planning

American, Bangladeshi. Savory, sweet. I don't discriminate and neither should you.

Most recently…

Load More...
Follow on Instagram

Social

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Tags

appetizer beef bengali breakfast butter cake caramel chicken chocolate chocolate chips cilantro clean eating coconut comfort food cookies dessert dinner entertaining fall fruit ganache gluten free halal healthy homemade honest chops honest creations iftar italian pasta pastry pistachio quick and easy dinner ramadan recipe side side dish south asian spinach vegan vegetables vegetarian weeknight dinner weeknight meal whipped cream

Theme by 17th Avenue · Powered by WordPress & Genesis