Last May 21st was my first time to attend a Blogapalooza event. Billing itself as the Philippines’ first and largest B2B: Business-to-Blogger Networking and Marketing Event, Blogapalooza brings together business looking for bloggers to write about them and bloggers looking for content to feature.
My primary reason for going to Blogapalooza was to listen to the speakers. As both a blogger and someone who was thrust into social media marketing without any prior training, I wanted to learn more about how PR professionals approached social media marketing and how bloggers chose the companies that they worked with. However, that didn’t mean that I couldn’t have fun and learn more about the products that the businesses were promoting.
The two panels that made the day worth it were Blogging as a Business by Ginger Arboleda of MommyGinger.com and the discussion panel How Brands Can Work Best with Celebrities and Influencers by Norman Agatep, Matec Villanueva (two PR pros), Mikael Daez, and Erika Padilla (two celebs I know nothing about). Granted, I didn’t know who these people were prior to Blogapalooza but their presentations and insights were very much welcome. I loved how Ginger broke down marketing strategy into easy-to-understand pieces that a non-Marketing graduate could understand (Ginger, don’t ever apologize for discussing technicals! Those were awesome.). She discussed the importance of knowing who you are as a blogger, what you stand for (your personal brand!), and what your purpose is before you even start blogging. There was also a section on knowing who your demographics were and the importance of approaching companies who share the same demographics AND values as yourself. After all, you can only sincerely and truthfully promote a product that you believe in, right? 🙂 A lot of what Ginger discussed was something I knew on an instinctual level, but it’s very different to hear a professional’s take on it.