Being Social

This post has taken me a number of edits to write. It was really rough at first, but then I found exactly what I wanted to say. I hope you leave motivated to Roar, be yourself, engage with others, and ask for help or support.

I love being able to connect with others on Instagram, Facebook, Blogs, Twitter, Pinterest and social media in general. While using social media I strive to present my authentic self, minus politics. That is one area I try to keep somewhat personal.

What do I mean by authentic? Being myself. Letting my real self show. I’m quirky, loveable, and generally all over the place. Like Porter below, I’m not afraid to roar when I need to. This kid is ridiculous, he will roar at anyone.

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For sewing and quilting I need to help stay on track. If not, I will never get anything done and have an EVEN bigger pile of works in progress. Well, I have mentioned that I plan posts and social media out in advance. My blog schedule is made about a week in advance and I try to plan pictures for that. This helps me keep my sanity and pushes me to finish. I love sharing what I create. Pictures are done usually when I have the best light or time. They are not always perfect or the best, but that is it’s own work in progress.

However there are others that really stage their photos or take multiples to get the right look. Getting the right look is important, but one Instagram-ers admission is frightening. “revealing that a beach bikini photo actually took more than 100 attempts“. That seems insane to me.

This has encouraged to look more intrinsically at what I’m doing as a quilt/sewing/general awesomeness blogger. Am I being authentic with readers and myself? What am I promoting? Am I creating to just get more hearts and likes? The general answer is no. I tend to not make what’s on trend and follow my own creative path.

 

Someone has linked over to the CraftyPlanner’s podcast with Lizzy House in a blog post I read earlier this month. It’s from a couple of months ago, but her honesty has really resonated with me over the month. This podcast was an eye opener. I suggest taking the full hour and listening to Lizzy House and her thoughts.

Here are my notes and thoughts:

  • No work you do on your own. Well maybe, but probably not.
  • Society has moved away from collaboration.
  • What are the benefits of collaborating?
  • Too busy focusing on likes, hearts and being a “celebrity”.

After listening to the podcast, I found a blog post that I think really ties into what Lizzy House was saying about likes and hearts. Helene in Between asks if Is Blogging Dead? For sewing and quilting blogs I don’t think it’s dead, but another avenue to connect and share. As someone mentioned in the comments it’s a way to have a home for everything. Other social media outlets have made it too easy to not engage past a heart or like. Unless you follow hashtags on IG you can’t go back to something you liked. On the other hand, increasing hearts and like can really drive a business. I don’t think there is a definite answer to the question. However, it’s up to me to engage with my readers or try to encourage something other than a heart or like. Don’t hide, engage with others.

By commenting on blogs over the years I have developed some crafty friendships with people I adore. I can’t wait to ever meet them in person.

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I don’t want to just grow my audience, hearts, tweets, or followers. I want to inspire their own creativeness by sharing my journey. Although I guess the first stage in helping others with their creativity is to make sure that they follow my account. The more followers I have, the more likely other accounts are to follow too. I think that if my audience doesn’t start growing in the next couple of weeks, I will consider using socialfollow that my friend told me about which has given her a large number of followers since she started using it. I just really want to inspire as many people as possible. Maybe it’s the health educator in me, but there is a desire to help others. Here’s what you can expect from me going forward:

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  • Transparency and honesty on posts.
  • Inspiration from various places, not just sewing or quilting related.
  • Collaboration with others.
  • Supporting and commenting on others work. Be an example.

I’m not sure how all of this will look in the future but I have some ideas in the works. I’d love your feedback on what you want to see from bloggers, Instagram, Facebook, and/or any social media. What would help you the most? What really bothers you or turns you away from engaging with someone? If you don’t want to publicly comment you can email me quiltytherapy @ gmail .com

 

**Photos from this post are from the talented Amy Garro. She has launched a photography business, Indy Family Photo.**