At Harlem’s Schomburg Center For Research In Black Culture, the seventh annual Blogging While Brown conference gathered bloggers of color from around the United States for the purpose of connecting and educating those in attendance in regards to how to maximize their online space. Featuring notables such as Lamar and Ronnie Tyler of Black and Married With Kids, as well as Black Enterprise VP and chief content officer Alfred Edmont Jr., this year’s conference provided resources and the wisdom of those who have weathered the ups and downs of blogging to find success.
AT&T, Comcast, Black Enterprise, Stanford University and other sponsors offered everyone a chance to connect with their representatives, as well as with bloggers from a broad sphere of influence. Fashion and beauty, health and wellness, socio-political and news — it was all represented at this year’s conference.
Collaboration and brand-building were major themes. “Blogs and Brands” emphasized the need for bloggers to take advantage of all avenues and think of innovative ways to market themselves. Bloggers like Kara Stevens of The Frugal Feminista and Marsha Barnes of Financial Empowerment shared the importance of combining their efforts with other like-minded bloggers to create the “The Frugal Fab 5.” The quintet have also organized meet and greets, another way of getting their work to the public.
Markus Robinson gave the keynote address on technology. “The question that I always get is ‘How do I get more visitors to my website?’ If you start with that as your premise, it’s going to be very difficult,” Robinson explained. “A large majority of my content either comes from Facebook, Twitter or email newsletters I’ve signed up for. So it’s very important that [you] want people to like your Facebook page. If they like me, they can consume my content, share it out and get some of those network effects.”
Gina Macauley recalled founding Blogging While Brown and encouraged all to recognize that this space was created for them. “Instead of going on a European vacation, I put money down on the Georgia World Congress Center and that’s where we held the first Blogging While Brown,” Macauley shared. “This is a conference that black bloggers built, it’s your own house. If you can’t be real here, you can’t be real anywhere.”
