One of my #TSCsummit roomies @LouWhatWear and me – My earrings, top, bag, sunnies
Happy Thursday friends!
Danielle and I wanted to pop in today with a few thoughts on our recent trip a couple of weeks ago to #TSCsummit at Sea Island, GA – The Southern Coterie Summit. We thought we’d both share a little recap of the trip in our own words today – you can read hers at LouWhatWear.com.
If you were following along on instagram and wondering what this trip is about, here is the quick summary: it is a culmination of creative entrepreneurs, social media junkies, new biz owners, etc. who come together for a few days to connect, collaborate and create. There is nothing quite like surrounding yourself with likeminded girl bosses for a few days. I met so many amazing interior decorators, artists, PR gals, boutique owners, jewelry makers … etc. (You can learn more on The Southern Coterie website.)
the stage for all the panels – designed by The Mine
The fun part is that we all have something we can learn from each other. I loved hearing what other people are working on in their businesses. I loved every single thing that the owner of Hampden (Stacey) said in her panel. (Big takeaway: there is no magic bullet to success you just have to keep going forward with little successes along the way.) I love, love, loved hanging out with my mentor, Elizabeth Mayhew (brand director at Draper James) – she is a wealth of knowledge. I could go on and on about my favorite speakers but I don’t want to leave anyone out!
And of course I really enjoyed being with my roomies at The Cloister – Danielle and Lynsey of Lemonade PR. You can also find Danielle at her blog, Lou What Wear of course. (Can’t believe Danielle and I met way back in 2014 maybe?? at the Blog Society conference in Atlanta!)
Instead of giving a day by day breakdown of everything we did, I thought I would just share some of my favorite takeaways from the speakers, so here we go!
- “You don’t have to be in a big fancy city for the image. Believe me.” – Rose Marie Swift, founder of RMS cosmetics.
Obviously this spoke to me as someone who lives in Macon, GA! ;) She really got specific about how much more it would cost if she had her warehouse and office in NYC like a lot of her cosmetic counterparts. She pointed out that a lot of big brands do this, and their products end up costing more for less quality. This has nothing to do with what I do of course but I felt like it was a great reminder that bigger isn’t always better.
- “Yes, and …” – Elizabeth Mayhew, brand director at Draper James
“Yes, and…” is a response Elizabeth said she gave throughout her career, as a way to keep moving onward and upward. In other words, don’t be afraid to take on a new project or go above and beyond. This actually reminded me of one of my favorite quotes “If you need something done, ask a busy person.” I don’t know why, but it’s true!
- Omnichannel.
Omnichannel was a term used a few times that referred to customers needing to see something 3 times before buying it. They may notice on someone’s instagram, then stalk it out on your website, and then lastly come into your store to buy it. As a social media director this was fascinating to me for some reason and I know I’ll find many ways to put this into practice.
- “You can almost be a magazine of yourself.” – Elizabeth Mayhew referring to Instagram.
Yes. All the yes. Right? Why not use instagram as a mini magazine to showcase your business, your skills, and your brand. For some reason, making it seem like a mini magazine instead of a social media outlet you need to “keep up with” makes it seems more fun. This also reminds me of one of the practices I try to put in place for my social media clients, which is that you always want your instagram to be more like a MAGAZINE (inspired, lifestyle), not a CATALOG (staged, stock imagery, with only products).
- “Tell The Story.”
This was one of the things said by several people. No longer is a pretty image going to work for social media. We want to know where it was taken, who was there, why it was taken, etc. We want to know how it was woven into your day. Tell the story. People connect to the story. This is something I am going to be weaving back into my social media client work on the daily again because …… see next point. >>
- Constantly repeat yourself when telling the story of your brand.
I don’t remember who said this but I think its so important. If you feel like you are repeating yourself over and over, you probably are, but thats ok because thats how long it takes for customers/ followers to really “get it.” I already knew this but I think honestly just hearing it from someone else gives me permission to really enact it more.
There are a few other things in my notes from the conference but these are some of my favorite takeaways.
Of course the biggest thing I always think I gain from attending a conference is meeting such wonderful people. I plan to try to collaborate with many of them, which you’ll see soon on instagram I’m sure.
Thank you for stopping by today and make sure to go read Danielle’s recap post too, also going live today!! :)
// If you liked this post you may want to read one I wrote a couple of years ago: 2 things you must do at a conference. I thought of a few more things I need to add to the list after this conference so there may be a part 2 to that post! //
Also: Make Sure to check out this other recap post too by Pinckney Palm – it is a focus on the social media tips we learned.
Photo Credits: Mary Margaret Curtis // Photo of stage taken by me
