After having personal success meeting and working with professional photographers from the NYC SmugMug group, I was eager to find out what the
Dallas SmugMug photography scene had to offer. I have found that SmugMug groups are a great way to get involved with in the local photography scene while hearing some great FREE lectures. Since I just moved back to Dallas/Fort Worth this meeting was perfect. Sure enough, Dallas has a successful and active SmugMug group.
I attended my 1st meeting on Thursday, Feb. 10 at the Tower Club in downtown Dallas. The speaker was the vibrant and brillant social media expert,
'DotJenna.' As usual, I did a little research on
DotJenna before attending the lecture. It was easy to see after spending a few minutes on her website and Facebook page that she not only had a very strong online presence, but that she had turned her social media expertise into a very successful business. I was more than intrigued and absolutely going to this meeting.
After a little trouble finding cheap parking (I found out afterwards that I could have parked in the Tower Club for a discounted price of $5) and trouble finding which door to the Tower Club was actually open (I had to walk around the building and still had to try a few doors before finding the ONE set out of six doors that was open), I made it to the SmugMug lecture. The first person I met at the meeting was fellow photographer and representative of the Dallas-based rental company
Light Tec,
Miguel A. Pardo. We exchanged contact info and discussed what we shot and the Dallas photography scene. So far, so good with the Dallas SmugMug group.
More people settled in and within a few minutes the meeting was underway. Once DotJenna started, there was no stopping her. She was off and running in the matter of a few seconds. If I had to pick two words to describe DotJenna, they would be 'Hot Pink.' Partly because she is always wearing hot pink, but mostly because of her vibrant style, strong, yet positive demeanor, and her total confidence in who she is and what she discussed. It was easy to tell that she absolutely loves what she does and loves to share what she has learned with other people. She talked about where she started and how she got into social media coaching. She then segued into practical and useful tips on how to achieve social media success.
DotJenna's '7 Steps to Social Media Sales Success' are as follows:
1. Define your brand
2. Locate your audience
3. Attract an audience
4. Captive attention
5. Bond with audience
6. Convert into client
7. Engage continuously
I could write an entire post about each one of these topics, but I will leave that up to DotJenna to further explain. A few additional points I took away from her lecture was the importance of being authentic. Now a days, people (i.e. your audience) want to see and know the 'real' you. They want to connect with you and feel as if they truly know you. If you try to be false or put on a front, people will know. So, just be yourself.
Another important point I took away from DotJenna's lecture was the importance of getting out there and doing something. She talked about how in our society we feel that we must do something perfectly or not at all. DotJenna disagreed with this idea. She suggested that doing something is better than doing nothing. This is a topic I can absolutely relate to. I often feel that if I am not giving 110% and doing it perfectly, then I shouldn't do it at all. Today, the opposite is true. What you are doing might not be perfect, but it's so much better than not doing anything.
Starting my Dallas SmugMug experience with a bold lecture from DotJenna was exactly what I needed. It provided encouragement to get out there and do something, and to get involved and to take risks. I hope this blog will encourage my readers will do the same thing!
You can find out more about DotJenna at the following places:
