My life has been an interesting series of transitions, always changing and moving in new directions. Social media seems to mimic our lives, and my life in the virtual world has transformed right alongside my not-so-virtual life (the two are increasingly interwoven… I’m not sure I could separate one from the other anymore).
When I started WorkLoveLife in February 2008, I had no idea it would take me where I am today. What nobody tells you when you start a blog is that you will become a junkie. First, you’ll start devouring other people’s blogs in your genre. Then you start commenting on their blogs, and then you figure out that when you do that you get more readers. Oh that’s neat, you think. I wonder what else I can do to get more readers…
It spiraled out from there. As I grew WorkLoveLife, I began to run across concepts that I was already working with in my day job in marketing. And I was intrigued. Here I had been MySpacing, Facebooking (um, anyone else remember being on Friendster? I was there), Flickring, tagging and tweeting, and mixed up in all this craziness was marketing.
I wrote a few posts that really had nothing to do with Work, Love or Life, but had everything to do with brand image, marketing, and social media tools. And they were some of my favorite posts to write. And scrolling through my feeds every day, I would star dozens of articles daily that I wanted to blog about… but they just didn’t seem to fit what I was doing with WorkLoveLife.
One night, not long after my day job had a serious sputter, I sat on the phone with Penelope Trunk, trying to figure out my next move when she spits out the most preposterous idea. “You should be doing social media, Holly,” she says matter-of-factly, as if she’s been reading my tea leaves. “You do it all already. Just start a blog and round out your resume with some bullets by offering to do some social media campaigns for local businesses and friends.”
I considered this and found it hard to swallow that I could offer my thoughts to others on this subject. Then I started looking around my community and saw a major hole. Nobody, and I mean nobody, had any clue when it came to social media. I met with the community in San Antonio, and god love ‘em, they encouraged me. “Holly is social media in Corpus Christi,” Luis Sandoval told someone as he introduced me. And the truth of it hit me. If nobody filled the hole, the snake oil salesmen would show up soon, and I couldn’t have that happen – not to my community, not to social media.
That was about a month ago. Voila, blog. Hello, social media marketing portfolio. And you know, I even ended up falling for the guy who was running the political action group I offered to do a Facebook promotion for.
I love social media.
Just to let you know, i’ll be the first to read you Holly. The site looks great. Good luck with it!
Hey Holly! I follow you on Twitter. I’m a South Texas girl too. I love your new blog and social media as well. Excited to read what you have to say. Happy blogging!
Site looks great Holly! Good luck with it! Looking forward to seeing where this goes…
Cool, looking forward to your thoughts. I don’t see where to subscribe though…
Holly, you’re such a talented writer and a great social media thinker. I really look forward to reading your stuff here! It’s interesting we both started blogging around the same time and now looks like we’re moving in similar directions…
Holly, congrats on a new avenue! It’s fun to watch your growth and I can almost hear the wheels turning 2 states away
Totally stoked for your new venture! I’m with Rebecca - let us know when we can subscribe… don’t want to miss anything!
The site looks great Holly. I think this was a great move for you. Have fun at SXSW!
Can’t wait to hear more. You are really a very talented writer in additional to everything else you do.
Congrats on the new blog and for owning social media in Texas! Looking forward to your posts!
Hi Holly,
I just came across your new blog today and I can relate to everything that you wrote. I started writing a blog and became hooked. It is fun, inspiring and rewarding,especially when you start attracting readers. I love the way people share their personal knowledge so openly and it is an easy way to meet like minded people.
Good luck with your new adventure!
Madison
Wow, Holly, I cannot tell how much this sounds like me; the passion about writing, the naming your first blog one thing and writing about another, the loving social media, and the amazement that you have something to offer others on the subject. I now have three blogs. All three are about things and issues I’m passionate about. One is about life at my B&B with recipes, etc. one is about social media and the amazing fact that Innkeepers don’t embrace it, and the third is a business women’s forum. The amazing parallel here is that I too was asked to teach a group (members in my Innkeeper’s association) about social media and blogging. I was flabberghasted when they asked me, as I had only been blogging a little over two months and I was very new to utilizing SM as a marketing tool. Now, all I want to do is blog and read other blogs like yours and those that discuss the ins and outs of SM , writing, and blogging.
So sorry, to talk mainly about myself here, but your post really hit home and got me all excited about what (we) I do!!
Congrats! I think you’ll do great. You have a clear idea, and you’ll definitely be filling a niche. Go forth and do well! (You don’t need me to say that, but I’ll say it anyway
[...] I know I’m not the only one who’s experienced that — I’ve watched several bloggers whom I really respect shift the focus of their blogs or start entirely new blogs devoted to their professional interests — like Monica O’Brien, Meg Roberts, or Jaclyn Schiff, or Holly Hoffman. [...]
[...] I know I’m not the only one who’s experienced that — I’ve watched several bloggers whom I really respect shift the focus of their blogs or start entirely new blogs devoted to their professional interests — like Monica O’Brien, Meg Roberts, or Jaclyn Schiff, or Holly Hoffman. [...]
[...] I know I’m not the only one who’s experienced that — I’ve watched several bloggers whom I really respect shift the focus of their blogs or start entirely new blogs devoted to their professional interests — like Monica O’Brien, Meg Roberts, or Jaclyn Schiff, or Holly Hoffman. [...]