REVIEW: What I learned from MICKEY MOUSE: Disney Social Media Moms Conference (PART 6): Laughs and a Movie

Me with comedian Maryellen Hooper & Social Media Guru Chris Brogan

Day three of the Disney Social Media Moms Conference started with Girl Power! social media in the morning and continued just as strong in the afternoon with speaker Chris Brogan. Chris is the author of the New York Times best selling book "Trust Agent" which teaches readers how to use the web to build influence, improve reputation, and earn trust.

Chris is a great speaker. I love jokes and speakers that don't take themselves too seriously and Chris was funny while at the same time giving great information on how to use social media to its best advantage. Here are some highlights from his speech -

We buy from people that we like. A simple but true statement. He probably could have stopped his speech after this point.

Social Media is about Listening.
-Social Media can be used to improve public relations and improve customer service.
-Social Media can be used to help with product research and development.
-Social Media can be used to increase marketing opportunities by listening to the needs of the customer.

Social Media is about Connecting.
- Chris said that 81% of his Twitter tweets are replies. We can put out information but the real value in Social Media is in connecting with our followers and building that trust relationship.
- Chris said that we should treat our followers like gold. That relationship should be first before earning money and getting swag. Sponsors should be at the bottom of our priority list.
- Great content is what keeps followers coming back for more.

Little Blogs Grow Up.
Chris said that bloggers should stop worrying about number of followers, page rankings, and other stats. Just be helpful and the rest will follow.

FTC Rules Compliance.
A lot of bloggers are confused about how to handle the new FTC disclosure policy. Chris used his Disclosures and Relationship section from his blog's about page as a (funny and different) example of how to handle compliance.


Life is Stinky!
We ended the conference day with a few more jokes from mom comedian Maryellen Hooper. She was so funny while telling the ugly side of marriage and motherhood with true humor. Maryellen's blog is called Stinky Flowers, named from the smelly weeds that her son gave her to wear all day in her hair - aren't kids wonderful! Every mom in the audience could relate to her comedy.


Being a VIP on the Disney Hollywood Studios Movie Back Lot
After the end of the conference, Disney treated the Social Media Moms and our families to one last "surprise and delight" evening. We were bused to Disney Hollywood Studios for a private dinner on one of the back studio movie lots. It was fabulous. We had a tasty dinner and again, the kids had a D.J. that rocked the house and everyone was dancing and having a great time. The Disney characters showed up for great photo opportunities and the real highlight of the evening was when Disney opened the "Toy Story Mania" ride just for us. I was a shooting maniac on that ride as I tried to beat my son's score and we rode it so many times that my hand was about to fall off - It was great!

Wow! What a conference! I still cannot believe that I got an invitation to experience three days of excitement, great information, and Disney magic. I only have one more blog post left in the series. So if you want to find out about my last day at Disney going to the Magic Kingdom and about our hotel the Disney Polynesian, check out my last post in the series "What I learned from MICKEY MOUSE (PART 7)- One Last Mickey for the Road".

Read my trip disclosure here