8 Things I Learned at Disney Social Media Moms on The Road and Pixie Dust Fun!

by : Diana Limongi 9 years ago

Sometime in May I received an email saying I was invited to the Disney Social Media Moms Celebration On-The-Road in NYC. If you’re a Disney fan and a blogger and a mom, being invited to be part of the Disney Social Media Moms conference is a dream come true.

Disney Social Media Moms conference is held in Orlando and every year they take the conference OTR (On The Road) to different cities in the USA. This year, one of the cities was NYC and I got the chance to go. It was an intense day where we got a chance to meet other fellow bloggers who share the same love for all things Disney, and we learned tips and tricks to improve our blogging game. We also got a special visit from Mickey Mouse and we got a special tour of the New Amsterdam Theatre, where Aladdin is currently being shown on Broadway.

8 Things I Learned at Disney Social Media Moms OTR NYC:

1. Play is an important way to create content — USE YOUR IMAGINATION!!

For us moms, I think that taking cues from our children is important, they see the world in a totally different way, and they often see things in a way we don’t.

2. If you’re out of words- step away and go chat with someone!

Suffering from writer’s block? Sometimes it helps to step away, get some air, talk to someone. This is so true, some of the best blog posts I’ve written have come out of conversations with other people, or something I’ve read in the paper or a magazine.

3. There are two important relationships in blogging:

relationship with your audience
relationship with other bloggers

This is so true. I cherish the relationships I have with other bloggers- Some of them have become my mentors and friends and I have learned so much from them! I also try to pay it forward when I can, because we can all learn from each other.

Shaniqua Garvin from Brown Media Mama and Divina Rodriguez from Dancing Hot Dogs

As for my audience, I am constantly looking for ways to interact with my readers. I particularly love Twitter and Instagram. For me, one of the most gratifying things as a blogger who blogs about raising bilingual/multilingual kids is to get a message from a parent saying that I’ve inspired them to raise bilingual children, or that they have used the tips I write about. I also love writing about culture and identity and my experiences as working mom, and I love when other people share their experiences with me.

Blogging is not only about writing, it is also about creating a dialogue and touching people.

4. Tips for Pinterest: The anatomy of a good pin: vertical image and use a text overlay for context. Make the descriptive copy that tells a story.

I made this pinnable image using their tips.

5. Tips for shooting videos: Note: I’m focusing on these two because Pinterest and videos are the ones that I really want to focus on in the coming months.

Victoria Lim (You can follow her on Twitter) had GREAT tips for making videos:

Clean your lens.
Steady shots.
Try different angles.
Zoom with your feet and not with the on-camera zoom as it will likely be blurry or wobbly.
Hold horizontally, not vertically.
Be purposeful in shooting.
Don’t tilt your camera unless there is a reason to do so.

When interviewing:

Use airplane mode: so you don’t have a call interrupt your video. (genius!)
Be careful with ambient noise– wind, etc.
Think about where you want your interviewee to look (Directly at the camera? at you?)
Consider getting a microphone to hook to your phone.

6. Cool APPS! If you want to add text and music to videos, try apps like Videolicious and Magisto.

7. Instagram: Photo quality is key! Keep your look consistent (same filters?) and use the share button to share on FB. Since FB owns IG, they view it favorably. Don’t forget to use hashtags (just don’t go overboard.

8. Barby Siegal – CEO of the ZENO Group shared this advice with all the Moms there:

Follow your smarts, intuition and bravery.

It was not all business and learning at Disney SMM OTR… of course there was plenty of Pixie Dust to go around… and it wouldn’t be a Disney party without a visit from the Head Mouse himself Mickey Mouse!

Have you ever seen a group of women shriek over Mickey Mouse? Happens every time. Because he’s magical.

After our photos with Mickey Mouse, we got a chance to visit the prop room at the New Amsterdam Theater.
It was so much fun playing dress up in the New Amsterdam Theatre prop room! I dressed up as Ursula, sat on King Triton’s throne and checked out the headpieces from Aida, props from the Lion King and much more. It was truly a magical experience– in perfect Disney fashion!

I had such a great time at Disney Social Media Moms Celebration! It made me feel the magic… that pixie dust feeling! I am a proud Disney Social Media Mom!

You can check out the other Disney Social Media Mom posts using hashtag #DisneySMM on all social media platforms!

Diana Limongi

Diana a mom, activist, nonprofit professional, podcaster and writer from Queens, NY. She writes about motherhood, activism, raising my multilingual kids, culture and travel. She and her multicultural family live in Queens, NY.