I had this crazy idea over the Christmas holidays. I was in full-on strategy mode for how to successfully rebrand + relaunch my blog on January 1.
All of my best ideas happen in the middle of the night. With my husband by my side, and a dog snoring in the corner, my brain comes alive late at night and ideas just start bouncing back and forth. That’s when I had the crazy idea.
“I could host a twitter party! What hashtag would I use? #ARDRelaunch? #ARDParty #ARoyalDaughter #ARoyalDaughterBlog…”
And I laid there in bed for about 20 more minutes game planning my twitter party. I knew absolutely nothing about hosting a twitter party. In fact, the next day when I tried to explain the concept to The Professor he was at a complete loss as to what I was talking about. So evidently I didn’t even know how to explain a twitter party.
early strategy for #ARDParty – it definitely included prizes!
Now would be the time to insert that almost everything I learned I learned from Ashlee at Growing Up A Thomas. She helped me out so much with ideas + organization. I really don’t think I could have done it without her. And that’s not an exaggeration.
When I announced the twitter party I was fairly confident that there would be some of you who would participate. And not just because there were awesome prizes. I knew that some of you would participate because you’re just plain old glad to be a part of the little community we have here at A Royal Daughter. And I knew some of you would participate simply because you wanted a chance to win a cool prize. That’s just how it is and I don’t have a problem with it.
I had no idea that close to one hundred and fifty of you would participate.
I had no idea that there would be nearly 700 tweets.
I had no idea that #ARDParty would trend – and especially had no idea it would trend at #1. <—–y’all are amazing!
I hoped that you would make connections. That you would make new friends with like-minded ideas and goals. I had no idea that such instant, yet close connections would be made, and that the next morning you would still be tweeting each other with “It was so good to meet you last night, I can’t wait to get to know you better!”
I hoped you would be inspired. Sharing inspiration + strategy + ideas without reservations. Without wondering if someone would “steal” your idea. Giving generously of your own experience and dreams. And you did. In a big way. You shared from your heart. You shared from your own experiences. You brain stormed. You formulated. You strategized. And I cannot tell you how thrilled I was to see conversations going on late into the night (and even the next morning!) with ideas and plans. My heart is so full.
I hoped you would have fun. That you would see the questions not merely as a personal (or business) challenge, but as a no-pressure way to really make yourself think about the future of your blog. And boy did y’all have fun. And some of you even remarked about the number of calories you burned while trying to keep up with #ARDParty! Hours after the it was over, you were still tweeting about how much fun you had. Thank you for making it fun. It was you…your enthusiasm…your humor…your attitude that made it fun. Believe me, I’m not one to throw a “fun” party. The fun was all you.
For those of you who did not get to participate, here’s the questions that I asked:
Q1. What has been the best tool for growing your readership? #ARDParty
The most popular answers were:
- Social media (specifically Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest & Google+…in that order.)
- Link-ups,
- Building real & meaningful relationships
- Having pin-worthy photos
Q2. How do you turn social networking into community building? #ARDParty
The most popular answers were:
- Connecting with like-minded bloggers who have similar goals and interests
- Commenting on other blogs
- Responding to comments, tweets, e-mails, answering questions
- Reaching out to other bloggers (and not being afraid to get out of your niche)
- Focusing on relationships, not the number of followers
- Being authentic and geniuine on your blog
Q3. What is the number one reason you stop following a blog? #ARDParty
The most popular answers were:
- Lack of qualityand personal content/too many reviews, sponsored posts, and giveaways
- If the blogger comes across as fake/unauthentic or if they stop blogging
- Too much drama/offensive language or content
- Negative content
- Poor grammar
- If they host too many guest posts
Q4. What is your biggest challenge in making your online space unique?
The most popular answers were:
- Coming up with interesting, creative content
- Design/finding the money to pay a designer
- Defining who I am/Finding & owning my voice
- Finding the balance between being inspired and copying someone else’s content
- Determining what is “too personal” to share
If you want to be incredibly inspired + convicted + need more than a few awesome ideas, go search #ARDParty. But be careful – once we started trending we were hit with quite a bit of unwholesome spam. Don’t click on any links unless you know where they go. (And as far as I could tell – none of our legitimate participants posted links, so keep your eyes + your computer safe, okay?)
Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. I can’t tell you how beyond blessed I am!
the prize winners will be getting some happy mail soon!
So many of you asked when the next #ARDParty will be. I’m working on getting one scheduled for February – I’ll announce it as soon as it’s been scheduled. But I need to know: Will you still participate if there are not awesome prizes to be won? Because y’all, I can’t afford to giveaway that much stuff next time.
Also, I owe a big huge debt of love to the ladies at Growing up a Thomas, Jordy Liz Blogs, and Songbirds and Buttons. Those gals know how to throw one awesome twitter party. Be sure and tell them thank you, okay?
Challenges Q & A with Mercy Ink
Connect on Twitter
ARD: As a blogger, what is your biggest challenge for growing your community, and how do you deal with it?
MI: As a blogger, I think one of the greatest challenge to growing community is writing in ways that engage readers but is also true to me and my voice. It’s taken me a long time (and several blogs later!), but clearly defining the mission/vision of mercy ink and writing always that in mind really helps.
@aroyaldaughter
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Amanda, I would gladly attend again–prizes or not! I had hit a bit of a stalling out point blog-wise and felt like it was the rejuvenation I needed to be able to say, “I want to make this a priority again.” Thank you SO much! I loved the insight other bloggers had. I was excited to “follow” lots of new friends!
Thea I’m so glad you got to be a part of the #ARDParty! It was so much fun, and I love that you were able to make some connections!
I’m very, very new to the blogging world (3 weeks today!), and I so appreciate posts like this that help us newbies navigate this oh-so-confusing territory. Stopping by via the blog hop & following via FB.
Thanks Michelle! Welcome to the wonderful world of blogging!
I would participate without prizes
Yay Sarah! I’m so glad to hear this!!
I couldn’t stick around for long but really hope you do another one of these, looks like it was a huge success
It was a lot of fun. I hope you can join us next time, Shane!
Your reach is long and far! Love the way you interact with all your readers and quietly bring us together
I joined to twitter party late, stayed on the sidelines. Love the recap you’ve given today! Congrats on such a success, looking forward to February’s!
I don’t know about that – but I appreciate your encouragement! I hope you’re able to join us in February!
I am new to your blog, but I have found everything very helpful so far… I am sad that I missed your Twitter party, boo! Glad you will be having another in Feb.!
Hi Carrie! Thank you for saying hi – and I hope you’re able to stick around! AND I hope you can join us in February – it will be fun!
I admit, the prizes are a great incentive….but I would definitely participate without them. Not only do I not have a blog, I don’t have a smartphone (gasp) so I can’t easily ‘”tweet” unless I am at my laptop. I truly appreciated the chance to be able to talk to so many of you that I read and enjoy, knowing that you were on RIGHT THEN, instead of hoping I could find a conversation to leap into to get to know you all better. I also felt like maybe in some small way I could be helpful to you all (who help me so much by your various posts) in giving you a perspective from a “reader only”. I definitely enjoyed the party, and if I’m home and able to park myself in front of the laptop during the next one, I will certainly participate. Thanks again Amanda, it was so fun.
Lynne I’m so glad to have your perspective as a non-blogger. Thank you for participating and sharing your insight! I hope you can join us next month!
So glad to hear it went well for you!!! I would have loved to have participated! My hubs get home right about that time, so it wasn’t a good time for me.. But congrats again!!!
Thank you Kassi! Would you ever be able to participate at that time? I’m still trying to figure out the right time. Since we’re wanting to do it monthly now.
Thanks for the recap. I planned on coming, but thought it started at 9 PM EST, instead of 8 PM EST.
I’m sorry for the confusion, Sarah Jane. I hope you can join us next month!
I would participate w/o prizes but they are super fun! I would love to help host/provide some Bow+Arrow Art prizes if that helps at alll
Ashley I’d love to have you as a cohost sometime! I’ll put you on the list!
It was such fun. Glad I got to be a part!:)
I’m glad you were able to be a part of it, Candace! Maybe you can co-host some time!
I’d do it! Prizes or no prizes!
Thank you Priscilla – I’m so glad to know that!
It was so much fun! Thanks for letting me be a part of it. I’d love to co-host the one in February, even if it’s just asking questions!
Hey Jordan! I’ll put you on the list of wanna-be cohosts.
It’s getting kind of long! But you were awesome, so I’ll be glad to have your help again.
Hey girl, congrats on a very successful first ARD party and great recap. I like that you went over the questions. For next party, perhaps tweeting the questions throughout the discussion repeatedly because sometimes I came back to the #ARDparty stream and lost track of the next question
. I would totally participate in the next one, even if no prizes, b/c I did meet some like minded people!
That’s a great idea, Lisa. Thank you for the feedback. I know lots of people were retweeting the questions, but I”ll keep that in mind for next month – to be sure and repeat the questions throughout the party. I’m glad you were able to connect with like-minded women!
This was truly amazing! What a fun party! It was great reading everyone’s responses and I loved this post where you summarized the most popular answers, because I missed a lot of the responses, I’m sure. Congrats on trending… that’s absolutely amazing. I hope you do another party! I would definitely do it if you didn’t have prizes… truthfully, I forgot about the prizes this time. Looking forward to #PrayerDare starting soon. Take care!
I’m so glad you’ll be joining us for #PrayerDare. And thanks for your encouragement about #ARDParty. I hope you’ll be able to join us in February!
It was a great party to attend! I would totally come back, regardless of prizes! Lets be real, prizes are great- but it isn’t what makes a community.
Thank you Mindy! That’s my perspective completely, but I also know that prizes act as an incentive – so you know…it’s kind of a win some, lose some kind of thing.
Thanks for your feedback!