I have this friend, Marcy Massura, who, quite honestly, is God’s personal gift to the blogosphere. Anyway, she wrote a GREAT ARTICLE on her blog The Glamorous Life about the 5 things bloggers should do to keep brands away. Now, what you must understand is that this woman gets paid to do this social media thing, and to do it WELL, and here she is on her blog, generously offering FREE advice to blogger wanna-be’s like me about how to make my blog better. 
So while I was cleaning up, um, stuff, I was thinking about this… I decided I’d be all clever and make up an “awards thank you speech” and thank all the people who have helped make me a better blogger. So I’m on Google looking up if there even is such a thing as Disney Blogger Award for me to pretend-accept, and WHO do you think shows up there? Well its Mrs. Marcy Massura OF COURSE, on ANOTHER of her blogs, The Daily Disney, where she stands holding an Oscar!!! You can read the article HERE.
So anyway, that threw me off, but I still thought I’d take a page from dear Marcy and tell any of you out there who are wanting to blog that the best way to become a better blogger is to learn from people who are REALLY AMAZING at what they do.
Enter The Three Disneyland Moms, stage Left.
I met these three awesome women in another life when I was writing a personal blog about being a mom and daily drama. (I may go through it, clean it up some, and bring it back, I’ve not decided). Anyway I became “virtual friends” friends with these three California girls way back when. I randomly decided that I would start a blog about Disney World and tips for planning trips (which you are now reading) and honestly had NO clue that these ladies were the Queen Mum’s of Disneyland blogdom. I have since learned that they have the SERIOUS hook-up and that they are even more talented than I had realized years ago. I’ve learned so much from them, but I wanted to point out a few blog-skillz that have helped me, and may help you, as you blog Disney.
Suz: Queen of the Video.
Lessons Learned: Find your voice. Be Beautiful. Laugh at yourself and your own absurdity as often as you can. Use video to connect to viewers.
So, as far as I can tell Suz has approximately 8.37 million different blogs that she writes for. haha She is currently the video darling of OC Family TV, also does videos for 3 Disneyland moms, writes articles on her personal site http://suzannebroughton.com/columnist and her personal site, and is a photographer extraordinaire!
Suz taught me to JUST BE ME when I’m writing. If they like you, swell, if they don’t, well they will because, um, obviously you’re here reading this right now. Suz has perfected the art of the “blog rant” that allows you to be fired up with her while simultaneously finding her adorable. This was an important lesson for me. You can’t come across TOO harsh (and you absolutely CAN NOT CURSE). She is also fabulously nutty and laughs at herself ALL THE TIME. Her video, entitled “I got a brand new pair of roller skates” is what I consider QUINTISENTIAL Suz and has done much to teach me about how to use video to make blogs interesting and the blogger more relatable. I’ve not implemented video yet, but its my next step. Here are even more videos of her to entertain you. She really does have this approachability/ relate- ability/ friend-ability thing down pact. All Disney bloggers can LEARN something here. The ability to find your own personal voice while writing and learning to integrate video into blogs is really something the “general public” are looking for as we increase our “virtual social circle”. Readers want Disney news from people they could also see themselves chilling out with in a park.
Lisa: Queen of the Niche.
Lessons Learned: Find something you know like the back of your hand and focus on it (if you can find more than one, like being a mom AND Disneyland all the better), learn how to do giveaways, build a blog community.
You may better know Lisa as the author of Disney blog-sensation, Babes in Disneyland. She’s also one of the 3 Disneyland Moms, a published author (info on her book to follow) and a communications consultant, oh and a mom to THREE KIDS. Lisa knows what she does well…. tell families with young children how to “do” Disneyland Resort! You can buy her book by clicking HERE. Lisa doesn’t spread herself too thin like many Disney bloggers do. She blogs info about family trips for people with YOUNG CHILDREN to DisneyLAND. Her narrow scope allows her to become the expert in her area, or “niche”. This has been an extremely important lesson for me as a blogger. Disney is overwhelming! It’s huge. It’s too much for one person to cover. The movies, the merchandise, the parks, the DAILY news, its too much! Lisa has taught me to do my area and do it as best I can; an important lesson I believe. She’s also great at doing giveaways for her readers and building the blog community. These are, obviously, great bonuses to effective blogging.
Marcy: Queen of Social Media
Lessons Learned: Be generous with the knowledge you have acquired, stay grounded regardless of how awesome things seem, blog with INTEGRITY and expect others to do the same. BE FUNNY!! Keep your standards high.
Yeah, so that IS Marcy with Matthew Morrison (from Glee), this is only one of the bazillion of famous people she has met over her amazing life. Nevertheless she remains one of the most grounded and real people I’ve ever “virtually” met. This is, I think, an extremely important lesson and why people keep coming back for more from Marcy. She is just her, being awesome.
Marcy has an AMAZING amount of quick wit. Her book, Ad Talk, is on my coffee table and is full of HILARITY. I even use it in my class when teaching Mass Communication. You will love her blog which is full of tips about using social media more effectively and just general life. All around awesome.
She is also very serious about ethical blogging and even has her own code of ethics. She is a co-author of the Three Disneyland Moms’ Pledge that encourages Disney bloggers to blog with integrity. I highly encourage YOU to take the pledge as I have!
These are EXTREMELY IMPORTANT lessons and I believe these three women have taught me a lot about becoming a better blogger! I hope that in some small way, I can help those of you who want to be better Disney bloggers on your path, as they have helped me. I also encourage you to read these awesome bloggers and learn from them as I have!
Thank you again to the academy, and be sure to tip your waitresses.
Very touching. I am stunned how kind you are to me. But I am proud to know my work online has been entertaining and helpful to you! You are a great blogger and surely on to do even greater things.
Proud to call you my friend 🙂