Blogger Ethics at Latina Lifestyle Bloggers Conference #LALLBLOG13

#LALLBLOG13 – Cooper Building, Downtown LA

I like werewolves.
photo source: Allen Taylor Photography

This past weekend, I had the opportunity to speak about blogger ethics and social media at the third annual Latina Lifestyle Bloggers Conference (aka. #LALLBLOG13). Ana-Lydia Ochoa (Latina Lifestyle Bloggers Collective founder) and Carolyn West (So Cal Lady Bloggers co-founder) managed to pull off an amazing two-day conference with sponsors such as Coba, Cover Girl (Fleishman Hillard), Latino Fashion Week, Fresh Brothers, and Alegria Magazine.

My fellow panelists were Lee Reyes-Fournier, the co-founder of Couple Dumb, and Stephanie O’Dea, “The Crockpot Lady,” and our dynamic moderator was Vicky Ayala, digital strategist and entrepreneur. I hope that our panel was useful for the attendees. I apologize for dropping so many F-bombs during my panel. I’m very passionate (heh) about verifying regulations and guidelines. My past experience as a senior social media manager for a regulated industry drilled that into me.

The main points I wanted attendees to take back were these:

1. FTC disclosure update – this is a PDF and you should read the whole thing
2. A simple disclosure like “Company X sent me this for review; here’s what I think” is OK per the FTC.
3. I have not seen any language from the FTC that requires a blogger to disclose above the fold. I believe that as long as it is within the post and it is clear, you are good to go. Contact the FTC if you have questions. Get back to me if you find out otherwise.

Lee Reyes-Fournier on the mic! LALLBLOG13
photo source: Allen Taylor Photography

The panel before mine featured my fellow colleague, AJ Feuerman, Lisa Rocha (Ilaments), and Jose Resendez who manages the Cover Girl account at Fleishman Hillard. The panel was moderated by super blogger (and all-around nice person, for real) Marie Denee (The Curvy Fashionista). This panel discussed how to work with brands and what not to do (don’t stalk). There was a ton of info thrown out but the main takeaway I got from it is that bloggers STILL hide their email address. If you want a brand to work with you, make it easy for them to find you. Put your email address in a place that’s easy to find on your blog.

Marie Denee (The Curvy Fashionista); AJ Feuerman (Confessions of a Fat Girl); Lisa Rocha (Ilaments); Jose Resendez (Cover Girl/Fleishman Hillard)

Sponsor Coba impressed me. Hello, HORCHATA IN A BOTTLE!!

Mexican wrestling mask on the bottom of the COBA cap!

The team at Juan’s Restaurante brought in tamales and mole. Hi, my name is Chris Lam and one of my favorite foods is TAMALES! I love you, Juan’s Restaurante. I don’t have a photo of my plate since I scarfed it down. I sense a visit to his restaurant in the near future.

We ended the day with Blue Print juices. Blue Print is another cold-pressed juice company that has made an impression on me. They exhibited at the Natural Products Expo this year, and I thought their juices were tasty. I also sense another juice cleanse in the near future.

Thanks for all you techies who retweeted my tweet. It became a Top Tweet on Saturday! I think it was retweeted 12 times!

Top Tweet #LALLBLOG13!

I missed the first day of the conference because I was at the NAWBO-LA annual luncheon where LL COOL J was there! But, Along Comes Mary has a great first day recap. Go read it!

Thank you, attendees, sponsors, colleagues, and of course Ana-Lydia and Carolyn for inviting me to speak and share resources with you. I look forward to connecting with you offline as well!

** All photos by me unless otherwise noted.

Disclosure: I was invited to speak at this conference; my attendance fee and parking was comp’d by the organizers.