An inside look at LINK Bloggers Meeting in Faro

Being a professional blogger or social media influencer is a very recent occupation, and most of the public has no idea of the struggle it means to thrive in the digital arena. It’s not just about taking pretty pictures, guys! The audience of around 150 people was not disappointed at the end. Valuable testimonies shed light on a wide range of matters in this field, and everybody got the chance to get to know and chat a bit with the speakers. Let us tell you a bit more about what went down 🙂

The power of a good story

The conference took place in Hotel Eva, the most iconic hotel in Faro, and it kickstarted with Rita Sampaio and Samanta Duarte, the masterminds behind the initiative. Rita works in the marketing and communication field. She runs her own coworking space in Faro, Atelier Cowork, where she also teaches and provides consultancy in the branding area. As for Samanta, she has been blogging for quite a while now. Samanta and her family have travelled to several countries and what started as just a travel blog to share pictures and experiences, gave way to a business. With Rita’s experience organising events and Samanta’s drive to bring bloggers together, they gathered a dynamic team of people who invested their full hearts in this project.

Samanta and Rita welcomed a super-full room of curious participants and introduced the first speaker, Martim Mariano. Martim has been working as Senior Community Manager in companies such as BBDO and SIC and he is a great communicator. Martim told us about the power of a good story in social media. Sharing his personal story, he explained how he drove down a busy route to get to this job. Using his example as someone who couldn’t tell he would end up being a professional storyteller, Martim inspired everyone in the audience to let their inner writer loosen up and just start.

Carolina Afonso brought us a different perspective on how to create content. Working in one big tech company, Konika Minolta, Carolina presented the powerful features of their augmented reality tool, GenARate. With this tool, one can link a physical object to digital information, making it an easy and exciting alternative to add value to communication.

Being an influencer: are you for real?!

Next, there was a discussion panel where we got the chance to listen from actual professional influencers and content makers, the Explorerssaurus couple. They told us how something that started as a hobby while in school became their full-time occupation not much time later. From the outside, we see this very young couple travelling around the world, from country to country, taking cute pictures of themselves in the most spectacular spots, wearing objects and clothes given by some brand – sounds quite shallow and easy, right? Well, it surely is not. We then got to understand the hard work behind this XXI century profession, born in our social media era. Explorerssaurus work by themselves, being responsible for all the travelling logistics and also carrying some pretty serious photography and video equipment. When receiving contacts from brands who want them to publicise a new product or service, they discuss the details of the deal with their agency, the What About Agency. Their agent, Carla Rodrigues, who was also in the discussion panel, explains how it is of utter importance to keep authenticity in the contents shared and especially the coherence of the social media influencer actions and speech. A bespoken secret to remaining relevant in this area, because people tend to follow and admire what feels real and natural. This is what real influencing is all about: a genuine and spontaneous relationship with the audience that each follower looks up to the influencer’s choices as the best and most desirable.

The essence of being real and honest as an influencer was a topic very well addressed in the next discussion panel. Janine Medeira, one of the most experienced national bloggers and social media influencer, told us about the importance of sealing deals exclusively with brands that actually provide quality products and services. As an influencer, you must be very cautious and realise that there is no use in accepting a very well paid contract with a brand if you’ll have to advertise products or services that are not good or that you wouldn’t use for yourself. Otherwise, it will look misplaced. Followers have a keen eye to peculiar behaviours and unnatural words, and they will have no mercy punishing you for being fake in your life depiction. Mariana Nacaratti, from IATI Seguros de Viagem and also a speaker in this discussion panel, was representing those companies that chose to work with social media influencers as a way to raise awareness to their brands. From her words, we could understand that committed brands search for influencers who not only identify with their values and vision but also who portray their average consumer. With this, they are not only investing in alternative advertising means but also collecting feedback from someone who actually tests the product and helps improve it. Hugo Van Der Ding was the panel moderator, and he needs no introduction. Being the funniest guy in the room, he played the devil’s advocate role and asked all the inconvenient questions people regularly comment to each other about the influencers’ world and how brands tend to want to manipulate consumer’s choices. That perspective was taken apart piece by piece by Janine and Mariana, who shared precious insights that grew everyone’s awareness on the challenges of this business.

Becoming your own brand

Last but not least, another big name in the national blogosphere, Sofia Castro Fernandes. Sofia runs the very famous “Às nove no meu blog“, and she told us about her counterintuitive approach to being a blogger and influencer. Sofia does what she does because she loves it: writes about what she wants, doesn’t like attending events, and has no deals with any brands. In short, she runs her own brand.
Sofia’s journey as a blogger started with a simple travel blog to keep the family in touch with her solo adventure in Brasil; after a while, it became a much more insightful digital space where Sofia found a way of sharing short thoughts with very personalised visuals. The blog grew, and this kind of short, meaningful and charismatic pieces of thought (content!) went straight to many people’s hearts. Its shareable nature turned them into a massive trend. “Às nove no meu blog” is now so famous that it gets all kinds of reactions in social media, both positive and negative. Sofia said she enjoys receiving feedback from her readers, that’s part of the joy. But also, in her coolness, Sofia confessed the block button is her favourite trait to deal with haters, wishing them “Love and light!” but having no remorse whatsoever! 🙂

It’s a wrap!

What a great morning, we loved it! The rest of the day was dedicated to make-up and photography workshops and also a photographic stroll, ending at the sunset party organised in Hotel Eva. The whole team behind the organisation of Link Bloggers Meeting should be very proud of their accomplishment not only because it was the first event in the country around this subjects but also because it happened in Faro, helping to promote our beloved city and region. Congrats, guys! You did it, and you did it well! See ya next year! 😉

LINK Bloggers Meeting 2020 will take place on June 20th 2020. Make sure to check their website at linkbloggersmeeting.com