Accountability Calls and Monthly Challenges
Yesterday we had our monthly group accountability call.
We do this every month to share innovative outreach strategies, celebrate triumphs, and inspire engagement across our network of cities. Each call fuels creative solutions and hyperlocal content creation, and leaves each editor inspired to elevate their publication.
Some highlights from this past month at the City Living Network include:
Kama from Maui Makai…
got interns by reaching out to “Maui Cool Girls” who had participated in her “Dripping in Maui” giveaway. She DM'd them, told them she liked their style and content, and then followed up with a VOICE NOTE. It worked and alas, she now has multiple interns — and we’re all gonna start voice noting everything!
Angela from Las Vegas Parents Club…
is the total QUEEN of events. Not only did she have her one-year anniversary party in February, at the end of this month she will be hosting a market that people are PAYING her to participate in. She has 10 vendors so far. As a group we talked about the natural anxiety you get when hosting events (no matter how often you do them!), and how it's smart to just push through the discomfort because they usually lead to LOTS of opportunities and LOTS of exposure.
Melissa from Newport Beach Days…
sold out of her Newport Market Bags and wants to order more. She has another giveaway planned and just sponsored a fundraiser for Newport Elementary School where her twins go.
Deanna from Huntington Beach Days…
signed a quarterly package with a brewery in town and is planning a scavenger hunt giveaway. She’s looking for clever ideas to go about it. Salt Lake Days Mindy had some ideas about directing people to sign up for the newsletter for clues, and we brainstormed as a group to come up with other fun ideas like a virtual passport/trivia game and a tag and share challenge. (When one of us has a question, we all love to add our own expertise and knowledge to raise each other up. Two minds are better than one, FYI!)
Lindsay from Laguna Beach Living (me)!…
had a couple viral reels this month (and a couple total flops!), so we talked about the importance of consistency with posting and how we should never give up — whether it gets 100,000 views or 10. Laguna Beach Living has been focusing on our annual subscriptions lately so there’s been lots of photoshoots and paid ads like this fun 5-Day Juice Cleanse Article I did for Z.E.N. Foods (pictured above).
Other key highlights of our meeting were our May Challenges! I proposed this month we all find and work with one new local photographer we’ve never worked with before. This will get each Editor more comfortable with using and finding photographers, and doing things for trade.
Because I want to be as HELPFUL AS I POSSIBLY CAN BE, after the call I sent a follow up email with an exact script each Editor can send out to new photographers and some helpful tips on how to find them.
Lastly, some other ideas we touched on were Facebook groups, books we’ve been reading (HOLY HORMOZI!), Instagram engagement best practices, and my favorite way to get 2 weeks of Reel content in 1 hour.
It was a jam packed hour to say the least.
An hour that left everyone inspired and motivated to create the best dang hyperlocal publication in their town. The Network aspect of the City Living Network is one that keeps on giving… every single month.
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