Yummy Mummy Winner! | Her World Plus Social Media Awards 2015

I haven't posted much about "my life as a blogger" lately but just wanted to share the good news that I won the Yummy Mummy category at Her World Plus Social Media Awards 2015! ♥

In late Dec 2015, I was notified that I was one of the top 4 finalists in the category. The inaugural awards is not just for bloggers actually, but was created to recognise budding social media personalities and honour outstanding content creation in all areas of online communications channels dedicated to community-based input, interaction, content-sharing and collaboration e.g. YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook etc. 

It came as a very pleasant surprise since I didn't sign up for it, and I didn't even realise I was nominated as well. I told hubby about it and the first thing he said to me was..

Hubby: "Do you have to cook??"
Me: "Erm, no?!"
Hubby: "Oh ok... go for it!"
Me: .... {so what are you trying to say about my cooking??!!!!}

Part of me was apprehensive about accepting to be a finalist {as anyone would be when joining a competition}, but another part of me thought "why not??!" I always tell Lil Pumpkin it's ok to be afraid, but do it anyway and I need to practice what I preach!! (●´∀｀●)

So I accepted to be part of the awards and we had to post 3 photos on Instagram to answer some challenge questions {mine are here, here & here}. Since the final winners for each category were determined by the editorial team {50%} and public voting {50%}, you saw me requesting for your votes in some of my recent posts too (⌒▽⌒)☆

I tried my best in the challenge photos but didn't much about winning since the other finalists in my category had 15k-20k of followers each just on Instagram!! That's a lot and would affect the voting scores by a fair amount.

In comparison, this underdog has only around 6k in total on my Instagram and Facebook page.. if you haven't yet, you are more than welcome to follow / like me there to help me grow them by the way haha #shamelessplug

Anyway fast forward to a month later, I received news that I won in my category!!!  Wooohooo!!! I'm certified a Yummy Mummy!! ヽ(*≧ω≦)ﾉ

It was an extremely unexpected win and oh my oh my... I'm honoured to have won but most of all, I'm so thankful for all the precious support. Given that each finalist was handpicked by the editorial team, I'm sure all our content would have been considered "strong" so public voting was probably the deciding factor?

In any case, each and every single vote counted and I definitely couldn't have done it without all your love o (◡‿◡✿) Even if you are from overseas and tried to vote but couldn't because they needed a local number, I really appreciate your thought and effort!

As a blogger who works with brands and PR firms, I get requests for my follower numbers on my social media platform as proof of my "reach" or "social influence". Most people look to these follower numbers when judging the success of a social media platform. Sure, having a ton of followers or likes on Twitter and Facebook are always good for social proof, but these numbers don't matter when there is no engagement. 

Engagement is about interaction. It’s getting people to read your posts, commenting and conversing, clicking on your links, sharing what you've posted, and acting on your call to action.. It’s getting them to feel like you are providing them value, that you’re a genuine person and aren’t just there to promote/ sell stuff.

And that's why since the beginning, as much as my time allowed, I've always tried to focus on building community and engagement, rather than building numbers. Getting to know my community, responding to comments / queries, sharing in their own pain and joy, being involved in people who take the time to want to get to know me better, creating helpful and meaningful content they can relate to, and hopefully inspiring them to lead a healthier, fulfilling lifestyle.. 

Sometimes I do miss out on projects though because I don't have the big numbers that the brands and PR firms are looking for, and sometimes when that happens, it does get frustrating. 

So, this award is all the more significant for me because it demonstrates that my focus has been / is correct. Even though my numbers may be small and growing slowly, at least my community is engaged enough to support me when I asked them to. 

Thank you once again for being here with me on my blogging journey and for keeping me motivated to go further. What a wonderful start to 2016 and I hope for an even brighter year ahead for all of us!! (/^▽^)/
 

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