One of my absolute favorite platforms is Meetup. If you’re unfamiliar with Meetup it’s a platform that was created as a direct response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the United States. The founder (and I’m sharing this from memory) was responding to calls for building deeper and more aligned communities. Meetup allows people from all walks of life to build and host groups on its platform. If you’re looking for Black hiking groups, Knitting Circles, Mom focused groups, roller skater communities, language circles, etc. Meetup is the place to find a community or host one.
I’ve been a member or random participant in a number of different groups in the Denver metro area and I’ve attended meetups in other countries, most noteably a really cool hiking meetup in Sydney, Australia where a spider bit my leg through my jeans and I ended up almost going to the hospital because of my reaction to the bite. During that same trip I also attended a really cool Brazilian festival with a local meetup group. Put simply, these community spaces give people the opportunity to connect offline. For the past 3 years I’ve considered starting a meetup group but the timing wasn’t right, my energy wasn’t there and I just wasn’t 100% ready to do it. I’m ready now and I’d like to share what I plan to do with this group and why I started a local meetup group for my online brand.
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Become a Creator Getting Paid
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Show Notes
For 5 years prior to COVID I was a member of a bloggers meetup. We met typically once, sometimes twice a month, and geeked out about all things blogging. Topics such as SEO, Pinterest, page views, ad revenue platforms such as Raptive or Mediavine. And an endless number of other topics that influence building a brand online. I loved this group because each month we would meet and discuss a specific topic, a member or the founder of the group would share their expertise and lead the conversation. The founder of the group also worked with brands, primarily restaurants and local grocers to sponsors our meetups. Then we would share the venue that we were at via blog posts, social media, podcasts or video. It was a win-win for everyone.
I loved hearing about what the other creators were working on, sharing ideas, expertise and learning more about the niches they were creating in. I decided to finally launch my Meetup group because that feeling of wanting to connect locally was something that wouldn’t go away and stayed on mind. I also wanted to create an opportunity to connect with creators from across the country and abroad who happen to be in Denver for whatever reason to connect in a slightly more formal way while in town.
Also, some conversations should stay offline.
Creating a local content creator meetup is a wonderful way to become known for your expertise. Work with creators who are new to me and are doing similar or wildly different works and to grow something bigger in my town .
What is my vision for the group?
- Meet twice a month with one meetup focused on improving our knowledge covering topics such as:
- Email list building
- Community
- Newsletter growth
- AI and the Content Creation Space
- And the list goes on
- The second meetup of the month would be focused on doing something fun.
- Happy Hours
- Art exhibits
- Spoken word experiences
- Dance classes
- Hiking/Skiing/taking the train to the mountains
- The second meetup of the month would be focused on doing something fun.
- To create expanded opportunities to collaborate, be on panels and grow our brands locally
- Help creators have more substantive conversations with one another here in town.
I’m really looking forward to hosting this space. So what’s the name? It’s the Denver Content Creators Meetup. Go to https://creatorsgettingpaid.com/meetup to sign up if you’re already using the Meetup platform. This week I’m working on the schedule of events for this spring and hope you’ll join in or share with other creators if you have friends in Denver and the state of Colorado. I do want to bring up another really important point. Local creators often have national or international reach. Just some food for thought. Are you thinking about starting an in-person experience with you or specific to your brand?
