How to Use Social Media to Boost Your Wedding Business

Written by Melissa Page

social media

Social media has become more and more popular in the wedding industry nowadays. In the past, brides had to clip images from magazines or get ideas from photos and show them to wedding vendors – vendors they find via word of mouth. Today, with help from social media networks and tools, a bride can get inspiration and share what she wants, and gets what she needs without having to deal with less hassle.

With the rise of Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, and others, wedding planning has changed – which is the major reason why social media is just as important for wedding vendors as they are for brides.

Here’s how social media boosts your wedding business:

It spreads the word. Wedding blogs and forums have made it easy to search for a particular bridal topic. By setting a virtual space for your brand, and connecting it to as many social media networks as you can manage, you are increasing the public’s awareness of your company. A good idea is partnering with people who have a large internet audience.

It helps you build relationships and attract more possible clients. Engaging in social media will give people a chance to interact and respond to and around your brand. Putting up a wedding site, a Facebook fan page, a YouTube account allows your past clients and potential clients to exchange ideas, generate excitement, and build loyalty. Remember to participate and join in the community conversation yourself.

It helps you connect with others in the same industry. It is good to connect with other vendors in the wedding industry as these connections can lead to awareness of events, business partnership, and good publicity. If you’re having trouble finding a certain brand or person you want to connect with, try using  area code directories on social media sites. Once you find them, respond to tweets, leave comments, and “like” their Facebook pages to stay connected.

It makes customer service efficient. With social media networks, clients have different options to contact you – and not just by phone or stopping by your shop. Now, they can just tweet you or send you a private message, post something on your Facebook wall, or leave a comment on your blog to reach you. Make sure to check your social networks regularly for new messages. Involvement in social media saves time and effort for both the wedding vendor and client.

It gives you inspiration. With so much interaction in your community, your clients and other vendors are likely to leave suggestions and ideas, giving you limitless pieces of information on how to improve and expand your brand. One tip is monitoring the conversations in your community and taking notes.

It showcases your goods. Needless to say, using social media helps you increase sales. By sharing information about your business, you are providing a virtual visual aid that brides, grooms, and their families can choose from.  According to “What’s On Brides’ Minds” annual survey from David’s Bridal, 59% of brides say Pinterest, Facebook and blogs are the best places to find inspiration.

What other benefits of using social media for your wedding business can you add? Let us know in the comment section!

About the author: Melissa Page is a California-based blogger with over four years of professional writing experience. Aside from writing about social media, she also blogs about relationships, weddings, health, and travel. When she’s not busy writing, she manages her emails and organizes her social media accounts so as not to miss out on important stuff.

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6 Strategies For Creating Effortless Content for Your Wedding Blog, Videos, Emails and Tweets

Question: How do I come up with new information for my blog, email newsletter/ezine, free Bride Bribe, videos, etc?

Hi, guys!

Here’s my question, though.  And it really doesn’t just apply to Bride Bribes.  How do you come up with different information for the Free Offer, blog posts, and ALSO an ezine/newsletter?  I am totally overwhelmed.  Not to mention that I want to do videos.  I don’t want to do a crossover with the ezine and the blog, because I feel that this should be “special” information.

Please help.  I’m on overload.  Also, I know a lot of people write new articles for their ezine each month (or however often they release), but I would prefer to have it be just a few – no more than 12 and they run in a particular order for every client – number 1 is the same for all clients, regardless of when they sign up.  At least until I have got my footing and am less overwhelmed.  What are your thoughts on this?

I really appreciate everything you two do.  You have been so wonderfully helpful and it has made a HUGE difference for me.  Thank you!

Kiki

Answer:

Hi, Kiki!

I’m glad you asked this question.

You can cover the same topic 100 different ways.  Once you start brainstorming, you’ll never run out of ideas.

6 Effortless Content Strategies

1. Write down 100 topics your brides/grooms are interested in.  Put pen to paper and just GO.  You’ll be surprised at how easily it will flow!

 2. Get inspired by other wedding blogs.  Check out the Top 100 Wedding Blogs and put them in your reader.  (Watch this video “What to Tweet in 5 Minutes or Less” for instructions.)

 3. Re-blog other peoples’ great content.  Don’t copy their words, but write 100-200 new words about the topic, then link to the article.  Quick, easy blog post!

 4. Do short video interviews with other wedding vendors.

 5. Blog about whatever weddings you’re working on: share an idea, do your own “real wedding” post, etc.

 6. Blog about other wedding vendors and venues you love.

I like to keep a list of article ideas so that I’m never “stuck.”  As soon as you have an idea, write it down.  You’ll soon find ideas everywhere!

Ditch the Ezine

There are two ways to send mass emails: either through an autoresponder series (also called “drip” or “follow up,” depending on the service you use) or broadcast emails (like a monthly e-zine or newsletter.)

I’m a fan of using an autoresponder follow up because it saves time and works very effectively.

Autoresponder Pros

Write the emails once and use them FOREVER.  Less work is good!
Once you have a proven sequence of emails or a “conversation,” you can predictably lead the prospect down the road to booking you.

The biggest disadvantage of using an email autoresponder is that you aren’t able to add links, images or examples from your latest work each month.

A monthly newsletter is a lot of work to format and it’s time you have to invest every month FOREVER.

A more efficient alternative to a monthly e-zine is to send a “blog broadcast” email that can be automatically scheduled and sent.  

Aweber offers this blog broadcast feature, as do other email marketing services.  This lets you send a formatted email containing links to your latest blog posts once a month without having to set it up and schedule it.

Whenever you can do LESS work and still get results, I’m all for it!

Do you use an email newsletter or follow up series to market to brides and grooms?

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9 Ways to Get More Brides on Facebook Without Paying For It

Question: Has Facebook advertising killed free marketing for businesses?

Hey Steph,

I wanted to ask you if you have heard much about Facebook changes that force you to pay to reach fans from your business page.

I know that reach has been limited by an algorithm, but I’m hearing that a post might only reach 10 to 20 people out of 1000 potential fans and you have to pay to reach more than that tiny group.

Curious about your thoughts.  Seems to signal the end of current social media practices as far as business go.

If I have 200 fans and I’d feel lucky to get one booking from a fan page, then why would I pay money to get no ROI.

Curious about your thoughts.

R.

Answer:

Hey, R.

Yep.  Facebook has messed with us again.  However, the truth isn’t as bad as it seems and it IS still possible to communicate your message to your fans without paying for it.

In September of 2012, Facebook rolled out a new update to its algorithm (also known as EdgeRank.)  Around the same time, Facebook advertising began offering promoted posts as a way to promote your posts to more of your fans.

If you’ve been tracking your Facebook Insights, you may have noticed that your “talking about” numbers and interaction tanked right around that time.  This has led many business page owners to assume that Facebook is now forcing us to pay for our fans to see our stuff.

The truth isn’t that simple.

The Truth About Promoted Posts

Facebook estimates that only 16% of your fans will actually see your post in their feed.  This is caused by many factors: only half your fans are actually online each day, probably for 30-60 minutes.  With all the other posts in their feed competing for attention, it’s easy to see how yours is missed.

Most of your fans have been missing your posts since way before the Facebook algorithm changed.  

Facebook claims that the update reduced unwanted “spammy” posts in the news feed.  According to them, if you were doing a good job of delivering valuable, interesting posts to your followers, you wouldn’t have been affected after the algorithm update.

In other words, if your numbers took a dive after the update, it’s because you weren’t posting things your fans actually want to see.  Check out Tech Crunch’s blog post for some statistics that support this argument.

Another study by Edge Rank Checker shows Facebook business pages seeing a decrease in reach and fan engagement across the board after the update.

So what do we do now?

Next Generation Free Marketing with Facebook

Our experience also corroborates a decrease in engagement after the latest Edge Rank update.  We’ve been experimenting with buying promoted posts, and they DO work.  But will we be forced to “buy” eyeballs for our Facebook posts from now on?

If you want to make sure more of your fans actually see your posts, you have TWO options:

  1. Post interesting, relevant, compelling content your fans like, comment on and share.
  2. Buy promoted posts.

Facebook isn’t behaving much differently from Google here; they’re trying to deliver relevant content to users.  In a similar way, we have to play by the rules they make if we want to be seen.

You can no longer promote your wedding business all over Facebook with lame posts no one cares about.  Well, you can, but now you’ll have to pay for it.

If you want more fans, more likes and more attention for your wedding business on Facebook, you have to earn it with great content that gets a reaction.

This isn’t the end of social media for business; it just means our strategy has to change.

How to Get More Brides On Facebook…Without Paying For It

Most businesses can increase the number of fans who see their posts organically (in other words, for free) to 20-35% by using the following strategies shared by Mashable, Buzzfarmers and us.

1.    Post more photos and images.  These get more likes and shares than any other type of post.

2.    Use the words, I and me in your posts to get more likes.  Be opinionated in your posts to get a stronger reaction.

3.    Post content from 4-6pm Eastern time, especially on Saturdays and Sundays.

4.    Ask questions that allow your fans to express an opinion.

5.    Ask people to like and comment.  It’s simple, but it works!

6.    Host contests that require people to like and comment to win.

7.    Use the Fans Flood app to invite your website and blog visitors to “like” your page in exchange for a cool freebie.

8.   Find and “like” other local wedding business pages that have bride fans. Like, share and leave helpful comments on their posts as your business  to build relationships with other vendors and so that brides (eventually) click through.

Warning: do NOT blatantly promote your business on other people’s pages or it will drive brides away and irritate potential wedding business partners.

9.   Say something nice about other wedding businesses in your posts and tag them to encourage sharing with their bride and groom followers.

There’s still Facebook marketing that can be done for free, but it takes a little more creativity these days.  Once you know your return on investment for your Facebook fans and leads, it can and does make sense to invest in some paid advertising.

How is your wedding business doing on Facebook these days?

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Like It Or Hate It Google+ Is Great For Your Business

You might not like Google+ for business; in fact you might even hate it. Or you might have jumped on the bandwagon right away and love it to pieces. But like it or not, Google+ will do things for your search standings that nothing else can possibly accomplish. Getting used to any new platform takes time, but when it’s something that can benefit your business it’s better to start using it sooner than later.

Google+ is obviously connected to Google which means if you post an event, or have a business page on Google+ it will boost your ranking in search results. On top of that, Google+ was specifically designed to give you benefits that other social networks don’t have. For instance you can set up an online event and stream it live to your viewers directly through your Google+ page. How cool is that? On top of that +1ing something on Google plus will automatically show up in search results, meaning the more people who +1 you, the more people will know you are worth looking into. For more information on what Google+ can do check out this article by Aki Libo-on. 

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The Biggest Tip To Getting Social Media Working For Your Business

If you’ve ever wondered how on earth companies get good results using social media you aren’t alone. Seeing good results comes down to a couple of different things according to the article by Melissa Miller. Social media takes work, and therefore it takes time. Businesses that only spend an hour or less a week on social media are wasting their time. The only way to see good results is to commit the time and money into building a successful marketing campaign, and then keeping up with it. For a small business this means you should probably plan on spending at least 5 hours a week getting things set up and running.

Many people try to tell you that using social media is a free way to market your business. That simply isn’t true. Even though the main commitment is time that still is an important cost. The best way to get a successful social media campaign going is to block out a bare minimum of 5 hours a week, preferably 1 hour a day. Then spend that time setting up your page, posting, replying to those who post on your page, interacting, and setting up Facebook Ads (and as a side note here, $100 per month is going to waste your money. Go big or don’t use it). It isn’t impossible to make social media work for your wedding business, you just have to take it seriously and commit to it. What do you think?

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How To Boost Interaction With Your Wedding Business On Social Media Sites

If you are ready to give up on social media because of a lack of interaction on your page hold back for a bit. While you may be doing everything correctly the hard truth is that even the big names can have trouble getting interaction going on their page.

So what makes a difference between a business that gets a ton of interaction and those that don’t? First off, don’t confuse interaction with interest. You might have a ton of readers who are keeping up with what you post and just don’t comment on it. If you still have a feeling like you are doing something wrong and are having trouble getting likes Kevin Daum recommends that you slow down when you are working on your posts. It’s easy to write something and send it out without considering whether it makes sense and would encourage any form of excitement or interaction.

Avoid posting about the basics like “Holding an outdoor wedding? Consider getting a backup location in case of weather issues.” While there may be a few brides who never thought about that before they aren’t going to respond to the post, and it certainly won’t motivate anyone to Like or follow you. Spice it up by sharing tasteful wedding blooper videos, and semi-controversial questions like “Are tan suits replacing black suites for weddings?” For the wedding pointers tap into major mistakes that you’ve seen brides do and post “Don’t do A unless you want B.” What do you think, would changing the way you are posting change the type of interaction you see on social media?

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Why You Must Use Good Marketing Strategy In Social Media

We’ve spent the last year encouraging wedding businesses to get on the band wagon of social media. If you have done so you are probably in the same boat as many businesses today. The difference between businesses that make social media work for them, and those that give it a try and give up, comes down to strategy and hard work, or the lack there of.

Scott Bishop points out that using social media for marketing is at a point where you either use it the way it was designed to be used, or it becomes a waste of time and effort. In other words if you really want social media marketing to work for you, you need to find out how social media marketing works, what options are out there, and then create a marketing plan, and execute it on a daily or at least weekly basis.

Social media should not be the only place you are marketing, it is simply the newest, simplest and often least expensive and most effective (if done correctly) marketing option out there that helps you reach brides, connect with them on a more personal level, and ease them into your sales funnel. To learn more about the direction that social media marketing is going make sure to read Scotts great article.

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How SEO and Social Media Work Together For Online Marketing

 

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Marketing used to seem rather simple. You came up with billboards, TV and radio spots, and print ads. Now, if a wedding business wants’ to be successful they have to be just as focused on online marketing if not more so.

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is critical on a website as any website that isn’t correctly optimized is going to ignored by the search engines. But Social Media is in some ways the other side of the coin to SEO. Social Media share buttons on your site tell search engines just as much as the SEO does.

If brides are interacting with you on the social media sites, and are sharing your information search engines see this as a good thing (which it is!) and recognize that if people are “talking” about your site and articles you are writing then it means you have great content, and are answering peoples questions. The more interaction you get on your site, even if that interaction is integrated with social media, the more the search engines will like you, the higher your site will show up in search results, and more brides will be able to find you. Make sure to read the article by Nick Stamoulis to learn more about how SEO and Social Media work together. What do you think?

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Google Analytics for Social Media

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Tracking the stats of your website is crucial for marketing but what has driven everyone nuts for years is the fact that there is very little access to the same type of stats for social media. There are Google Analytics which are slowly being released for Social Media but at this point they are still new, and don’t necessarily go super in depth, but anything helps.

According to eMobileScan on the blog “Performancing” Google Analytics currently focus on the Google +1 Social platform. There is some talk about integrating other sites as well, but as with anything, it will take a lot of work and tweaking to integrate other sites in. To find out the social media analytics that are available make sure to read the article on Performancing. What do you think? Would Analytics for social media help your bridal marketing efforts?

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What To Do When you Get Tired Of Social Media

TiredEventually everyone will hit the point where they are sick and tired of putting time and effort into social media. It doesn’t feel as personal as talking to someone at your location and can easily turn into an endless repetition of the same information over and over according to Chris Brogan’s brilliant article.

So what do you do? Do you just quit? Absolutely not. Chris recommends that you stop doing what you are doing and take a look back at the content that you’re posting. Is it the same info over and over? If so why don’t you try to mix things up? Make it personal. Yes, you have a wedding business, but you can talk about the restaurant you stopped at on your way to a gig, the weather, or even some random piece of local news.

You need to keep the information relevant to your business, but incorporating the out of the norm thoughts regarding your personal life is how you build those social relationships and get people hooked on your business. Of course it also helps keep you interested in what you’re doing and may just start some good conversations. What do you think?

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