Why I Like Social Media Marketing More than R&B Music

Why did you buy your first DVD?

You had a rack full of perfectly good VHS tapes…a collection you’d been curating for years no doubt.

Some of us heard about DVDs and three hours later were buying our first DVD/VHS combo machine (remember those!) Others, like myself, waited until it was nearly impossible to find VHS tapes before taking the DVD plunge.

My general sense at the Social Media Marketing World last month (see “The #1 Trend @ Social Media Marketing World: Live Video” and “Take Aways From Social Media Marketing World”) was that the big corporations are the ones waiting until VHS tapes are nearly obsolete before they begrudgingly buy a DVD.

Are you the CEO of Nike? No, you’re a solopreneur like most of us in the Book More Brides community, right?

That’s the “why” of social media marketing.

It’s the one and only arena in which we can compete with the big dogs. Our voice can be heard. We can create trends.

And we can do it all for free on our own terms.

At a panel discussion on Pinterest at the conference, which of the panelist’s companies was the last to join Pinterest? Campbell’s freakin’ soup!

Pretty food pictures? Recipes? No, no, we don’t need a Pinterest account. Ouch!

Keynote speaker Michael Stelzner talked about how traditional media used to make celebrities (Paris Hilton), but now social media is creating celebrities (Zach King).

He talked about how the show “The Amazing Race” was tanking in the ratings. So they created a cast entirely of social media stars who they knew would be posting for free throughout the duration of the show to hundreds of thousands of followers…and now the show is alive again.

As consumers stop clicking on banner ads, opening unsolicited emails, watching commercials, and responding to traditional marketing strategies, the businesses that can move the quickest are winning.

Can you go and create a Snapchat account within the hour? Because Xerox most likely cannot get that approved until next week. Or next month. Or until after a board meeting.

Social media is the frontier of marketing because it rebels against corporate, against red tape, against freeway billboards bragging about the local casino’s seafood buffet.

Social media is where people go to relax and enjoy. They voluntarily spend time there. Social media isn’t knocking on your front door wanting to tell you about the good news or lurking on the back of your grocery store receipt.

I am a recent social media marketing convert (thanks to Steph & Jeff). It’s free and simply requires creativity and dedication.

WeddingWire? Expensive and requires 50 reviews to get any attention.

So I decided to focus on Pinterest. I studied. I pinned. I waited.

Bam—within a month Pinterest was my website’s #2 source of traffic.

I get more hits from Pinterest in one day than I do from The Knot and Wedding Wire IN A MONTH!

So that was January. Just a few short weeks ago a potential client told me she heard about me via a playlist I had posted on Pinterest.

This was her thought process:

1. La-la-la….wedding pinning
2. Hmmm….I wonder what would happen if I searched “San Diego weddings.” (Oh, snap! Somebody like me used tons of local keywords on her pins and boards…nice to meet you bride-y.)
3. She comes across one of my wedding playlists, which is a little indie and a little country perfectly blended. Suddenly her cheesy DJ nightmares go flying out the window…because someone (me) GETS HER. My playlist speaks to her as if it had been written just for her.

   Now, by comparison, imagine how reading this statement on my website would have affected her: “DJ Staci understands your musical style and creates the right playlist for your desired atmosphere.”

   Dayummmm….that reeks, right? Smells sales-y.

   By being me, I show her that I can create a rockin’ set for her reception. No selling required. She told me that any San Diego DJ who even had a Pinterest account would have scored serious points in her book.

4. She contacts me. She books. Case closed.

   Oh, and I got a like and re-pin out of the deal as well (C’mon she doesn’t want to lose the golden playlist).

Big corporations can’t be human or real because they aren’t.

Millennials are repelled by the stench of bureaucracy even more so than other generations. That’s why we market via social media!

It’s their medium. It’s authentic. It’s fresh. And, I know for me, it’s attracting the kind of clients I enjoy working with…the I-want-three-hours-of-R&B brides are not the ones I want.

This article could go on for volumes but you’re busy and so am I and so is everyone else.

So here are the Cliff’s Notes…

• You need to be focusing on social media marketing if you are working with Millennials (like brides).
• If you aren’t sure what to post or how often or which social media site, do some research.
• When in doubt, say “I” instead of “we.”
• Show off your personality. (Have an opinion please…take a side. I don’t like R&B—there, I said it!)
• Post the kind of things you would personally want to engage with.

R&B music—thumbs down. Social media marketing—thumbs up.

What do you think?