ARE YOU ON TWIBBON YET?

If you haven't already discovered this nifty little gem you're probably asking yourself...what the heck is Twibbon? Easily put, Twibbon is like a bumper plate sticker for your twitter avatar or profile pic that shows your support for a Twibbon cause. Whether it's an event, popular person, a protest, campaign or more, Twibbon helps get the word out without being invasive or having you beg for "likes" on your Facebook or Twitter pages or spamming people with the same message over and over.

This is a super easy program. Simply create a Twibbon on www.twibbon.com by adding the name, logo and description of what you want to advocate. You can have as many Twibbons as you'd like, but be aware that too many Twibbons will start to overlap one another on your profile pic or avatar.

It's free and it's a spam-free way to get your cause out there. So what are you waiting for?

MORE BLOGGING TIPS FOR THE WEDDING PROFESSIONAL

 

By now I'm sure that all of you have been hit over the head over and over with tips for blogging for your wedding business. You all know to incorporate visuals wherever possible. You know how to keep it at length. You know the importance of tagging. You realize that you shouldn't make your posts all about you ... Yada, yada, yada.

Here are a few more tips to keep in mind when embarking on the art of blogging:

'C' IS FOR CAPTIVATING CONTENT

First of all, no one wants to sound like a walking textbook. Ensure that your blog has a voice -- which essentially you should have already established through the branding process of your company. Your voice should be expressive, charming yet authoritative. Master that and you have one kick ass blog.

Second, you will want your blog posts to inform and engage. You want your readers to stop and think about the message you are trying to get across or you want them to be interested in that newest trend you're sharing or that latest product or service to hit the market. As I've said time and time again, showcasing the occasional wedding you have serviced is great and showcases your expertise. Making your blog only about weddings that you have serviced however reads like a resume and portfolio (read: web site anyone?). Dare yourself to go beyond that. Make them want to read what you have to say rather than scroll through pictures.

BE THE BLACK SHEEP

 

While we're on the subject of content...

Unfortunately the wedding industry is one of redundancy. Trends are forever repeated, phrasing becomes cliche and the big "news" has usually been blogged about to death. You can't get away from it.

There's a big fear out there however that if you aren't reporting the latest trends you will look out of touch. Not so. Think of how many wedding planning blogs are out there and how many of them have likely reported on the Royal Wedding of 2011 for example. Will you seem out of touch if you don't report on it? Absolutely not.

Strive to blog about things that haven't been blogged about. Write about your opinion on certain subjects within the industry, no matter how controversial you think it will be. Put a call out for press releases from other professionals or products in the industry. You never know what might fall across your desk.

By striving to be different from other blogs rather than compete with them you are setting your blog apart from others and garnering your own style of audience. This sentiment can be carried over to your business model as well.  After all, who wants to be comparable to other businesses?

BE APPROACHABLE

Always encourage comments. And be sure to keep the negative, nasty or whiny ones. Blogging is as much an element of social networking as Twitter and Facebook. You'll want to encourage conversation about what you've written whether your post has sparked a heated debate or whether it's a simple kudos. Look at comments this way: it's interest in your blog.

By locking out the negative comments you're not giving your audience the opportunity to speak their minds and more importantly, you're not listening to your audience. You never know what you will learn by opening the comment box to both positive and negative comments or who you may draw to your blog for the first time because of them. Also, always remember that what one person sees as a negative, another sees as a positive. So even if one Bride disagrees that pink polka-dots are the best pattern ever for a Bridesmaid dress, another might be ecstatic to see that a professional shares their taste.

REMEMBER WHY YOU ARE BLOGGING 

IN THE FIRST PLACE!

I always tell wedding professionals that if they can't blog on a regular basis (at least once a week) or if the thought of constantly coming up with blog post ideas is a huge stressor, blogging may not be the right fit for them.

And if that is the case...THAT'S OK!

Blogging is a huge trend that sparked with the latest onset of social media popularity. While blogging has always been a staple of online literacy, it has only been in the past few years that blogging has increased popularity to such extraordinary levels. This is partly because most professionals feel that without blogging they are not being noticed online or are not providing value in some way.

Not so.

Keep in mind that for the average wedding professional (note that I am NOT referring to the average blogger), the purpose of blogging (or any form of social media actually) is to be found by those who are searching online in general and not necessarily by those looking for you specifically. This means that while being found via google search is great, being found by someone who was searching for something else entirely and just happened across your business is even better. Blogs help this accidental search-ability by making you more visible in general through tagging, etc.

But will it make or break your business? Absolutely not.  That said, if you don't think you can deal with the high-maintenance attitude of a blog, don't bother with it. Focus your attention on other ways of being visible. Ways that won't keep you up at night.


So there you have it -- just a few more things to keep in mind when jumping onto the Blogging Bandwagon. Remember that Blogging is an art form.  Not everyone can successfully blog.  Be honest with yourself  and realistic about your abilities. Treat it like a piano. If sitting at those keys doesn't feel like a natural fit, walk away and choose another instrument.   If you feel that blogging is something you can accomplish and actually enjoy...

Blog away my friends, blog away!

TWITTER FACT OR MYTH

While Twitter has become as much of a staple in our personal and business lives as Facebook, there still remains an overwhelming number of wedding professionals who are in the dark about what Twitter is, how to use it and how it can be beneficial for your business. Even more so, there are many misconceptions about what Twitter is that deters many professionals from even attempting it.

Well folks, below you will find some of the most common thoughts or remarks about Twitter and Marketing UnVEILED is going to dispel the myths and clarify the truths.



 
TWITTER AND FACEBOOK ARE THE SAME DAMN THING:

 



 While Twitter and Facebook are both elements of the Social Media phenomenon, they are two completely different entities with different goals. Here's the diff' in a nutshell: Facebook is all all about reconnecting and furthering relationships with people or 'friends' whom you already know. Twitter, on the other hand, is about creating new relationships. It's about sharing ideas with like-minded individuals from around the world and engaging complete strangers (read potential consumers!) into conversations and creating a desire to "follow" you and learn more about you.

So what does that mean for your business? With Twitter, by creating new relationships you are opening yourself to new opportunities through others and are exposing yourself to a new demographic that may have not discovered you otherwise. It's essentially a circle effect. For example, if you 'follow' Joe the Photographer and start interacting with him, he, in turn, may 'follow' you. Now Jennifer the Bride who was also 'following' Joe the Photographer has noticed you interacting with him. This has peaked her curiosity and so she has checked out your Twitter profile, likes what she saw and is now 'following' YOU!  Viola! Potential consumer! Not to mention a great new connection with a fabulous photographer!




ETIQUETTE STATES THAT IF SOMEONE FOLLOWS YOU ON 
TWITTER YOU HAVE TO FOLLOW THEM BACK 


I can count on both hands how many times this has come up for debate. Here's our take on the matter: some of the most promising and business-successful relationships were created by professionals following one another. After all, the point to Twitter is to connect and network with one another right? That said, you should be aware of who is following you and connect with them appropriately. You never know what may come out of that newly budding relationship. However, that does not mean that you have to follow every single person who follows you just out of sheer politeness. Can you imagine what your Twitter feed would be like? How many un-interesting tweets (in your opinion of course) you would have to filter through just to read up on those you're interested in? Who has that kind of time?

Consider Preston Bailey for example. At last count he has 8,938 followers but only follows 303. Does this mean that he's being rude or arrogant? No. It simply means that while he appreciates his massive following, he only has the time to follow and connect with those tweets that genuinely interest him.





THERE ARE RIGHT WAYS AND 
WRONG WAYS TO USE TWITTER



There aren't too many "rules' when it comes to Twitter. After all this isn't the Church of Twitter or anything but there are some foolproof ways to LOSE followers. Here's what they are:

1. SPAMMING: Sending your followers sales pitch after sales pitch is basically the number one way of losing followers. Informing your followers of the occasional sale or promotion is fine, but making every second tweet about a sale or sales pitch is a giant boo-boo in Twittersphere.

2. USING A DEFAULT TWITTER PHOTO: If you're using Twitter as a marketing tool and your Twitter profile photo is the iconic Twitter-Bird you have a serious problem. How can you expose your brand on Twitter if you don't have a brand? And no, I don't mean putting up your personal photo. I mean your logo people.  Oh and don't forget to include your web site on your Bio!

3. OVER SHARING YOUR PERSONAL LIFE OR NOT SHARING ENOUGH OF YOUR PERSONAL LIFE: This is a biggie. Yes, it's important to have a bit of personality with your tweets, meaning that if you're using Twitter for marketing it's OK to share a personal-life comment once in a while. After all, your followers want to know that you are an actual person and not a robot. Having a balance of personal and business will keep your relationships with your followers fresh and intrigue new followers to join you.

However, sharing nothing of value but your personal life or sharing what's considered 'TMI' (otherwise known as 'Too-much-information') can put you in the doghouse. Not all your professional contacts want to know about your latest conquest from last night or want to listen to you whine about personal matters...know what I mean?

4. POSTING EVERY FIVE MINUTES: OK, so you may think you have a lot of great, important things to say, but posting every five minutes -- especially if it's nothing relevant -- just becomes annoying and is the second quickest way to be dropped like a bad habit. You're merely cluttering up your followers' Twitter feed. Don't give them a reason to do some spring cleaning.

5. USING 'TWITTER-BOTS':



YOU SHOULD IMMEDIATELY BLOCK OR UNFOLLOW  ANYONE WHO POSTS A NEGATIVE COMMENT/ARGUES WITH YOU/ETC.
  

OK, so you tweet about a particular subject and out of the woodwork comes Mr. Negative who strongly (and publicly I might add) disagrees with you. What do you do? Do you immediately block them? Do you unfollow them?

No. You engage them into a discussion. Defend your point and see what Mr. Negative has to say in return. He will likely follow your lead and defend his position and so on and so forth. Why is this important? Because you've now created a lively discussion into which your followers (not to mention his!) can tune in. You've created content. You're listening. Your sharing. Your interacting. Welcome to Twitter!

Now, there may come a point where the conversation is dragging on with no end in sight. At that point you should drop the conversation but not the follower. When should you drop or block a follower? When their responses or tweets become rude, disrespectful or just plain nasty or if you truly feel they are damaging your reputation for no reason other than spite.



  

CONTENT IS ONE OF THE BEST WAYS TO DRAW A FOLLOWING



 I have mentioned countless times that it's not the number of people who follow you, it's who is following you that truly matters. After all, does it really matter that you have 40,000 followers if only ten of them can actually impact your business?

Now that having been said, how do you attract those you want to follow you? Aside from directly connecting with your potential followers, you also have to ENGAGE them. And how do you engage them? With content that interests them, inspires them and encourages them to interact with you. Posting that you had spaghetti for dinner doesn't exactly scream "come follow me!". On the other hand, posting "just had the most amazing spaghetti at www.lapastahouse.com and they have gorgeous wedding facilities too!" has just provided relatable content to those who you want to follow you -- brides, grooms and fellow professionals. Posting thought-provoking or debate-provoking questions or comments invites potential followers into conversation, giving appropriate shout-outs to vendors encourages interaction and posting links with your posts gives meat to your posts. The point to twitter is to share, listen, interact and engage. Best way to do that? Have content!






TWITTER HAS NO ROI.




If you are investing a lot of time in Twitter and you are gaining nothing in return (otherwise known as 'return-on-investment' or ROI) then you are doing something wrong and should examine how you are using Twitter to market your business.

Now ROI can take many forms. Your return on investment can be anything from direct bookings to established business connections that may connect you to consumers in the future to Brides who follow you and while they don't become your client they retweet your info to future Brides they know.

If you're lacking any form of ROI try examining how you're Tweeting for your business. Are you starting conversations? Are you communicating with your existing consumers? Are you using viral tactics to spread your message?

And of course, if you feel that you are gaining absolutely nothing in return for your well-planned Twitter-efforts and it is truly becoming a "waste of your time" then it may be time for you to leave the Twitter-sphere. There are many forms of Social Media out there and no one has ever said that you have to be everywhere. If Twitter just isn't working for you and is becoming a source of stress rather than marketing, move on to something that will provide you with some form of ROI.






TWITTER IS TIME CONSUMING.


The main rebuttal I get from reluctant Twitter-marketers is that Twitter takes too much time. One client I have said quote "I barely have time to update my Facebook, how am I supposed to find the time to continuously post what I'm doing, where I'm going, etc, etc, etc on Twitter???"  This misconception goes hand-in-hand with a couple of my posts above. You don't have to tweet a lot to be noticed. If you can only tweet once a day or hell, once a week, that's perfectly fine! Just make sure that the one tweet you do post is worth reading.

There are also numerous software programs out there from Uber-Twitter to Hootsuite and more that can make your Twitter existence easier to manage whether it be by tweeting on-the-go via your mobile device or scheduling your tweets in advance. Find what method and frequency works for you and roll with it.

Well there you have it folks! Now that your most common concerns about Twitter have been clarified or dispelled, you're running out of reasons why you're not on Twitter.  Try it out, tweet a bit and see where your wings take you!

NOT ON SOCIAL MEDIA?

You've had everyone from industry colleagues, leaders and blogs to marketing authorities telling you to get on the Social Media bandwagon, but you still don't get what all the fuss is about?

Here is probably the best, in-your-face, slap-upside-the-head way of making it crystal clear as to why Social Media is so important: