s ocial m edia b ootcamp for w edding p rofessionals
TRANSCRIPT
SOCIAL MEDIA BOOTCAMP FOR WEDDING PROFESSIONALS
THINGS I’VE LEARNEDFROM 4 YEARS OF BUSINESS BLOGGING…
…and being married to a Tech-Geek!
BLOGGING IS FUN…
Who are you doing it for?
Why are you doing it?
What will motivate you?
How will you know if you’re “succeeding?”
AND HARD WORK!
WHO IS YOUR BRIDE?
Where does she live?
When does she book your services?
How much does she spend on her wedding?
What makes you the right fit for YOUR bride?
TODAYS BRIDE IS SOCIAL & CONNECTED!
77% of brides will use online resources to plan their wedding
THEY SPEND MORE HOURS ON THE INTERNET EACH MONTH THAN THEY DO ON TELEVISION, RADIO OR PRINT…
…COMBINED
THE BENEFITS OF BLOGGING
1. THE PERSON BEHIND THE BUSINESS
Personable & conversational
Passion & excitement
2. ESTABLISH YOURSELF AS AN EXPERT
Blog what you know
Establish trust
3. EASIER SALES
Educate brides before the “sale”
Consultations are bride-focused, less sales
Save consultation time
4. SEARCH ENGINE VISIBILITY
Brides are shopping online
Search engine rank is important
More eyes on your business & website
TYPES OF BLOG PLATFORMS
Wordpress
Blogger
Tumbler
TypePad
BLOGS 101
Header Menu Bar Posts Comments Pages Contact Form Archives RSS Feed/Subscription
POSTING 101
Getting to your admin panel:www.stellaeventdesign.com/workshop/wp
-admin
Or scroll to bottom of page and click SITE ADMIN under Meta section
Username: adminPassword: bootcamp
CREDITING BLOG POSTS
Always include photographer credit and link to their website, blog, or the photo location
Link to any sources, even if it’s another blog. If you’re not sure if you should…you probably should!
Blogs are a community
SEO
Search Engine Optimization
The practice of using techniques to make your site more search-engine friendly.
Goal = come up higher in searches
GOOGLE FOR DUMMIES
You put your website or blog online
Google “crawls” your site
Determines relativity & ranks site
The words you use are important
PUTTING SEO TO WORK
IT’S ALL ABOUT THE CONTENT!TitlesBody textFocus on keywords!
Exercise: Make a list of 10-15 search terms that a bride may type into Google when planning her wedding. Specifically, when looking for more info on a business such as yours.
SEO-FRIENDLY CONTENT
Good: Sarah and Steve had a beautiful wedding in St. Joseph last Saturday.
Better: Sarah and Steve’s wedding took place at The Veranda at the Whitcomb in St. Joseph on Saturday.
Best: Sarah and Steve’s beautiful outdoor wedding took place at The Veranda at the Whitcomb, a gorgeous venue overlooking Lake Michigan in St. Joseph.
PUTTING SEO TO WORK Outbound links
Link when necessary and appropriate Giving away power Link within when possible
Tagging & Categories Use variations of your keywords Don’t show on posts if you include long lists of tags
New content The more you update, the more you get crawled
CONTENT
Length: less than 500 words What do you have to say? How do you want to say it? How much detail do you want to go into?
Voice Conversational Choose an approach and stick with it
Write as if you’re speaking to one person…”you may want to consider cupcakes instead of cake” NOT “brides may want to consider cupcakes…”
Relevance Is your post timely? Is it something people will care about? Is it a topic appropriate for your audience?
Formatting Keep things consistent Consider your overall brand Grammar and spelling
Topics What will you write about? How much do you know about the topic?
FINDING INSPIRATION
Day-to-day tasks Bridal magazines How-to articles Current Events Tips & Tricks Frequently Asked Questions Show your work Educate Guest bloggers
AM I GIVING AWAY TOO MUCH INFO?
SHARING IS CARING!
BENEFITS OF EDUCATING BRIDES
Branded as an expert
How your business works, what they can expect
Address common concerns
Press opportunities
BREAKOUT SESSION
Create a list of 20 potential blog post topics
Day-to-day tasks Bridal magazines How-to articles Current Events Tips & Tricks Frequently Asked Questions Show your work Educate Common misconceptions Trends Behind the Scenes
MAKE YOUR BLOGGING EASIER
Set a blogging schedule How often & what days
Create themes Tuesday Shoesday, A-Z Flowers, Tuesday Etsy
Love
Schedule your posts ahead of time Choose one day to blog each week
7 DEADLY SINS OF BUSINESS BLOGGING
1. USING YOUR BLOG AS YOUR PRESS CENTER
How to Avoid this: Just don’t do it! Present information in an interesting,
conversational tone
2. NOT BLOGGING REGULARLY
Stagnant content is noticed by Google Readers are aware Regular posting turns readers into fans
How to Avoid this: Schedule posts Post on predicable days (T-Th, M-W-F) Enlist the help of others
3. NOT ENABLING CONVERSATION
Your blog should be a conversation, encourage commenting
Address comments and questions
If you choose to “bury” a negative comment, consider reaching out to that person privately
4. MAKING NEW CONTENT HARD TO DISCOVER
Don’t make visitors search for your blog Additional posts should be easy to find
How to Avoid this: Prominent link on website Use FB & Twitter to promote blog posts Setup an RSS feed or subscription option
5. EXPECTING TOO MUCH, TOO SOON
Blogging is a marathon, not a sprint It takes time to build leadership
Interactive community
How to Avoid this: Don’t be frustrated by no comments Use analytics to keep you motivated Blogging can be fun if you make it manageable for
yourself
6. COPYING CONTENT
Google notices this, and assumes you’re a scraper Flags you as a spammer, brings down credibility
How to Avoid this: Post new content If you recycle a post, change wording & titles Ask guest bloggers to post original content
7. MIXING BUSINESS & PERSONAL
Geared towards your potential clients Do not share your frustrations or struggles on
the blog
How to Avoid this: Show personality, but keep it positive Do not share horror stories If you want to address the inner workings of
your business, start a separate blog
BUSINESS BLOGGING ETIQUETTE
Draw a line between personal and professional
Always credit photos, and link to resources
DO repost comments or feedback you receive, and respond to all comments, when possible
Do not sign up your readers to email lists or newsletters without their permission---NOT COOL!
DON’T STEAL!
Where are you getting your photos from?
Are you showing photos of your own work?
If you’re showing photos of someone else’s work is it going to be mistakenly seen as your work?
Consider how you would feel If you saw a photo of a bouquet YOU created, posted on another florists blog post, would it bother you?
ADVANCED TIPS & TRICKS
Setting up Contributors & Authors in Wordpress
Adding Tags and Categories
Commenting on blogs
Adding links to Facebook & Twitter
Track your keywords
GOOGLE ANALYTICS Dashboard
Visitors Referring sites v. search v. direct traffic Map Overlay When are they visiting? Where are they coming from
Keyword searches
Time spent on site
Top content