Improving Your Social Media

My name is Tricia Bachewich and I am the lead planner and owner at Tricia Bachewich Events. We are a full-service planning & design company located in Winnipeg, Manitoba. I have been in the wedding industry for nearly 2 decades and today I am going to give you a few tips for improving your social media. I am primarily referring to Instagram in this article, although I am sure that most of the advice would be transferable to other platforms.

1) Show up

It’s impossible to grow your following or interact with your potential clients if you don’t show up. You don’t have to do a grid post, a story or a live every day, but you do need to show up consistently. Whatever that means for you, sometimes it’s just once a week but just be sure that you do it! Respond to your potential clients’ comments too. If someone is taking the time to comment on your photo, take the time to comment back. An example, someone says “oh wow this is gorgeous, I love that colour”.

Don’t just hit like or respond with an emoji. I get it, you are busy, but so are they. Try something like “yes, we love this colour too, it worked so well with ____”. Fill in the blank with something in the photo. Instagram will likely boost your post in the algorithm if they see genuine comments & interest.

2) Give credit when credit is due

Not only is it professional and respectful to tag all applicable vendors in a post, but it’s also going to likely mean that those vendors will re-post the story and you will have a bigger reach and in turn better analytics. If you tag someone in a photo on IG, it shows up on their feed. Future couples will stumble across your work a lot easier, and in turn, your inquiries and bookings will go up with one simple step!

3) Use a pre-posting tool

It’s impossible to assume that you will ALWAYS be sitting by your computer or phone at the most strategic time to post that gorgeous photo based on your IG analytics. We are human, we have lives, we are not always plugged in. Check out pre-posting tools use as HootSuite or Planoly to help make your life a bit easier. By spending 2-3 hours a month, you can pre-post 30 gorgeous grid photos with vendor tags, hashtags and thoughtful captions.

4) Be relevant & genuine

It’s easy to get caught up in thinking that your profile is all set up and you are good to go! Do a semi-annual audit of your profile just to be sure. Are your IG highlights outdated? Does it say you are “now booking 2020”? How’s your headshot; does it even look like you anymore? Be sure that everything that you are posting is still on brand, relevant and helpful. Be yourself and be genuine. Couples are bombarded constantly with brands and companies popping up in their feeds. They don’t’ want to see another sale pitch, they want to see a real person. They want to resonate with you.

5) Establish yourself as an expert

Couples can scroll for hours to see gorgeous photos and inspiration. They are looking for something different so fill that need for them! Using captions like “no caption required for this beauty”, isn’t helping you. Offer a wedding planning tip in the caption of a gorgeous photo. It will show your future couples that you know exactly what you are talking about, or potentially solve one of their problems. It will keep them coming back for more, and eventually, you will be established as an expert in their eyes and you have pre-qualified yourself for the job!

6) Stay away from giveaways

I know this one is debatable because you do gain quite a few followers doing a huge giveaway, but at the end of the day, they probably aren’t your people. You will invest all of your time & energy creating the giveaway & donating your time. More often than not, the new followers you gain are simply there for the prize and will likely unfollow you after the draw. It’s counter-intuitive to your long-term goal. Spend the time to hone in on your target market, give your followers valuable advice and inspiration and they will convert into customers.

It’s so easy to watch what your competitors are doing, and try and do what they are doing to see instant success. What works for them, may not work for you. You don’t want to try and attract the same followers as someone by posting the same (or similar content), you want to create your own so people want to follow you.

I hope this helps you build your own empire!