It’s fair to say that if you don’t exist on social media right now, that you don’t exist. For good or bad, social media is part of how we communicate in today’s society and in particular how Millennials (the ones getting married!) get their information.
As part of my Wedding Workshop that I do with Venue clients, I walk them through what social platforms are best used for and how they might improve their own presence online. Over 2 blog poss, I will take you through what Venues need to be doing to better engage with prospective clients and get more wedding bookings in 2019! Here are my first 3 tips of 6.
1. Start Making Videos
It certainly isn’t news in the marketing world that videos are more engaging than pictures. Yet so many businesses out there are still posting static images and hoping to get the same results! Not going to happen. Video is estimated to now account for up to 80% of internet traffic. The stats are overwhelming. Here are a few:
- 65% of Online Video Viewers will watch more than ¼ of a video
- The average person spends 88% more time on a website featuring a video
- 52% of marketers say Video Marketing produces best ROI
- Using the word video in an email marketing campaign in an email subject line increase clickthrough rates by 65%
- Social video generates 1200% more shares than text and images combined
Weddings are highly visual and showcasing your property with a beautifully shot video is the best way to impress prospective couples.
Top tip: Have your best people in the video speaking to camera about what you have to offer.
If you haven’t invested by now, it’s something you should really consider in your 2020 marketing spend.
2. Facebook – how not to kill your page!
Facebook can get a bad wrap but the figures speak for themselves. It is still the largest social platform with 1.59bn people on Facebook every month.
So, what does a bride to be do as soon as she gets engaged? She updates her status on Facebook to engaged – 28% do so within 24 hours! Within 1 week, almost 75% will updated their status! This is extremely valuable information for your Venue when creating campaigns. Here are my top tips
- Create moving videos from still images – static images will kill your page
- Choose images carefully (colour theme in mind)
- Use Canva image editing tool to easily add text or graphic to image
- Don’t over post – less is more these days on Facebook, it’s more important to share engaging content that your followers will spend time watching or react to that just getting likes
3. Go Live
Going live on Facebook or Instagram is a great way of engaging with your audience in real time. In Facebook, it displays at the top of followers’ feeds and people spend three times longer watching a Facebook Live video on average compared to a video that’s no longer live.
Top tip: Go live is great for events such as your wedding fair/showcase evening.
Another great tool that Facebook have brought out is Facebook Split Screen where you can create a two-way (or multiple) conversation live! We have found this very effective in promoting our clients when we do a TV Style live interview with them. Viewers can post comments or questions that you can respond to in real time and using Live is also a great tool for helping your page (the infamous algorithm loves it – especially when it is from different locations!).
It’s all about taking small steps in the right direction so that you stay on top of trends. In my next blog, I will delve a little into advertising spend, take a loot at Instagram and Pinterest.
Stay tuned!
Yours,
Ciara
Ciara Crossan is Founder and CEO of WeddingDates, celebrating 10 Years in Business in 2018.
