Social Media Tips – Friendors Consultancy

Hey there! We hope our favorite time of the year, wedding season, has been treating you all well!

We know that when things get busy it’s easy to slack on your social media strategies. We get it cause we have been and are there. We’re here to give you a few tips on what you should be doing on social platforms.

  1. We don’t care what anyone says – hashtags work. Use all of the ones that apply to your post.
  2. Whatever Facebook owns is where it’s at. (Facebook and Instagram) Instagram holds the most engagement out of any social platform currently.
  3. You should never post just text. Your text should be accompanied by visuals. Visuals are processed 60,000 times fast than text. (maybe why Insta is ruling it right now?)
  4. Videos are killing it in the social world right now. Photos are great and all, but videos are especially succeeding online.
  5. Post content from events you work instead of letting it sit.
  6. Just do it. Nike knows what’s up.

Any questions? We’re always here. 😉

Networking Tips Part 2 – Friendors Consultancy

Hi there! You might remember Part 1 of our Networking Tips a few weeks ago, and now we’re back with Part 2! Yay!

  1. Follow them on social media right then and there. Seriously. Pull your phone out and say you want to be friends online. They will most likely pull their phone out and reciprocate. How many Instagram followers can you get in one night of networking?
  2. If you feel compelled, go ahead and schedule a lunch date then. If you already know you want to spend more time with the professional you’re engaging in conversation with, why don’t you go ahead and make it happen there? Pull your phones out and peep those calendars instead of exchanging emails and then waiting forever after back and forths. It’s so easy to just do then and it makes sure it actually happens.
  3. Talk to everyone in the room. Don’t dilly dally around with one crowd all night. If you do decide to do that (sometimes people just click!), dilly dally around the room together and talk to everyone. Forge paths. Make new connections.
  4. Take a selfie and upload it. Tag everyone there – the sponsors, the professionals you talked to and added on social media, etc. Don’t just tag them in the caption – tag them in the photo too so it appears on their profile! Use their hashtag, too! It’s also good publicity for them from you! Placing your face online and tagging them in it makes it easy for them to remember you after the fact and kind of encourages growth in the relationship. Maybe they’ll even tag your company on their profile!

Want more? 😉

XOXO

3 Tips For Booking The Wedding – Friendors Consultancy

Hey there, Friendors! We’ve got 3 simple tips for you on how to get the booking when a client reaches out to you. These tips may seem obvious, but are you practicing them?

  1. Reply to their inquiry immediately. We mean immediately. Like, pull over and call them right then if you are driving when your phone dings with their contact form immediately. Seriously, first call gets the booking.
  2. Be kind. Incredibly kind. There is so much to be said about someone who runs their company with kindness and how you act when booking is telling of how you will be during their engagement process up to and through their wedding.
  3. Listen. Really listen. You don’t really have to say much – most people know if they want to book you before they ever meet with or talk to you; the consultation just seals the deal. If you listen then, they feel important and have invested time into your company by sharing their dream with you – they don’t want to redo all of that with someone else.

Until next time!

XOXO

Is Your Company Mobile Friendly? – Friendors Consultancy

We went to Wedding MBA and learned lots last week and plan to share some of our findings with you over the next few weeks.

This week, we’re talking about being mobile friendly and are here to present a few statistics given to us by Sonny G of WeddingWire.

Did you know there are more mobile phones on the Earth than people?

Did you know there are more mobile phones on the Earth than tooth brushes? More than the number of toilets?

Did you know we sell more phones than babies are born?

Did you know that people pick their phone up every 6 minutes?

Did you know that Google has the choice to not display you in the results if your website isn’t mobile friendly?

Now that you know all of these facts, are you 100 percent positive your website is mobile friendly?

Here’s a link to find out quickly:

https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/mobile-friendly/

Click here to read some of what we learned at Wedding MBA last year and stay tuned for more to come. 🙂

4 Ways To Get Motivated About The Industry Again – Friendors Consultancy

Feeling jaded, burnt out? We know how it feels and we’re here to tell you that it’s normal to encounter boredom many years into your career – we think most people, regardless of what industry they are in, can get stuck doing things a certain way and get bored or burnt out on something they in actuality love, without realizing. (if you’re encountering these feelings too early on in your career, maybe you should reconsider your path instead of looking for ways to get motivated?)

You know you’re a die hard wedding and party fan, you know you love the industry, but are just a little worn out after years of wedding and event seasons – that’s okay. We’re sure Britney Spears has days where she doesn’t want to go on stage because she’s not feeling it. But you know what she does? She battles through like a Diva and loves every minute of it, finding new ways to enjoy it, and falls in love with performing over and over again – just like you do (and can do) with your business.

So, here are 4 simple ways to get you motivated about this incredible industry again.

  1. Go to a conference – they excite like no other. The classes (if you choose wisely from the line ups) are totally beneficial and educational, get you pumped like a mofo, and have you coming home with so many new ideas. But it doesn’t stop there (man, I swear). They also have PARTIES at these conferences. And guess what? These parties are for YOU. Yes, that’s right – after a lifetime of making other peoples parties bomb ass, you get a bomb ass one for you and all your Friendors. After watching everyone else drink and have fun event after event after event (times almost every weekend of the year), you get to grab yourself a few cocktails and shake your cute lil thang. And when you’re dancing like a wild child in the middle of the dance floor or talking with an entrepreneur you admire that you got to meet after class, you remember why you began in the party industry to begin with – you love events and want everyone to have this heart exploding feeling you feel right in this moment. Going to your own party makes you appreciate all parties.
  2. Attend a wedding without any expectations. This one is a little difficult because it’s mostly in our heads. We all get caught up with wanting every wedding to be the prettiest wedding ever, the one wedding that makes us go viral online and makes the phone start ringing so much that you have to hire a team of receptionists (the dream!). We want these things so badly that we forget about the couples and create expectations in our head and are let down by our own fault, instead of appreciating each love story for what it is – beautiful. We challenge you (and ourselves!!) to go to a wedding without any expectations. Don’t be sad if a couple spends 500 on flowers instead of 5,000. Don’t think DIY means ugly (we’ve found it to usually mean the opposite because artists do DIY weddings often). Don’t think about how you would have done it if it were yours. It’s not yours – it’s theirs and it’s perfect and you should just enjoy the honor of being a part of it.
  3. Do something just for you at the wedding. We know we just told you that it’s all about the couple and to drop your expectations at the door, but if you’re feeling down – go in with plans to do something just for you to make you enjoy the night. We once told a DJ who was tiring of playing the same top 40’s music every weekend to choose a song he really dug before each wedding, whether it was one the crowd would know or not, and make plans to play it. Just for himself. Mix it in some fun way to make it about the crowd so they enjoy it too. It will rejuvenate you to go in and get something you want out of an event and to see other people digging it.
  4. Personal projects are where it’s at. By personal projects, we mean a couple of things. We mean personal as in nothing to do with your career personal, and personal as in a decision to make your career more fun personal. Styled shoots are a great form of personal projects – the kind that make your career more fun which makes your personal life better. It’s your chance to do what you would do if it were yours (it’s okay to have those thoughts, just not at every wedding!). You’re tired of seeing the same style weddings every weekend? Design something you want and get it published and put it on your website. You sell what you show so if you show what you want, your personal life gets better because you enjoy your weddings more. And don’t stress over it – these personal projects aren’t things you have to do and you shouldn’t treat them like work, even if it helps your work life. They’re projects. Fun art projects.

Until next time, click here to read more Friendor Tips.

XOXO

6 Networking Tips Part 1 – Friendors Consultancy

Hey there, Friendors! One of our favorite things to do is network. Network, network, network. So, we thought we’d begin a Networking Tips Series for ya. Here’s Part 1: 6 Networking Tips.

1. Wear a conversation starter. This makes it easy to break the ice and will make people remember you. For example, instead of a simple black dress – why don’t you wear a sequin top and some glitter cat ears like Schellie from Far Out Galaxy? Or a wedding gown and some kick ass accessories like Baton Bob.  Everyone loves a cat and everyone loves a bride. What can be your thing? (seriously, get to thinking!)

2. Have a drink or two. But not too many. You should loosen up a little and a drink or two is a great way to do that – but you don’t want to be blabbering and then unable to drive yourself home. The company providing the alcohol is probably doing it as a Sponsor (for free) for promotional purposes and they’re there for you to enjoy. Do.

(Awestruck Ciders featured below at The Blogcademy)

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3. “What brings you out?” is the best first question to ask. It gets you straight to the point to see if your relationship is compatible and if it could become mutually beneficial for all parties involved.

4. Sure, ask what brings them out but go deeper once you know that answer (if you feel compelled to continue the conversation). What do they do when they’re not working? This is a great way to make a personal connection. Maybe they are (just like you!) trying to learn how to roll their own Sushi with Youtube Videos too – you never know.

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5. Have business cards. Too many business cards. You never know if someone wants 100 business cards of yours instead of one.

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6. Name tag. Pleeeeeeazzzzzzz. It makes it so much easier to remember you and it’s just a nice thing to do.

Until Part 2!

XOXO,

Friendors Consultancy

Wanna be Insta Friendors Forever? – A New Kind of Instagram Community

A trend is growing on Instagram – a new kind of community, and we are here to get everyone on the train to Coolsville. People are matching up accounts (influencers and brands) into communities in the form of group messages (about 15 accounts in each group) where you come together in support. Participation (liking and commenting on each members every post to build each others profiles up) is what it’s all about. Each time you post, you simply drop a Heart into the group message alerting the group and you all exchange likes and comments – a mutually beneficial friendorship for you all. We love the concept so we’re starting some groups with you all now! Want to be put into groups on Instagram with accounts you’ll vibe with and become Insta FFs (Friendors Forever)?

Sign up now and we will put you into a group when there are enough participants in your field that we know you’ll love.

Click here to sign up to be a part of your own Insta Friendors Forever Group.

 

Is Instagram’s New Story Feature Killing Off Snapchat? – Friendors Consultancy

Instagram has been in and owning the social game for a long time now (or should we say Facebook cause they own Insta?) and we’ve seen them appropriate other original ideas and incorporate features that another premier app has before that app even has a chance to succeed.

Remember Vine? Instagram didn’t have video capabilities and Vine, a video looping app, came out so they added video to keep users on their platform. And what did everyone (well, mostly everyone) do? Abandon Vine. 

We guess there really shouldn’t have been any shock when they did the same to Snapchat but it really did a woozy on us.

We opened Instagram one day and saw the Story feature magically at the top of our feed – tempting you to touch it to view a mini How To they put together as an introduction. And you know what the How To said? “We’re ripping off Snapchat and you all are going to go with it”.  Actually, it screamed that.

If you’re not familiar with Snapchat, read our post where we shared how it works and ideas on how to use it – you know, before Instagram stole their glory. Here’s a quick overview of Snapchat: you share stories (photo or video) and they disappear in 24 hours. “Well tah-dah, we do it too!” we imagine Instagram saying.

It’s a dog eat dog world out there.

So to answer the question to whether Instagram Stories is killing Snapchat? Yes.

Well, kind of. You can still use Snapchat (we would totally miss those lenses that make us all pretty if we dropped it cold turkey) but we think for your business and marketing that you should work Instagram Stories a little more.

So regardless of how we or you or anyone feels about it (don’t you feel a little dirty using it?!) the fact is that it’s there and we can’t ignore it. We actually kinda like it, to be honest.

Here are a few reasons we’re okay with Instagram ripping Snapchat a new one (even if they don’t have the incredible lenses that contour you… yet):

Our following is already on Instagram.

We have to admit, that even though we love the shit out of Snapchat, we were having to grow our following on a new platform to make it worth using and that’s an every day struggle. Why would we go elsewhere when our following is already on Instagram and we can now give them an experience very similar? We don’t have to now. Guess there’s a benefit to age in the social industry.

Finding and Following is SO much easier on Instagram.

Snapchat did have a few things we didn’t like about it’s interface. For example, it was always super hard to discover new people and add them as Friends. Basically, if they weren’t in your phone’s address book or you didn’t know their username perfectly, you weren’t finding them. We really like the search function of Instagram – allowing you to simply search by name and get lucky, the explore section, the hashtags, the location tagging. It’s all so user friendly which makes it easy for new followers to find you (and you to find them too!).

It’s all in One Place.

This goes back to our first reason – we already have following here, of course, but there’s also less of a work curve since you’re not stretching yourself across multiple platforms. Doing everything on one platform keeps it simple for you. K.I.S.S. right?

Anyways, we’re sure we’ll find more reasons as to why we’re in love with and cool with sticking to Instagram as well as more reasons why we hate them for stealing ideas and more reasons to miss Snapchat (we know you have these contradictory feelings too!!), but we’re gonna keep on keepin’ on – so, until next time, XOXO.

How We’re Making Our Instagrams More Cohesive With a Scheduling Tool – Friendors Consultancy

Your may remember our post on Social Media Scheduling Tools and we’re here to talk a little bit more about one of the tools we shared with you then cause we’re super in love with it now.

They call it “the simple way to plan your visual content marketing” and we couldn’t agree more.

Latergramme, now just Later, is a website and app that allows you to upload images from your computer to their site and then to a calendar there in a drag and drop style. You  can go ahead and write your caption, choose the time to post, etc. Then, you just download the app onto your phone and your posts are all magically there within it – it’s incredible and a nice way to get those images off your computer and onto your phone easily.

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Prepping your instagram posts on a computer is soooo easy breezy lemon squeezy and takes the stress out of last minute preparations on your phone.

Not only is it nice to see a calendar with your images on it prepped in advance, but Later also has a Preview feature within the site that pops up the size of your phone and shows you what your feed will look like with all of your scheduled posts up – which gives room for improvement for those of us struggling with cohesiveness.

This feature helped us take our profile’s feed from this to this. (We used @FarOutGalaxy for this example)

Wouldn’t you agree we’re doing much better in the after? (these images haven’t gone live on our feed yet but this is the preview tool of what our feed will be in a few weeks – ya know, if we don’t switch it up)

It allowed us to see our color palette and layout in an enlightened perspective, a more hindsight way – before we made any mistakes, really helping to create smooth transitions between our posts and a profile that’s more aesthetically pleasing and easy on the eyes for our viewers. We’re excited to see it pan out.

You’re given 30 scheduled posts each month for FREE with upgrades to premium packages for special features such as more posts, multiple accounts, etc. We found that we’re happy with scheduling 1 post per day a month in advance so haven’t really needed to upgrade yet but your needs may be different.

Anyways, we suggest you head on over and play around.

CLICK HERE TO START YOUR SOCIAL LIFE WITH LATER NOW.

At a Marketing Loss on Snapchat? 5 Things You Can Snap About – Friendors Consultancy

Hey there, Friendors!

We are still loving Snapchat (@xofriendors and @faroutgalaxy) but some of our Friendors have openly admitted that they don’t know what to snap about for marketing purposes. They don’t understand the platform. All photos? All videos? Should we use that face filter thingy? (the lenses)

We’re here to tell you that we constantly ask ourselves these questions too so we’re sharing 5 things you can snap about as an event industry professional.

But first, let’s talk a little bit about the platform first.

Snapchat is different than other social media platforms – unlike Instagram, Facebook, and your Blog, what you post only lasts for 24 hours and it’s not really meant for a a curated life view.

It’s actually socially acceptable to post more than once a day. In fact, it’s actually meant for that. Instead of having a “Feed” like on other platforms, you have a Story. Your Story is called a Story by Snapchat for a reason. Continuing Stories keep your viewers engaged.

These things may seem really simple and obvious, but if you’re at a loss, this listacle (which we may follow up with ideas 6 and up) can hold your Snapchat go tos. Our tip is that marketing on Snapchat is a lot more simple and easy than you may think.

 

  1. Blog Post Announcements – You announce your blog posts on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Why not announce them on yet another growing social platform? Show people how to get to your blog with a quick video or a continuing how to photo story.
  2. BTS –  Behind The Scenes can practically be anything, big or small, (ex: just opening the door to your office or studio and saying welcome, the front of a venue when you arrive for a wedding you’re working, a during of your creative process, etc) and it’s a way to show people that you’re doing shit. People think people who do shit are cool and successful. One day of BTS could be an office Tour. Another could be BTS of a Friendors Inspiration Collaboration (then, you share the final outcome on your blog and do Number 1 and announce it on Snapchat). Bam.
  3. Thank You Notes from Clients – We get Thank You Notes with little gifts from clients often, and we know many of you are too. Why not show those bad babies off excitedly? Put em to good marketing use. A Thank You note after an event, to us, says happy client. People like to see happy clients. Happy clients breed more happy clients.
  4. Reviews – Speaking of happy clients, where are you sharing your reviews besides on your website and the actual review collecting website? We’ll tell you where – Snapchat.
  5. Introduce Your Team – Showing multiple people on your team instead of just yourself shows that you’re a real company with moving parts and peoples, rather than just a mom and pop shop. You da real shit cause you got people backing your brand. Word? It also allows your client to see the people that may possibly be at their event (photo booth attendants, your design assistant, etc) and lets them feel like they know them and can trust them – which they totally can. In addition, showing your team helps with team building and bonding – a doggie face Snap with your coworker makes you automatic friends, right? Right?

There are so many things you could Snap about and these topics could over flow into major campaigns. Let us know if you like these ideas and we just may follow up with 6-10 more topics to snap about.

xoxo