THE WEDDING FLORIST PODCAST

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Episode 19 | How to use Instagram to Grow your Business as a Wedding Florist  

Instagram is a platform that is widely used by event professionals simply because it is a purely visual platform where you can showcase what you are doing and your work.

However, Instagram can be very overwhelming because of the noise in the online world and rather than taking action you can end up procrastinating because of the overwhelm.

So, in today’s episode I am going to go through how you can use Instagram to support and be a part of your whole marketing strategy because you are not an online business but are using the online world to show off your work and your portfolio. If you use Instagram to do this, then you can end the overwhelm and be consistent and showcase your work without spending hours and hours on there.

Keep listening, grab a pen and paper and make notes so you can go away and apply this to your business.
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Welcome back to another episode of the Wedding Florist Podcast where I delve into all things floral, mindset and business.

Today I’m going to tackle a topic that many wedding florists face: How to use Instagram Marketing to grow your wedding flower business. But really need to take a look at the bigger picture because Instagram is only one platform where your customers hangout and for this reason Instagram needs to only be a part of your whole strategy when it comes to marketing.

What you should be doing is looking at the bigger picture in terms of marketing and where you can build a real connection with your people like networking events and bridal shows and using Instagram to compliment and show off what you are doing in your business.

And the other thing that I need to add here is that you don’t own Instagram or any of the social platforms and these can go at any time.  I lost my floral design handle 2 years ago with all my content and around 2000 followers and I was really gutted at the time. But did that stop me from getting more clients - no. Because I had other means to talk to my customers.  However it was this that made me realise not to focus so much energy on this platform.

And the other thing is that the algorithm is always changing and Instagram is always tweeking things at the backend which means you can’t really control the algorithm. So let me delve into what you can do when using Instagram to build your business.

1- Consistency 

  In business you have to be consistent with your work and in the same way you have to be consistent with your marketing whether it is in person or online using Instagram.  That doesn’t mean you have to post everyday but it does mean even if you post twice weekly or just once weekly you are consistent.    

And you can do this by sharing photos of your floral arrangements on your main feed, behind-the-scenes glimpses of your process in your stories, and even testimonials from satisfied clients. Consistency is key to staying top-of-mind with your audience.  

Also when it comes to consistency you need to make sure your branding on your page is consistent as well - this means the colours, the aesthetic, the fonts and your brand voice. Thai needs to be considered because it will help you build a stronger brand.

If you struggle with this I have Instagram templates on my Etsy store which you can go and check out.  They will really help you stay consistent in terms of the aesthetic on your page.  

2 - Engagement

  Talking about the audience,  it is crucial to engage with your audience. And engaging is through commenting and liking on other users posts, using relevant and industry specific hashtags to really help you expand your reach. You can also use DMs to help with engagement and this allows you to build a more personal connection with that person in your audience. I love this bit because I’ve been able to build a connection with fellow suppliers from the comfort of my home or studio using this method of DMs. But then you can send them to your email list or your newsletter or your blog or even ask them to visit you in person at a bridal show and this is what helps to build a more personal connection and helps to educate them further on your processes. So now can you see how Instagram links into the other means of marketing within your business.  

And you can also collaborate with other wedding vendors, such as photographers or wedding planners which can also help you tap into new audiences.

To build connection with your audience and increase engagement you can follow fellow suppliers, large industry accounts such as blogs and real life friends and leave thoughtful comments on their posts. You can also engage with people who comment on your posts.  

3 - Authenticity  

Your business is unique to you because of you and what you bring to it. And your job on Instagram is to show what you are all about. Now personally I have struggled with showing up myself on Instagram and letting my audience get to know me because I always want to look perfect and flawless but that is what is going on in my mind and we forget that the real world is not perfect and flawless and we should actually show the things that happen in the background.    

What I have found is that when I have shown up it’s really helped other people engage and know who I am.  I am doing more of that and just showing up as I am because the content becomes more relatable and people do get to know you better.

4 - Your Bio Profile 

Your profile and bio is what people see first when they reach your account.  So it is really important that you capture the essence of this to really tell your audience what you are about.   You only have a limited 150 characters for this so you need to be very specific and concise.  

You need to be telling your customer in your bio what the next step of the journey is for them - are they downloading your brochure, going to your website to read a blog or complete an inquiry form, emailing you or anything else. Think about what it is that you want them to do next to move to the next stage so that they buy from you.    

As a wedding florist you also need to capture the area you are based in and what your preferred style is.  Using this and other industry related words will help with your SEO and help you become more discoverable online.  

5 - Posts, Reels and Stories

To build your Instagram profile and feed you need to be creating content for your audience.  This will be in the form of Posts, Reels and Stories.  

Now to make it easier to post when it comes to Instagram what you may want to do is create a list of topics you need to talk about in your business and split these topics across 52 weeks. You can also link it to the blogs on your website to help with repurposing content you have already written.  This way you can reduce the overwhelm about what you should be posting about and it’s one less thing to worry about.  This way you also ensure that you are talking about what your ideal client wants to hear about.    

So when I create my posts I try to do them on a weekly basis and use a scheduler like Planoly to help be more consistent in terms of how the page is going to look.    

Posts can be posted as single posts or carousels which is a collection of images and videos and can be used for storytelling if done cleverly and planned out in advance. For carousels you do need to invest more time to get it right.  

Reels are also currently getting more reach and so you may want to create reels of your events and flowers to use as content.  Reels can be created whilst you are working on your flowers or at your events as well as doing any other daily tasks.  I have recently tried using Reels to expand the reach and can tell you that it works.  You can literally get your business in front of thousands of followers but be mindful that your messaging needs to be correct otherwise you will gain followers who are not your ideal client and therefore won't buy from you.    

Whether you are using posts, carousels or reels it is really good to use searchable hashtags and keywords which will help immensely with your SEO and you get found online.  

Lastly you want to be creating stories and using the stories to build engagement through Polls, Stickers and Links.

6 - Using Analytics 

As with anything else in your business figures speak the truth and you need to be checking in regularly to see what is working for you. As much as we all want a huge account with lots of likes and comments it really doesn’t work this way.    

You need to look more closely at the actions your audience are taking in terms of engagement - are they commenting, sharing or saving your posts. If they are, you need to continue doing what you are doing and if not you need to change this.  

Also you need to look at the conversions your posts, reels and stories are making. How many are leading to your website to read the blog or fill in the inquiry form or even make a purchase?  And when it is not converting then you need to look at what changes can be made in terms of posting times and the content you are posting.  

So, I’ve gone through quite a bit here and even surprised myself with my knowledge of Instagram because I don’t claim to be an expert but I use Instagram pretty well in my business, as I am growing this side of the business.  

Now If you've enjoyed listening to my podcast please show me the love and give me a review on i-tunes. it would mean the world to me. Take a photo of this podcast and post it on your instagram stories tagging me in and I'll be sure to share some love back. If you think this podcast will help your biz bestie then be sure to share it with them too.

So let's recap,

- Use Instagram as part of your overall marketing strategy  
- Be consistent with your posting and branding  
- Engage with fellow accounts in your industry  
- Be authentic in the way you show up  
- Optimise your profile to become more searchable  
- Use Posts, Reels and Stories to help you make content  
- Use Analytics to help you understand how Instagram is helping your business  

So, here are various ways you can work with me

I have free resources to help you in your business

Get your Complete Guide to Write Winning Proposals and The Ultimate Social Media Kit with a social media calendar, florist specific hashtags and strategies to grow your audience.

Watch the free training on how I went from hand ties to installations and grew my wedding flower business to a 6 figure profitable business.

I know how hard and time consuming it can be to have the right resources in your business and that's why I have created various digital templates and resources that you can use in your business and these are available for instant download in the Etsy Store

That’s it for now - if there's a topic you want covering in the future let me know and I'll get it sorted for you. So until next week, stay blooming and take careBuilding a strong network  Wherever you are in life it is really important to build a strong network and this is really important for wedding florists too. You can really get a lot of emotional support through the rollercoaster of your business journey but also open up opportunities for growth and collaborations. You can share ideas and learn from each other and help each other on projects.  So how can you do this? One of the ways I have done this is going to networking events and attending workshops and also connecting with like minded professionals on social media to get more of a global reach. I have a facebook group for wedding florists to connect with each other and the link is in the shownotes. The idea is to be part of a support and uplifting community.  

Hey there Wedding Florist

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