I look at my first TikTok videos and I'm like, these are so cringe. I can't believe I did that. But at that time I was like, look at me go. And that's really what it is, right? Nobody is like. They might be scrolling back all the way to the beginning, but if they do that, they're going to see the growth and evolution of your work and what you've been posting.
I'm Becca Pountney, wedding business, marketing expert, speaker, and blogger, and you're listening to the Wedding Pros Who Are Ready To Grow podcast. I'm here to share with you actionable tips, strategies, and tips. Real life examples to help you take your wedding business business to the next level. If you are an ambitious wedding business owner that wants to take your passion and use it to build a profitable, sustainable business doing what you love, then you're in the right place.
Let's get going with today's episode. Today I'm chatting with Emily Roshot. Emily is a social media manager, content writer, speaker, and all round great human being. For the last decade, Emily has been immersed in the industry from writing trend pieces for wedding magazines to managing social media coverage of runway shows at New York Bridal Fashion Week. Emily is a fountain of knowledge about all things online content creation.
So I know she's going to have some really great tips for you today. And she's fabulous. So I know you're going to love her. Emily, welcome to the podcast.
Thanks for having me, Becca. I'm so happy to be here. Fountain of knowledge. I love it.
Yes, a fountain of knowledge as big as Bellagio, you are a fountain as everyone knows, all my favorite people are all the people that I got to hang out with in Las Vegas. That's where we were last together. So I'm glad to have you on the podcast today
Me too. I'm so excitedted to be here and chat with you all things content.
Great. It's a subject I like to talk about. So we are going to go all around the houses, but my listeners are used to following us all around the houses. So it's all good. Now, before we get into the kind of content creation stuff, I always like to talk to people about their own background, their own story. Cause I think it's important that we understand where people come from, especially when they're giving us information, giving us ideas to understand people's backgrounds.
So how did you end up doing what you do now and why the wedding industry specifically?
Great question. It was not my, like, all the time plan, but then I was, I was a marketing major in college, wanted to go into advertising. My senior year of college, I had an internship at The Knot in their public relations department. I was really enjoying the content that they were putting out. I was also planning events on campus, and college was like, maybe I want to do wedding planning, and I thought about that, but I was like, no, I really like the content they're putting out.
Like, I could, I could do that. I could write this. I could see myself enjoying really doing this. I took a journalism class my last semester of college because I needed to immediately pivot before I got out of college. And then my last semester, I interned with formally how he asked and how they asked. It's an engagement and proposal site that then not ended up purchasing later down the line. So full circle moment. And that was it from there.
I was and then I was in the wedding industry doing content, doing social media management, working with online publications, and then that transitioned into working with wedding professionals on their, on their blogs, on their, on their social media, on their emails, all that kind of, all that kind of good marketing stuff. So that's what I've been doing since. Since my internship in college, I've just never, never left the wedding industry.
I love it. Oh, it's a wonderful, it's a wonderful industry to be in. That's why I'm in it too, because it's so happy. And I think like most people, we all end up doing something, maybe not what we originally planned to do, but then when, when we get into it and we love it, then it's great to stay there as well. Now let's start because there's lots of different areas of content management. We've got blogging, we've got copywriting, we've got social media. We're going to start with social media.
Now I know a lot of people, especially when they're my age, millennials who are starting to fall out of love a little bit with our social media platforms. We've been doing it for the last decade or more, and It's getting difficult and it feels run of the mill. Do you think, from your perspective, that it is still a really important part of our marketing as wedding businesses?
I really do. I don't think that it should be the end all be all, and I find that people put, you know, sometimes they're like, I put all my time into this, it's not paying off the way that I thought, and that's not what I want for people, but it is important because people are looking for you there. It's not going to be their direct, you know, Oh, I saw you on Instagram and I immediately booked you and we had a call and now you're my wedding planner.
It's not that kind of direct pipeline, but it's where people are looking. And it's a great way to further expand your portfolio beyond your website for people to be able to find you and also to connect with you, social media is where a lot of your personality comes out. And the personality is like the final factor, because if I, you know, find two people who can. Create something similar that I'm looking for.
I'm going to go with the person that I that I get along with better or that I have a deeper connection with and that can build on social media. So yes, as much as people may not want to hear it, social media is still very important. It is something that we should be doing, and it's definitely worth. putting your time into, but making sure that it's a reasonable amount of time.
And do you think couples are using it slightly differently? Because I think if you go back five years, people were getting a lot of DMs via Instagram and things like that, which seems to have petered out a little bit. But do you think couples are still using it to look at what people are doing?
Absolutely. Couples are a thousand percent still looking at it. You can look at the, the surveys that came out this year from the knot and Zola. I mean, it just confirms that. Couples are looking. You're right about, you know, maybe not getting all of the DMs or the engagement that you were once getting, but they're definitely lurking. TikTok has become huge in the wedding planning process. Couples are looking there.
And statistically, a lot of couples are planning and looking before they even get engaged. So that brand awareness bit is really important. When it comes to social media, because you're kind of showing up for people before they even know that they need you and before they're even looking for you.
I think one of the things that my pros and venues actually particularly struggle with is knowing what to be posting. So I think they all kind of know, yeah, I should be posting, I should be visible, I should be showing up. But actually. They kind of get stuck as to what should they be posting and everyone seems to be posting the same things and they're just kind of blending in. The algorithms are getting harder.
Have you got any thoughts about the kind of content that in 2024 wedding professionals should be looking to post?
I have a lot of thoughts about the content that wedding professionals should be posting in 2024. I, I'm pleading, I'm begging, please stop with the stock photos and the holiday posts. I see a lot of people are like, I just need to maintain this. So it looks like I'm in business. So it's, you know, Happy Thanksgiving, and then you won't see them again until, you know, Hanukkah or Christmas or New Year's. I'm asking you to stop doing that.
I'm asking you to please show up with content that people can take something away from. I really want your content to fall into, like, one of the main buckets, which would be educational. Like, did somebody learn something about what you offer or the wedding planning process from you? Even if you don't become their vendor, you being a wealth of information is valuable to them and also helps you maybe get referrals down the line. Is it something that they are entertained by?
I'm not saying you have to hop on every TikTok trend, but you know, entertaining content also leaves a memorable impression for them. Or is it something that they can connect with you? You're the face of your business most of the time, or your team, if you have a larger team, who are the people that they're going to be working with? Is there a personal connection that's created? Who's the face behind the brand? Who is the team that's going to be showing up to work with you on your wedding day?
Really, we want your content to fall into that. If somebody is not going to leave with a takeaway too often, I see people post photos of a couple and the caption will be like, we loved, you know, Tim and Sue's big day here at, you know, blah, blah, blah venue with blah, blah, blah photographer. And that's it. And like, that is helpful to show your work. Like I'm not saying, you know, I would love that over stock photo any day of the week, please like show actual couples with actual work.
But we want to make sure that the, the caption has information and that you're showing like what it's actually like to be part of that. Not just like, here's a wedding that we had at our venue and that's it.
Yeah. And ultimately we're being very polite here, but. really nobody cares about Tim and Sue's wedding other than Tim and Sue. So we're not actually being helpful to our clients. We're just either, we're just saying this is an event that happened. It's, it's like what used to happen in blogging back in the day where I would tell crows to blog and they would start writing a diary of like, today I went to here. Like no one cares. Nobody cares about that. No one.
And I mean that in the nicest way that no one cares, right?
But I mean tenants do care and there's value to that because they will repost that and then that gets her name out there too So i'm not saying don't ever do that But make sure that the caption has value to people who aren't them Make sure that your blog I mean same thing with your blogs I see people who are like I have to blog every real wedding that i've ever done and it's like, please Don't use that content to create something that is valuable for SEO.
Nobody's going to come and read and be like, Oh, you know, Jim and Steve got married. Let me read the details of their wedding. What can we do with that? Like, where did Jim and Steve get married? And like, is that a venue that you work at often? And you want to create, you know, a blog post of all the venues that are in your area that you like to work with. Like, how can we take this and make it something that's going to be valuable to people who are considering working with?
Absolutely. Now, one of the pushbacks I get quite a lot when having these kinds of conversations with people about their marketing is that they just don't have enough images. Now, I totally agree with you. I don't want to see stock images. So when people say that to you, what are your kind of, how are you advising them to get more images?
Several things. First and foremost, you are your own image. So I always encourage people to show up on camera as much as possible. I know that's scary to some people. So if you're listening to this, please don't panic. There are other ways to do it, but showing up and creating that connection and being the one to give the tips.
Or being the one to use I will permit possibly a stock photo if it's a green screen and you're trying to educate a point Because you've also shown up and you're the face of the content But you know, there's value in the small things that you're doing your every day filming that you know What's going on behind the scenes at your venue? What are you? you know, what are you working if you are a photographer or you're a venue or you are Any kind of like bridal salon or anything.
You have the content like within you, florists, you have the content. You don't have to always show that final product. You can show what's gone into what you're creating. If you're somebody like an officiant or somebody who's content, like, isn't just, you know, there at the ready, whenever they need it, there are a couple of ways to do it. I always say, you know, show up on camera. You can always. I'm not gonna totally recommend it, but it's better than no content.
There are stock image sites that are created for wedding professionals. So please don't just like go to unsplash and grab something, at least invest in something that's created for a wedding professional. But if you have absolutely no content you're starting, it's day one. You've never done a wedding. You've absolutely nothing.
You're not going to Show up on camera and also, you know, see what you could do with, with a, like a quote post, that's got a tip you could use Canva with your brand colors and start to get that brand brand awareness in there. But showing up on cameras is the easiest and best way to connect. If you have absolutely.
zero content, but I think a lot of times you're overthinking it and you've got a lot more content than you think you do, even if it's just like a little behind the scenes video, but let this be your inspiration to start filming literally everything that you do on a wedding day that goes into the wedding day, you prepping for the wedding day. It's, it'll be valuable down the line. You wish you had it.
Yeah, absolutely. And I think if people get into the habit of doing it, just filming content and filming things, wherever they go, then it becomes second nature. And then you can sit down later on and use that content somewhere else. I mean, you obviously do.
Social media and content marketing for a variety of different businesses, and I think one of the hardest things as a marketer and therefore for people who are doing their own marketing is keeping our ideas fresh, making sure we're not just copying what everyone else is doing and coming up with fresh content. How do you personally try and keep yourself ahead of the game, keep your ideas fresh, come up with new ideas and inspiration?
I spend a lot of time on TikTok. TikTok right now is really where the trends are coming out of. Things that we're seeing on Instagram Reels are things that we saw on TikTok a couple weeks ago, and then things that we're seeing on Facebook and Facebook Reels are things we saw on TikTok like a month, at least a month ago.
So I try to stay on top of it with, with TikTok, especially And I'm not saying, you know, you need to recreate every trend that's on there, but I think it's very helpful to see where conversations are having a lot of couples are creating content. People want to be their own, you know, wedding influencer and they want to add their, their voice to the conversation.
So it's really helpful to see firsthand perspective, but also, you know, again, a plug, cause I won't stop talking about it enough, but tick tock so important for your business, because we want people to be learning from the professionals on top of. From the couples.
And so, you know, the more pros that show up on Tik TOK, the more education people are receiving from the people who really know it versus somebody who's planning it for the first time, which is very valuable in its own way, but we want all the voices there, but that's, that's how I stay up the most on what, what is fresh and just like the conversations that are happening, you know, what kind of conversations are happening in Facebook groups.
You know, I like to watch the conversations are happening there. Cause I feel like that really gives a pulse on, on what couples are. And it's really helpful to see where the, the mindset's at.
Yeah. I love doing a little bit of deep diving into Facebook groups. I always say to people, don't necessarily post in them. They're great for seeing what questions people are asking, opinions people have, what people think is on trend, which we all saw 10 years ago, all of the rest of things like that. Okay. Talk to me about TikTok because anyone that follows me will know. That I have a slight aversion to TikTok because I feel like I'm too old to be on the platform.
I'm not a natural TikTok user. However, I am telling people that's where they need to be heading because all of the data coming out from all of the industry reports here in the UK is saying that we are every year seeing a year on year rise on the amount of couples using TikTok. So Emily, you're going to have to pitch it to me. Why should me and my wedding pros be using TikTok and what's the easiest way to get started with it when it feels overwhelming?
I could talk to you about this. for the rest of time. The most important reason is that couples are showing up. There are couples are using it to plan their wedding. I believe it's almost half of couples. If I had to pull the stat out off the top of my head I think that's, that's what it was the last time I read, but they are looking for inspiration. And I'm finding that that's where people are getting a lot of niche inspiration.
So things like, you know, like vegan weddings, I had a friend recently, they got married and she's like, I use Tik TOK to find a lot of, you know, what, what resources could I find? What professionals could I find that we're going to specialize in?
In that so people are coming in there searching that is the reason number one that I recommend people be on there is that TikTok is very prevalent as a search engine, a good portion of Gen Z is using it more than the majority of Gen Z is using as a search engine for all things in their life, wedding planning being one of them, and people are searching for what you have to offer and I, you know, want you to be there.
I want you to show up in those search results, instead of just the couples that are planning their weddings, but then in terms of showing up and how to get started. That's a great question. There are several ways. If you are like, I will absolutely never be on camera that you can still be on there. I'm going to tell you that the videos of you on camera are going to perform the best, but really what, what matters the most is showing content of what you offer.
So that could be, you know, before and after transformations, that could be just a little bit of, of B roll of you, you know, editing photos or walking around your venue and then putting text over it to share tips. That's the most basic way that you can get started without being on camera. But really it's just a matter of sitting down with your phone, it's as simple as that, talking to it, you're creating that connection through the screen with a potential couple.
And sharing information, the more that you show up and share information, the more people can trust you, the more people can trust you, the more that they're willing to work with you. And TikTok is the easiest place to do that because it's, I think the best algorithm for connecting you with your ideal client and being able to search for them and, and do the work to find them as well, while they're finding you in their, in their planning process.
But I think that, you know, it's, it's If you're sleeping on TikTok, like now is, now is the time. Now's the time for you, Becca. It's time to gather. You're not too old. That's the other point I wanted to address that you said. You're never too old. And I find that people are like, I don't know how to connect to Gen Z. I don't know the lingo. I don't know what I should be saying. And that's not what we're looking for at all. We're not looking for you to show up and dance.
That's absolutely not necessary unless you want to, I'm not going to stop you. We're not showing up for you to like, you know, make jokes and, and try to connect with people that you don't feel like that it's not natural. We don't want you to say things that aren't natural or, you know, try to try to be something you're not. People want the authentic you and people are not judging that as harshly as you are judging it.
So show up and just be a resource by being yourself and sharing all the things that you know that you can provide to be a value to your couples.
And in terms of the algorithm, I mean, like all of these things, it can feel a little bit all over the place, but you said in what you were sharing that people are searching. So if I'm on there looking for vegan wedding content, for example, is it that what I've put in a hashtag is going to be found? Is it what I've put in a comment that's going to be found? Is it a mixture of everything? How are we making sure we're showing up for the topics people are searching for?
All of it. Hashtags are important, but not, you know, it's not Instagram. We don't want stuff, like a 30 of them in there. So hashtags are important. The caption like that you write is important, but also the text on the screen and the video and the closed caption is also important, please close caption. All of your videos, not just for SEO purposes, but for accessibility. You know, you want to be able to reach people that want to be able to find you.
And also a lot of people consume their TikTok content with no sound on. I'm one of them. I will watch my tiny screen while my big screen is playing in the back. And I, you know, want to be able to read what you're talking about. So people are finding you through a variety of ways. Those are kind of three of the main ways to appease the algorithm. But also it's, it's aware of the, like, it knows what's happening in your video. Title slides are also very important. Not just.
algorithm what the video is about, but for people being able to find you, if they land on your account and it's all just, you know, a hundred photos of your face, they're not going to know what the video is about. So making sure that you're, you're titling all of those. Same thing with Instagram, while we're talking about searchability, you know, hashtags are helpful and important, but they're not what they once were.
And Instagram is also really trying to lean into you know, searching and they're pulling keywords from your captions. So again, even more reason for your caption to not be. Congratulations, Tim and Sue, on your big day because that's not really giving any contextual value to what your post is about. And then also making sure that you're always using, it's very hidden, which I don't love.
Instagram needs to make it at the forefront, but they do have accessibility features to be able to write alt text. for your photos on Instagram and making sure that you're doing that for accessibility purposes and also to give people information about what your post is about and what's happening in the photos that you're posting.
Fabulous. Okay. You've heard it here. 2024. We all need to be on TikTok and I guess done is better than perfect. That's something I like to say. Like, let's just give it a try. Let's go with it rather than holding ourselves back from perfectionism.
Absolutely. It's like the first pancake theory, you know, when you make a pancake and the first one's kind of like burned or like kind of raw and like not a good shape. And by the time you're done, you're like, okay, these are perfect and round and like well cooked. And I wish I could have done that from the beginning. I look at my first TikTok videos and I'm like, these are so cringe. I can't believe I did that. But at that time I was like, look at me go. And that's really what it is, right?
Nobody is like, scrolling. They might be scrolling back all the way to the beginning, but if they do that, they're going to see the growth and evolution of your work and what you've been posting. So don't let that stop you because you're right. Done is better than perfect. And done is what's getting you in front of people versus not showing up at all, which is getting you in front of absolutely no one.
Yeah, absolutely. Now on that train of thought, one of the things that we were talking about offline before we started this recording over email was about how People at the moment at the beginning of 2024, there's this kind of wedding crow panic. It's how I'm calling it where, you know, we had COVID, then we had the post COVID stuff. So people had bookings were up, they felt really successful. They kind of dropped the ball with their marketing.
And all of a sudden their bookings are down now the beginning part of this year. And they're kind of panicking and thinking, Oh, I haven't been marketing. And now I need to at the same time. So from a content creation. point of view. Does this strategy work? And if people find themselves in this position, what's the best steps for them to start getting themselves out of it?
Yeah. The nicest way that I can give you the harsh truth is that social media is only going to work for you if you did it back before you needed it. So right now you should be doing it, but don't be doing it from the perspective that I need to book this. You know, X, Y, and Z amount of clients before the end of the year. Social media is not the like, I post and I get clients strategy. There's no, you know, instant overnight way to book more people. Social media is a brand awareness tool.
And I find that couples, you know, whether it's now with, with the lull in couples booking or whether it's, you know, It's, you know, during busy season, people kind of fall off and they're like, especially if you're already booked. If you're somebody who's like, I'm already booked for 2024, I can like kind of take a back seat while I'm really busy this year and then I'll pick it up at the end of the season.
That's not, we, I know it's so hard because you're busy and you're like, I don't have time for this. And it doesn't seem like a priority because. You have your couples lined up, but it's, it's an investment in the long game. Social media is a long game and you know, it's not like a get viral overnight. I think, especially with TikTok, that seems to be a misconception.
If I post a video, it's going to pop off and everybody's going to book me and they're going to need me and Then I'm going to have to expand my team and it's going to be this like rapid growth. I just need to do it and that will happen. And that's not, that's not the case at all. Same thing with Reels. It's not going to just happen overnight for you, but making sure that you are creating a plan where you are going to show up on social media consistently.
So that looks like taking all that behind the scenes content. So you always have something to post. Showing up on stories to, you know, remind people that you're still in business during busy season. People drop off and then people are going to consider not booking with you because they're going to wonder what happened to you. But not using social media as an instant strategy, but as a long term brand awareness tool for people to be able to come find you somewhere that isn't just your website.
Hey, and I think that's really refreshing to hear actually because often I think people do talk about it as if it's just going to make this instant result, you know, post three times on Instagram and make thousands of dollars like overnight and it just doesn't work like that. But also it can feel disheartening as a business owner because you are pumping out all this content and sometimes you just don't see what's happening with it. You don't see the traction of it.
So do you have any tips to kind of help keep us consistent, especially when things feel busy, especially when we feel booked out with our overall content, not just social media, how can we stay on top of these things? Any thoughts on that?
Yeah. I mean, ideally in the perfect world, we're going to batch out as much as possible before busy season happens, but also you're trying to have a life because like you didn't get to have one during busy season. So it's like, you know, how do you, How do you spend your time? And I always encourage people to at least sit down and like write out the ideas that you have and then Start to go from there. You know, can I create a content calendar? What is realistic is really what it is.
I'm not going to be the person to ever sit down and give you a perfect number. I, I know a lot of people are like, you should post X amount of times at this time of day for this many times. And while that's all you know well and good, it's not realistic for everybody. And so, you know, if you know, like today I was able to. Make four posts will ask yourself when you're gonna have time to do that again Is it gonna be in a few days and those four posts are gonna last you like a week or two weeks?
Or is it truly that you can't do that again for several weeks and you want like one post a week? Ideally, we want more but we want to show up consistently as opposed to just in spurts I see people do that They're like I am so ready to do this and they post a bunch of content and then they drop off for a couple months and then they come back and then they Drop off for a couple months. And so Ideally to plan especially for your busy season.
You want to take content that you You already have, and I know that can be challenging, right? You're thinking, well, that was my last year content and that was really great, but I'm. You know, I'm growing, I'm evolving, or maybe you're trying to change markets and that's not really working for you anymore because you don't service that location or you don't service that price point anymore.
And if that's the case, and you're really relying on the weddings that are coming up during the summer or during your busy season, you need to make some time during the week to take that content and start to schedule it out. And whether that looks like either doing it yourself or outsourcing to somebody else. It's, it's something that needs to be a priority, whether or not it seems like it. Because I understand, right? It doesn't seem like it in the moment.
You've got couples that are trying to finalize their last minute things. You've got couples that are coming to tour your venue. You've got couples that, you know, are, are asking you all these questions and you're trying to send invoices and you're trying to edit the work from the photos that you did the week before and you're trying to do all these things and you're just like, well, social media is isn't as immediate as these other things that have to get done.
But that is the time that you need to remind yourself. I don't want to be scrambling next year at this time, like wondering why I don't have couples. So it may not be immediate, but it's equally as important as all of the other business tasks that are a little bit more immediate. So at least trying to spend An hour to a week trying to create content that's going to get you through your busy season.
One of the things I've been talking about a lot at the moment is about our marketing, about the things we don't know what we don't know. So we're really busy and therefore we might be thinking everyone's busy. No one's looking at my Instagram, but we don't know that they're not looking. We don't know that they're looking for our next post and then deciding we're not active. Therefore they're not going to book us because we are not having that conversation with them.
And I had an example in my own business recently. So it was, Nine o'clock on a Friday night. I was sat downstairs with my husband. We were watching a film and I got an alert on my phone to say that my website had gone down. Okay, this is a true story. And I turned to him and I was like, Oh, my website's gone down. And he said to me, it's nine o'clock on a Friday night. It's too late. Don't go to work. No one cares. Sort it out in the morning.
So that, that was the strategy I went for at that point on Friday night. The next morning I had an email in my inbox from someone saying, Hey Becca, I tried to go on your website to find something last night and the website's down. So I woke my husband up and I was like, I told you I should have fixed it last night, but we don't know what we don't know, right? I made an assumption. No one's going to go to my website overnight on a Friday night, but actually they do.
And therefore we need to have that kind of bigger picture approach. One of the other interesting conversations I had with someone. One recently, a networking event. Obviously I'm there talking to people about marketing and someone came up to me and said, I don't really need marketing because I'm really fully booked. I'm really busy. So do you have any thoughts to the person that's saying, I don't need to have a consistent strategy.
I'm getting all of the leads and therefore I don't need any of this stuff.
I have a lot of thoughts for them. I think that. That is helpful, right? You're consistently booked. And it sounds like if you're not doing the marketing, it's coming from word of mouth, but there needs to be something to back that up. Because even if I trust you as you know, if, if my vendor recommends this other vendor and I trust my, I trust my planner. So I totally recommend that they say I should get married at this venue, but I need to see, I need to see for myself.
And there needs to be some kind of, you know, accountability and, and backup to, to that. And so even if marketing is like, you seem to not, not need it right now, which I would argue, we all need it. And it's happening in ways that we don't think it is. You need to think about the future because that may not work for you always. And if you're not doing anything now, and then, then this, this runs out for you, your, your referrals have run out.
All your couples that refer you have already, all their friends are married now and they have nobody else to refer you to. You know, what happens then and it might not seem like that's ever going to happen. Maybe you haven't needed it yet, but you do have to think, you know, not just what's going to happen next year and how many couples next year, but how many couples in like five years, how many couples in 10 years? Do I want to be doing this then?
If so, I got to plant those seeds and keep working towards that. So I think, yes, everybody needs marketing. It doesn't mean that it, you know, it has to like fully consume you. You didn't become a wedding pro to like also become a marketer and a social media manager and a content writer and all the things, but it needs to be at the forefront of your business for your business to have longevity.
I'm glad we are on the same page. Everyone needs marketing because we can't, we don't know what's going to happen. And sometimes people put all their eggs in one basket. Say one venue is giving them all their work and that venue changes coordinator. And all of a sudden they're not getting it anymore. I'm like, that's a really dangerous position to be in.
And then you find yourself in this desperate scrabble to be like, I need to be on TikTok and then realize it's not actually going to make a difference instantly. Now, other people may be a slightly different place, Emily. So there'll be people listening that are just starting out or doing all this stuff themselves, but there will be other people who are listening and are actually very booked up, but know the importance of this and are starting to think about outsourcing some of this stuff.
So do you have any tips for people about when to start thinking about outsourcing and also where to look or how to. How to go about making those decisions?
Yeah, absolutely. When to start thinking about it. You know, everybody's gonna be like, start thinking about it before you, you need it. And I think the time for social media or content especially, is when you're like, I have what I need to do to do this, and I have the financial resources to do it, but I don't have the time to do it. Because I find that a lot of people are just like, oh, I wanna outsource, I don't wanna do this anymore. And then they.
You know, they come to somebody like me and they're like, but I don't have any, like, they don't have any content to give me. And so you have to have things to hand over and you have to have a deep understanding of your business. So I have a checklist on my, on my website that Becca could link to in the show notes on how to determine when you're ready, but really it comes down to, you know, having, having content.
So what I tell people all the time is whether you are like ready to outsource tomorrow, or you're just like, I, that seems like a pipe dream, but one day I'll have the money to do that. The kindest gift you can give yourself and the person you outsource to in the future is to keep all of your content organized. Really sit down one day and get all those behind the scenes videos off your phone. They're not doing anybody any good there by like living buried in your gallery.
So taking that content, organizing it in, you know, a Google drive or Dropbox or something with a, with a Google doc in that folder that gives all of the vendor handles for all social media, that gives a little synopsis. So like when you come home from a wedding day, try to write down as many details as you can. That really stood out to you about that day.
Something that you can talk about in the caption that's, that's, that's, that's, that's It's unique and special, you know, and isn't just like your average wedding detail, write down those things that you're going to want to talk about, write down what happened, write down some memorable moments, write down something that maybe you got a photo of that you're going to want to post in the future and keep that all very organized by date and location because Yeah.
We can't make content appear out of thin air, but also we can't read your minds. And so we weren't there on that wedding day. So anybody you outsource to is going to need as much information as possible.
So even if you're not outsourcing, that's going to make it so much easier for you to go back and pull content for not just your social media, but if you're creating your proposal guides or you're creating any kind of resource and you want that content to go back to, that's kind of the best way to get prepared, but then making sure that you.
Have money allocated and have money allocated for, you know, at least three to six months or know how you're going to be able to pay them for three to six months. I see people invest in social media and they're like, well, I didn't, you know, book a bunch of clients in that first month or my engagement didn't go up in that first month. So. This wasn't worth it. I'm not going to outsource it anymore. And social media managers are helpful, but we're not magicians.
We can't just like make things happen overnight. That's not how it works. And too often people don't want to invest for a long amount of time. And so you need to invest in, in social media. That's why a lot of social media managers will have Three or six month minimums on their package because it takes time to get results, takes time to see things, and also making sure that you have a basic understanding of what you're getting.
You know, again, we've talked about it a million times today, so it should, you know, should be top of mind, but making sure that you're not hiring anybody to help you thinking that they're going to get you all these leads, social media is about brand awareness. It's not, you're not going to bring somebody in who's magically going to help you. increase your bookings overnight.
And I would just be hesitant for, for working with anybody that gives you any kind of number that says, I'm going to increase your engagement by this much. I'm going to get you this many followers. I'm going to get you this many, Link in bio clicks is going to bring you to your lead form. Be very hesitant about working with anybody that gives you numbers.
They can give you case studies, they can give you examples, they can say I did this for this other venue, I did this for a florist, and this is what happened, but don't expect yours to look exactly the same or question them and their skill set if you're not getting.
Getting that result. I think that's a really interesting point, actually, because quite often I see wedding pros, they've been doing their own social media and it's kind of ticking along, but maybe they've neglected it a bit. So they hire someone to do it. Who's now putting stuff out consistently, but they're like, why didn't I suddenly book a hundred new clients? Because now I've taken you on. It's like, well, you weren't before when you were doing it.
Like you, you've employed me to keep you consistent, to give you some of your time back, not to work magic. So I think that's a really helpful reminder. And I think that the stuff that you shared about Organizing your content is so important because the other thing I see is that people have their content all disorganized or all in their head.
And so then when they do come to hire someone like yourself to do the social media, it takes them forever to then go back through everything and to, all that information down. Whereas if we do it a little bit as we go along, it's going to make, even if you feel like, Oh, that's not going to be me for another year. I promise you, you will thank your, your future self will thank your today's self.
If you've organized all of your stuff in one place, I'm sure you've seen some really disorganized stuff in your time, Emily.
Oh, I have seen some things and also don't give people content that you don't want on social media. I would have. Photographers give galleries and even even the starred photos in their galleries. You're like, okay, that's the favorite of the favorite and then I would use one They'd be like I don't like this We can't, we can't read minds, just be very clear in what you want. And that's very helpful, not in a micromanaging kind of way.
That's why you're outsourcing is for help, but being very clear in what you want, what you want on there, you know, understanding your brand is also a huge component of it. I ask people for their brand voice guides because I, you know, I want my captions to sound like you. We want it to sound like your business. And a lot of people don't have. An understanding of their own brand. There's so much more to your brand than just the colors and the logos.
There's how you talk, the emojis that you use, the comments that you give. And a lot of people don't have that. So also trying to jot that stuff down as you go in your business. So you can better understand your brand, but so that anybody that you work with can understand it too, you know, do we sign our emails with cheers or thanks or best, do we, do we use emojis? And if so, what do they look like? Do we, you know, how do we start our emails?
What kind of words do we find ourselves using all the time? Really take note of that as you're emailing your couples. Because again, we're not, we're not there in your inboxes. We're not there in your conversations all the time to know. And that's helpful for you to know for yourself too.
Overall brand consistency is going to be a massive benefit to you even if you don't outsource. So yeah, you absolutely should know these things. Emily, I promised you we were going to go all around the houses. We have gone all around the houses, but you've given so many helpful piece of information on a whole variety of subjects. But that brings us to our last question. I always end the podcast with the same question and it's this.
What's one thing you personally wish you'd known sooner in your own business? So many things. If
I had to choose one, I would say that it's, there's no right answers. I think I was looking so long for like, I need to do it this way. I need to send my emails this way. I need to package things this way. And while there's a lot of amazing education out there and we want Make our decisions based on what we learned.
We're not looking, there's no right answer because if there was, we'd all be doing it and we'd all be making millions of dollars and we'd all be booking all the weddings and doing all the things. But you know, a lot of it just comes down to educating yourself and then pulling from that. What feels best for you. I think the conversation, I know you've had it a million times, Becca.
So I'm not going to end on like a controversial take, but I think a prime example of this is like, do I put pricing on my website? There's going to be arguments for and against, and there's no right answer. It's what feels right for you. We all have opinions and we all have data to back that up, but. But there's no, you know, cut and dry. This is what you should be doing.
Yeah, absolutely. And at the end of the day, it's your business, so you've got to go with what feels right to you. And if we look left and right and just do everything that everyone else is doing, we don't stand out from the crowd anyway. So, you know, being comfortable in who we are. In our businesses is one of the most important things. Emily, it's been so great to chat with you. I'm so excited to see you again in person in November.
I'm trying to convince some more of my UK wedding pros to come out to Vegas and hang out with us. So for the last little bit of this, give them a pitch. Why should they come and hang out with us in Vegas in November?
I mean, cause Becca and I are fun and I think that's all you need, but you're going to learn so much and you're going to meet so many people, especially just meeting people that, you know, from online. That's my favorite part of Wedding MBA is getting to see all my friends that I know from the internet in real life and connecting and talking about things that people who aren't in your wedding industry life don't necessarily understand.
It's like so helpful to have that community and have people that understand what you're going through on top of being able to. learn all day every day and then go to a lot of fabulous parties at night.
Yeah, absolutely. And I'm going to ride that roller coaster again. I love the New York, New York roller coaster. It was so fun. I need to ride that again when I'm in Vegas and I'm hoping some of my listeners will be there to ride it with me. Emily, if people want to find out, I'll be there. If people want to find out more about what you do, how to work with you, where's the best place for them to find you.
You can find me on Instagram, TikTok, or my website, which are all emilyrochotte, that's R O C H O T T E, emilyrochotte. com, or Instagram, TikTok, at emilyrochotte.
Fabulous. I will make sure I put all of your links in the show notes. Thank you so much for all your time and your tips, and I'll chat with you soon. Thanks Becca. Such a great conversation with Emily. She, as I said at the beginning, is a fountain of knowledge and she had so much great tips and so many great things to share. And I know we need to get on TikTok. I'm going to be accountable to her for getting myself on TikTok even more.
If you've got any thoughts on today's episode, do get in touch with me or with Emily and let us know if you've got any questions. It was a great episode. So you may want to go back and listen to some of those tips again, and I'll see you all next time.