Love it or loathe it, most of us will agree that social media is a hugely important aspect of bridal business success these days. A few bridal retailers will feel they have this nailed, but I suspect most (like me) accept that there is so much more that could be done if only there were more hours in the day! For some of us, even just the mere words ‘social media’ will cause a hand to fly to the face and the gin to be poured! , of those best describes you, getting good at social media and creating engaging and effective content is well worth doing.

If you’re not sure where to start or lack confidence in this area, I’d prioritise researching your competitors and other successful bridal retailers. It is well worth focusing attention on those who you consider to be successful and are perhaps like you, to find out what they are doing. Cultivating your own ideas inspired by personalities that lead in the social media field is a great strategy, but straight out copying is not cool so be sure to make it your own.

Knowing which platforms to prioritise, when to post and the frequency is, in itself, hard to navigate and decide upon. Personally, I try not to spread myself too thin and focus my core efforts on Instagram and Facebook. That said, many retailers drive enquiries, engagement and sales via successful and proactive TikTok and Pinterest accounts too. You can’t be all things to all platforms though, and if I’m asked by my coaching clients where and which to focus on first, I would say Instagram first for sure!

Social media is time consuming which is why we usually have a Social Media Assistant employed within our business. This post usually also covers reception and admin work, for my business model it works well but understandably not everyone can employ someone in this capacity. This is a full time role and so we are able to cultivate quite a lot of social activity together as a team. Here’s an example Instagram schedule for us each week: 1 grid post per day and at least 4-6 story uploads per day (even when closed) plus 2 reels (videos or live) per week.

Here’s a few pointers to get you content creating and thinking further into the social media aspect of your business.

Content Creation Tips

1. If you have staff, hold a weekly or monthly MEETING and brainstorm some ideas.
2. Create a SCHEDULE or plan in order to manage the activity for the forthcoming week / month.
3. Use free APPS to help with editing, creation and auto publishing.
4. Spend time LEARNING - Google ‘apps to make videos on Instagram’ or ‘best picture editing apps’ and you’ll find articles that will help you find the best tools and learn how to do things. Research, learn and apply.
5. VARY your social media content. Include posts about your store, the shopping experience, staff, products and customers.
6. ENGAGE your followers by including additional audience relevant subjects like family, love stories, pets, music.
7. Aim to ENTERTAIN, INSPIRE or INFORM and don’t be afraid to MAKE IT PERSONAL.
8. Save pics and vids to a shared Whatsapp Group and RE-PURPOSE the content to other platforms or on another occasion.

Social media is as important as your shop front these days! Aim to showcase your personality on your business’ social media, get your face in-front of that camera and you will see a huge boost in interest and comments (watch for the likes) and it will bring your customers closer to you. Also driving more video content in the form of Instagram reels, Lives and pieces to camera is a fantastically powerful activity when done well and striking a few hours out of your diary to research and achieve this is time well spent, trust me…. More on that next time. What can you do today to start injecting more life into your socials and connecting with your customers on those platforms?