This blog is a transcript from our Facebook live recording on 20th February
There are times in every Wedding Florist's life and career when something gets in the way and that well of content starts to dry up. I want to share my experience from my own Cancer diagnosis and how i've been able to keep a good presence on social media so that I continue to build my following and get wedding enquiries.
Speaker 1:0:06
Hello there , my fellow Wedding Florist friend, and welcome to the Wedding Florist Social Podcast. This is the podcast for Wedding Florist to learn all about acing their online presence. I'm your host, Vicky Laffy , and as a wedding florist of over 10 years now and a certified digital marketer, I want to help you get the right clients, get more followers, and never be stuck for content ideas again, click the link in my description to get your free Wedding Florist guide to social media content creation today. All right , you guys, I hope you're ready for this because I am purely winging this one. Uh, this is very off the cuff. It was just completely, I have no script <laugh>, I'm just completely winging this, so I hope all goes well. But welcome to yet another episode of Wedding Florist Social. Um, absolute pleasure to have you here, as always, you know, and just before we, we sort of get into today's topic, I just wanna reassure you that you can always contact me on perhaps email or Instagram dm and send me ideas for, for new topics, you know, things you wanna hear about , uh, on the podcast. So reach out to me at , uh, the content quarter on Instagram or hello at the content quarter on email , and , uh, let me know, let me know what's on your mind, what do you want to hear about? But today, it's just, again , back on topic here. I'm completely winging it, and I want to talk about basically what , what do you do when you , you aren't able to post content, you , you know, posting content when you aren't able to, for whatever reason. Um, so I'm gonna give you a few methods , um, but just to talk about, you know, very quickly sort of what I'm, what I mean, <laugh>, you know, what do you mean, Vicky , when you aren't able to post content. So, you know, perhaps you are ill for some reason, you know, whether that be physically or mentally , um, you know, maybe you're incapacitated somehow or you're not able to do as much as you normally do, or you've had to stop work for whatever reason, and you're not capturing new content at the moment. So you want to keep up your social media presence and, you know, keep, keep posting. Um , but , or maybe you're just too busy. Maybe you're going through a really busy period with the business. I hope you are. That's what I wish for. You all <laugh> and , and, and too busy and , and you just don't have time to post. Maybe you're a one man band, for example, and you do all of the jobs, or maybe you just have other priorities. You know, sometimes life does get in the way and throws unexpected things , uh, at , at us, and you , you have to deal with something else right now, maybe a relative needs caring for, or, you know, it doesn't have to be business related . Um, but whatever, for whatever the reason, sometimes you, you don't have the content to post. Now, this has kind of come about as, as a topic because, and if you follow me on my Facebook book group, you will already be aware of this, but I myself have actually been , um, I was diagnosed with breast cancer last , uh, August now. So that, that was a bit of a curve ball that was thrown at me, <laugh>, you know, normally between, you know, that sort of time and now, so it's, it's mid-January now, and the time of recording this, I, I would've been making income some other way. You know, I , I I, I often sort of pick up last minute weddings during the winter season or , um, perhaps do Christmas wreath workshops or, you know, there's always something. Uh, but I haven't been able to do that. Uh , I , I, I've had to really just concentrate on my health. Um, it's been quite a journey. It really has. And, and it's not been as bad for me as it has for, for some of my other friends going through it. But it's still been a tough journey, and I'm , I'm very lucky to have the support of lots of family and friends, including my wonderful husband, Adam, who has been amazing. And I , and I couldn't, you know, ask for more of him, bless him , and, you know, industry friends who, who have either helped me at weddings that I already have booked in or offered their support for, you know, in , in practical ways for weddings in the , in the future, that sort of thing. I'm really lucky to have that in terms of content. I'm finding that the, you know, the well is drying off a little in terms of fresh content and, you know, so I'm having to think in different ways. So that doesn't mean I've got no content to post, because if you follow me, you will know that I always say everything is a content creation opportunity. So, and by the way, if you need ideas for that, I have , uh, a freebie in the podcast description , um, that you are welcome to download. Just, just click on the link and , uh, pop your email in and, and download that. Um, so I digress. This is what happens when I, when I have no script, you see <laugh>, but I am at a point right now where, you know, I'm having to think in different ways. I'm not able to use my normal sort of content posting kind of way of thinking. And , uh, you know, beca I'm not capturing many new pictures and videos and things like that from , from the weddings that I'm creating right now. So I'm having to do a few different things. And, and that's what I wanted to talk through with you today, basically, in case you are in a similar position or, you know, for, for any of those reasons I mentioned just before, you are having to sort of rethink that without even, you know, have having much to, to , to sort of post. Uh, so let's go through this before I start rambling. <laugh>, This is danger of , of not having a script. Sure. Um, so what can we do? So, so things that I have been doing , um, reposting old content is a great one. Uh, now just because you've posted something once does not mean to say that you should never, ever post it again. In the world of Instagram and social media, things move very quickly and you can, you can post things multiple times. And just because you posted something on your Instagram grid six months ago does not mean that you can't post it again, basically. So , um, in terms of reposting old content, I've been , um, sharing old reels to stories . So, so there was one I posted recently at , uh, the Floral Quarter Weddings Instagram. It was a real funny one that I did, at least I thought it was funny. And , uh, it , it was me just wearing a ton of layers as we do in the coldest florist . And , um, you know, that friend's thing that, that , that scene was Joey and Chandler, where Joey walks in wearing all of Chandler's clothes, and he's like, look at me. I'm Chandler. Could I be wearing any more clothes? <laugh>, you know, excuse the American accent there, but he, that was kind of the, the soundtrack to this. So I was kind of doing that and just, just doing a , a silly reel. Uh, so , so I think that was, was that , that was either last year or the year before even, but it, it was, it was pretty funny. You very well received . And, and so all I did was just post that to my stories again. So that helps keep the people who are already following me, e e engaged and gives them something to view, and it keeps me in their mind's eye. Um, so, and , and I've done that with various reels, to be honest. Uh, just, just to sort of , um, keep, well, like I say , keeping the mind's eye of , of , of those people who already follow me, that that's what stories are great for. Stories are shown to the people who already follow you, and you want to appear in that little cir list of circles , uh, on, on the top of the , your, your Instagram grid , um, your Instagram profile, rather. Yeah , you are there . Instagram profile , even I'll get it right eventually, you know, so , so you want to keep appearing on there , uh, on the top of their Instagram , uh, so that they, they don't forget you essentially. Um, so, so sharing , sharing all reels to stories, absolutely nothing wrong with that at all. I would encourage you to do that. Um, you could also use the same wording and pictures from, from a post maybe a couple of years ago if you, if you wanted to. There's absolutely nothing wrong with that. If, if you are stuck for time, your mind or your mind's not in a sort of creative frame of mind where you really cannot think of anything to say on a post, just reuse something. You know, if , if, if you are , are , um, I dunno , maybe you did a , uh, you know, you're entering the summer wedding season and, and you posted about that a couple of years ago and it's, it's, it's relevant now. Heck, go ahead, post it word for word , just copy, paste, repost. Um, and , uh, nothing wrong with that at all. People probably won't remember. I know you think they will, but they won't. Um, the other thing I've been doing is , um, going into my, my archives on my phone and just creating. So I've, I've, I've really sort of delved back in , uh, used old photos and old videos and stuff and, and put them together as a , uh, you know, put , put old photos together as a reel or a carousel post, for example. Um, just in case you're not familiar with what a carousel post is, it's one of those ones with multiple images, you know, where you swipe from , uh, left, right to left, you know . Um, so yeah, I've been using all photos and, and kind of putting them together as reels or as a carousel post, you know, maybe sort of , um, thinking of a different theme. Like for example, there , there was a , uh, a wedding venue near me that I'm a recommended supplier at , uh, called Charlton Hall for any , uh, any sort of New Castle Northumberland, north of England based people who are listening. Um, they actually , um, were having a wedding open day. And it seemed really timely for me, even though I wasn't at the actual wedding open day to fully sort of, not , not only help myself, but help them on social media as as well, and help the couples that are undoubtedly searching , uh, and posting about that venue on , on that day. So I , I simply got, I think it was about four, a mixture of four kind of photos and videos. The whole reel was about five seconds long, not long at all. And I just posted pictures. They were all pictures of and videos of , of , of this, you know, weddings I'd done at this venue, basically. And I just did a real quick, real quick reel, no pun intended, <laugh> and <laugh>. See, this is what happens when I wing it and don't have a script. Um, so, so I did that and it, it was, no , I wouldn't say it , it , it had the most views I've ever had as , as opposed , but it got loads of kind of like likes and interaction and, and , and people, the right people were , were noticing it. So, so, yeah. And , and I, I didn't have to create any new content and in terms of, you know, ca I didn't have to capture any new content as it were, but I'll just use old stuff. I could put 'em together to create a new thing, and it really worked . So , um, that's something that I've been doing , um, create new content as well. So I would say, you know, as always, be creative and if you're doing a wedding, capture many different photos and videos. If you haven't captured the content, you can't post the content, which sounds really basic, but it, it's absolutely true, basically. So , uh, on , on , on the occasions where, where I, I do have weddings , um, you know, so I have just one in January, I have just one in February. I am , uh, I'm , I'm going to have to create , uh, well capture rather a a lot of stuff so that I do have as, as much content as possible to create. And it doesn't always have to be like, you know, the posts don't always have to be like, oh, look at this wedding I did. It's such and such a venue for such and such a couple. Um, it can just be y you know, it could be like just, you know, if this, this one coming up, for example, next week I have , uh, it , it's like white winter colors. So I could use those not only in a post about, hi , look at, congratulations to this lovely couple, but further down the line, use it as maybe , uh, an example of, you know, what's what you can have at that venue or an example of white winter wedding flowers or, you know, you know, there's all sorts of things that I can do, but if I haven't created, captured rather the content in the first place, I can't post about it. So yeah, ma really maximize, you know, when you are working, really maximize the amount of, of content that you capture. Um, and the other option as well is to do a live, which I know is a very scary thing for some of you. Um, I've not done that at the moment. I really do them anyway, but, you know, right , right now, I , um, well , I kind of have no hair because I'm going through chemo , uh, sadly. But , um, I don't feel confident enough yet to, to kind of go on camera. I haven't made that announcement to my , uh, florist audience yet, and I'm not sure I will. So , um, I , I haven't really appeared on camera , um, anywhere where I have appeared on a post, I've, I've , I've used an old photo or an old video , um, but you don't have to appear on camera. You can perhaps do, you know, if, if you're at a venue , uh, at the morning of the venue before you started setting up, you could , uh, do , do a , do a live from outside of the venue saying, oh, what a lovely morning it is. It's whatever the venue's name is. And , um, and , and , and kind of just, you know, maybe put that on your stories or , uh, do do a real , or, you know, do a live or, you know, there's all sorts of things you could do. And again, I would urge you to download that free guide that I have , uh, in the , the link is in the podcast description and that'll really help you with ideas for all of this. So I hope that's been really helpful to you, if that has impacted you, if, if that resonates, if that's been at all useful to you, please do reach out. Cause I would absolutely love to know. I'm here to help you guys. And , um, you know, knowing that, that it's helped, even just one of you would , would really mean a lot to me. So, so do reach out, you know, maybe drop me a DM DM on Instagram or something like that , uh, at the content quarter <laugh> . And , um, I really look forward to hearing from you. So take care and , uh, flower on . Well, thanks so much for listening all the way to the end of Wedding Florist Social. Remember to hit subscribe so that you don't miss out on any feature episodes. And if you want access to some free community and support, then head across to Facebook and look me up on the Worldwide Wedding Florist Community Group. I look forward to seeing you there.