This blog is a transcript from our Podcast recording on 18th March
Is it more important to have a curated perfect looking Instagram grid or be authentic with your followers? Grab a cup of tea, press play and have a listen to find out what I think.
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.
Speaker 2:0:35
Well , hi everyone, and welcome back to Wedding Florist Social. It's so lovely to have you back here. Uh , today we are gonna be talking about , um, whether it's more important to have like a perfect looking Instagram grid or whether authenticity is important too. Um, before I get Kraken with this, though , if you listen on Apple or any other platform , uh, where you are able to review and comment on episodes , uh, I would very much appreciate it. Uh, not all platforms let you do it , uh, but if you're listening on Apple , uh, I believe it does, so you can leave me a review or comment. Um , your feedback and your reviews are all very important. So I would really love it if after this you've listened to this episode , uh, that you could pop over and, and do that much appreciated, guys. Um, but let's get back to it. Um, I am winging this again, a little bit here to , to be honest. Uh, I , I find the magic happens when, when I wing these things <laugh> and , and don't have a , a script. But , uh, sometimes one needs a script, but , uh, today is not one of those days. Um, so yeah, let , let's, let's sort of really dig into this. Um, you know , I put a post about this on my Facebook group the other day, the Worldwide Wedding in Florist community on Facebook. If you aren't a member already, it's completely free popover and, and have a search for that. Um, but I posted about , uh, the this and , and I , and I asked the crowd , uh, that follow me there, it , is it really important to have, you know, that that cohesive look across your Instagram grid, that that cohesive, curated, kind of polished look across your Instagram grid , uh, what , you know, what the one that mean, where all of the, the pictures look the same or, you know, they all have the same filters or aesthetic or branding , et cetera, or maybe those checkered sort of patterns, you know, whether they do maybe a , a graphic on one and then a photo on the next, and then it ends up being a checkered pattern. Anything like that? Uh, or is it more important to be authentic and real with your followers? Um, this got loads of comments over on my group, actually , um, for some very different opinions as , as well. Uh, some people like to sort of shake it up, you know, the , um, in fact, Caroline Marshall Foster from the, the , the florist , uh, magazine duties , she's very well known , uh, in, in the industry. She commented saying personally that she likes to, to shake it up. Uh , but , you know, so she keeps the , um, font the same, but the color palettes change and she gets bored of doing the same thing. And I , and I don't think she is on her own. And in thinking that, I think a lot of people , uh, feel that way. They would , they would get bored of just producing the same thing. Uh, so she's quite right there. Um, but, but lots of people , uh, commented saying , um, things along a similar line, you know, that it would be bland and borrowing , uh, boring for their followers and potential clients. And , um, you know , sometimes people , uh, you know, think it's, it's , it's a real turn off actually when they see these Instagram grids where it's all , uh, you know, like an inspirational quote on one and then , uh, and then a polished photograph on the next. And, you know, it's that checkered pattern sort of thing. Um, and other people just post whatever they feel like post and you know, what , what , what , cause all of their , their clients are different, so they, they post different pictures, et cetera , et cetera . So there was a , a load of opinions , uh, stated on , on , on this. Um, so, and , and to be honest, it's, it , the , the fact that this , um, you know , people feel like they have to have this polished, kind of looking curated grid , um, has actually put people off post and in the past, which makes me really sad. Um, I don't think that should be the case at all. And it's really sad that people feel like that. Um, it's , it's quite a shame. Um , you know, when, when there could have been posting some really, really good and valuable stuff, but they didn't think it was , uh, you know, quote unquote good in it or , or , or whatever, it's actually stopped them from posting some of that , uh, really valuable stuff for their followers. Um, there was a lot of really great answers on, on, on that post that I made. Uh, but here's my take on it. Uh , basically it , there's a lot to this, but I think social media is, is constantly changing and Brandon is really important. You know, for example , uh, I see the color orange and I think of Saints Brees , uh, if , if I'm allowed to say that , uh, <laugh>, it's not the bbc. So I think I'm allowed to say that , um, you , you know, that color instantly makes me think of that supermarket. Um, but I think , uh, having a curated grade with beautiful pictures and, and stuff, it might look amazing, and I think it was important a while ago, but because social media's constantly changing and society is indeed changing, it's a bit of a chicken egg, a chicken and egg situation now , isn't it ? It's , you know, which came first. Is it the societal change or is it the social media? Um, but I think now, now that has changed a little bit, that's taken a bit more of a backseat , uh, and authenticity has overtaken that. And, you know, people , uh, in , in general need a , a little bit more than just pretty pictures and, you know, just be real with your followers guys, basically, is what I'm saying. Uh , that , that said , I've experienced firsthand how would , how a change in a style of pictures that you're posting can affect you. Uh, I was well known for y you know, that sort of typical wedding e uh , whites and blushes kind of pillow scheme, you know, the pretty , uh, sort of thing. And, and whenever I posted pictures of more colorful items, you know , for example, maybe , um, well, there's a particular color scheme that I love, which is, you know, the kinda the burgundies and the pinks and the clarets and blushes and things . Things like , you know, I , I love posting sort of stronger colors. I love making them, I love doing them. But whenever I posted pictures of those more colorful items, they absolutely tanked on socials. However, you know, they may not have got as many likes and views and stuff, but they still attracted people who wanted that sort of thing. Uh, so, so it's, it's a bit of a , a tricky one. I don't think there's this sort of one answer really. Um, I , I , I think Brandon , and I'm not just talking about your logo here, your branding is more than just graphics. Um, it is super important, and I think there's wedding florist showing our clients what our work is like, is vital, but we should only show posts that speak to and attract , um, more of those ideal clients. Really. I , I think, you know, there's a lot of general advice about out there for , for social media , um, that there's a lot of, you know, experts in, in the field , um, that are giving a variety of business owners advice, telling them that you should do this or that or the other. Um, but my take on this is, is that what works for one industry won't work for another, you know, hence me being here to, to show you what works for Wedding Florist specifically. Um, cuz it's all very well and good knowing from a technical point of view what the algorithm does or , you know, whatever. But, but , uh, what works for one industry, what would not work the same for another, even within industry? So if you take within our wedding industry, you've got various types of suppliers or, or vendors, whatever you may call them , uh, let's take wedding photographers for example, their grids are , um, well that's kind of, you know, images are their thing, <laugh>, you know, that that's kind of what they do. That's what they're selling. So they, I think it's really important for them to, to sort of show, you know, the , the , the quality of their work. They , they need to show their work is essentially. And, and , and it's not like when we show our work , you know, we, we can take a , a beautiful, you know, just a video. Maybe you've just finished making a bridal book in , you do a quick photo against a nice wall in your studio or something. Um, so it's not like, you know, a perfect polished professional image, but it's still beautiful flowers. You know, photographers can't do that. So they, you know, they , they can't just sell an , an unedited image or , you know, something like that. So it , it , it's not to say they can never be real with their clients, but, you know, it's just a slightly different sort of take on it. You know, you'll often see their grids looking perfect because, you know, naturally imagery is their thing, that that's kind of what they're there for. That's what their clients buy from them. And, but I think with, with us , uh, so , so with , with, with florist , um, yes, our flowers do the, the talking. I'm , you know, I'm not here to talk about photographers. I'm here to talk about flutists and what helps you guys. Um, I think it , it's, it's, it was important , uh, even just a couple of years ago to have this perfect polished grid. And, and I was one of those people I loved having my per perfect polished grid. And, and I think that's , um, you know, it's kind of a , how do I put it here? It was a portfolio. You know, I think, I think people used it Instagram in a slightly different way, and they would look at your grid and, and it almost treated like a portfolio. Like, what is he or she are they capable of doing? And then they would get in contact with you. So , uh, I think they used it in a slightly different way. Now, it's much more about connection and authenticity and being real with your clients. Now , I don't get me wrong, when I say be real with your clients, I'm , I'm not saying that you should completely bear all and, and share every little aspect of your daily private life. Um, that is, that's not what I mean at all. There's, there's different ways that you can be real with your, your clients and be authentic online. Even if you are sharing a professional polished picture o of , of your work, you know, you , you could perhaps , um, you know, put something, you know, word, words , the caption authentically and ju just in a kind of a laid back , friendly, real way rather than something complete that means nothing to anybody. Like, oh, we just love these images by yada, yada. Um, you know, just be real and just say, maybe, maybe talk about , uh, how much effort went into making this particular wedding that you post in a picture of, for example , um, or maybe that, you know, you had to rush home after setting up the wedding cuz your kid was ill or <laugh> , I don't know . You know, there's all all sorts of things you could talk about. Uh, but, but examples of that are , are , are , you know, those examples I just gave her that are how you can be real with you , with your clients ? It , it doesn't mean that you should show like pictures of your kids online. Not everyone is comfortable with that and , you know, fair enough, absolutely fair enough. Uh , or it , it doesn't mean that you have to show pictures of your messy workshop floor <laugh> all the time. Um, you know , and it doesn't mean that you should do, you need to do like proper posts all the time. You know, it could read just stories , um, which disappear in 24 hours. Um, you know, the ma mixing it up is , is is the way to go, I think you know of sure. Y yeah , y we all love professional polished pictures of, of our, you know, the weddings that we've done. Um, but , but , but there's, you know, that , that's not all that we offer. People buy from people . You'll have heard me and other, you know, people online say that many, many times, I'm sure, but they need to connect with you and see what you and your you are about and sh and see the , the real you , uh, essentially. So being authentic with them and not, not having this kind of pretend facade of you on online , um, is, is really the way to go. I , I totally get by the way that, you know, a lot of people don't like to show their face online, and you don't have to do that all the time, <laugh> , I assure it . You , um, even if you're doing the live video or something like that, you , you don't need, your face does not need to appear on that. And , and , and I get that a lot of people aren't as comfortable on camera as , as I am, for example. Um, by the way, I don't like how I look. I , but it doesn't stop me being comfortable on on camera. It's , it's , it's very sort of different things for me, but other people feel differently. Um, but , but yeah, I get that people don't like to appear online. So , but there are other ways you can be real with your clients. It doesn't mean that you have to show a picture of you without any makeup on or something like that, and then post it online and make yourself feel really awful and you know that that's not what it's about. Um, just be real. Maybe, you know, there's all sorts of things you can do. And I , and if you are , um, listening right now a poper , I'm sure I've got a , a link to my free guide in the , uh, podcast description , uh, to free guide where I, I give you examples of a lot of things that you can post whilst , you know, before, during, and after a a , a wedding. Um, which , which will really help you with that. And, and this is all just stuff that's taken on your phone. I'm always saying to people, everything is a content creation opportunity. You should always be capturing that content, even if you don't know how you're gonna use it straightaway, or even if you don't intend to use it straightaway. Always be capturing content. Um, oh, that's good, isn't it? I should do A , B , C , C , <laugh> always be capturing content. Um, I like that one. I'm gonna, I'm gonna use that. I've just given myself another idea. Uh, so, so , but always be capturing that content and, you know, be taking the photos and videos and, you know, maybe closeups of certain flowers or flatly photographs of, of heads of flowers that have fallen off or something, or , um, videos of the bouquet you've just made, or a TimeLapse video of while you're making a certain arrangement or display or whatever. Um, you know, if you haven't captured that content in the first place, then you can't use it. Um, but, but be real with , with your clients and use that, that real footage of you in the behind the scenes footage. You know, maybe it's a picture of you , uh, of your van and , uh, you know, on an early morning of, of a setup where it's still dark and you know, you're showing people how early you, you are , uh, arriving at work or , um, you know, all , all , all sorts of things you, you could post reading . Um, so it doesn't necessarily mean you appear in online, it just means just being, being you, being real, showing them the real side of the business , um, rather than this polished, perfected, well, unreal. Look, I hope that's really helped you guys today. I think, I think it's super important , uh, with , with social media always changing it , it seems like, especially at the moment, e every two minutes there's another update out, and yet constantly on this hamster wheel of , you know, trying to keep up with the latest thing and it feels like you , you know, you've just learned one thing and then another thing crops up that you have to try and learn and, and , and you think, well, whatever , what did I just spend the last six months doing? The other thing for? Um, it's, it's, there's, we don't have control of that, sadly. Um, but I think it's, this is all the more reason why, why, why we need to be sort of real on online as as well. That's being real isn't an algorithm thing, <laugh>, it's a , a societal thing. It's , it's what people are saying that they want and it's what people are responding to. Um, they're, they're going to book someone who they connect with and identify with , uh, more than someone who, who, who's just polished pictures they've, they've seen on online that said, images are super important. You , you know, that we , we work in a very visual medium. We do need to be showing pictures of our work all the time in good quality pictures. But do they have to do, do they, they have to be like these polished professional shots. Not always, no. I would love to hear any feedback you've got on this episode. Uh, any any opinions? Does this spark loads of conversation on online? When I posted about it on my group, and a few people have commented it on the Instagram as as account as well. Um, but , uh, really do, do get in touch. Drop me an email if it or , you know, DM me on Instagram or something if , if , if you have any further opinions on that, or maybe you've been affected in some way , uh, with , with that. Um, you know, I , I personally think, you know , just to add a little bit to this, that , that, you know, the , the branding side of things is important. Um, it could be that, you know, if, if , you know , as an example of what branding , um, would, would mean. So, so, you know, recently I updated my website for example, because I found that I was more , um, you know, creatively sort of, you know, I was given this creative buzz by , um, lots of beautiful colors, but not , not overly colorful, but, but, but you know, all these beautiful warm colors that are coming out now, you know , these sort of toffy roses for example, and peachy tones. And , um, you know, I've, I've been really, really loving, created , uh, creating that and, and I'm , and I think, you know, that's going to kind of last a long time. You know, this isn't just a flash in the pan thing. And, and , uh, so , and so I changed my branding cause I felt like it was time for a change anyway, to be honest. I felt , I felt like the will to change society. It changed , um, changed what I liked doing had changed, and what people were wanting from me had started to change as well. So I changed my brand and I changed my website , um, and , and , and tried to attract more of those people, you know, which is the great thing about having an online persons. Um, so I changed that. I'm , I'm, I'm sort of, I'm being real online on Instagram with my clients to sort of reflect that, you know, I'm , I'm , I'm posting as many lovely colors as , as , as I, as I can within reason within my sort of brand. But that said, if, if I get asked to make a beautiful mix of whites and greens for a bridal bouquet or, you know, a a fireplace piece or whatever, I'm not gonna not post that. Um, I think it's all right to, to post that now and again , uh, y you know, but, but it , it , it is important to sort of do things that fit in with your brand, but don't ever let that stop you , um, from posting things that, that you, like <laugh>, you know, I think that's where the magic happens when you, when you post things that you, you like and things that give you a bit of a buzz. And , you know, I made , I did another post recently about , um, I , I , I asked people about, well, I didn't ask, I told people that, you know, if you are not , um, enjoying the content that you put out there, then your clients aren't either. And I think that's the key, you know , uh, uh, it's, it's all very well doing scheduled posts and planned posts and what have you. But , but sometimes those can be a bit of a, just a box ticking exercise and something that you kinda have, feel like you have to do to appease the algorithm or whatever. You know, it's, it's, it , it's if it's much better when you do things , um, that you enjoy and that often results from , um, you know, so something that's spontaneous or maybe it's just a , something that's happened that day and you have to post about it or write about it and , um, that, that sort of thing can't be planned in , in a way . Um, so yeah, so enjoy the content that you put out there and be real with your followers guys. Um, I , I think there's , there's so much I could say about it, but I'd love to hear your opinions on , on this. Um, so to answer the question, perfection or authenticity personally, I would do a mix, just to sum that up nicely. I would do a mix. Uh, it's a , it's great to have the, the kind of nice polished, perfect pictures that, that show off your , your work beautifully. But that's not everything. You have to be real. And even when you do post pictures like that, be authentic and real within your captions and, and what have you. One of my most popular posts was , um, a reel that I did , um, of , of florist life. <laugh> basically, you know , I showed videos of my, it was quite a sort of funny one, really. And I showed videos of my , um, you know, leaves in the back of my car, leaves in my cups of tea, and , uh, the stacks of boxes that, that my flowers are delivered in. And, you know, all the , all this sort of real life stuff that wasn't polished up perfect, but it was one of the most popular reels I've ever done. Um , because people so behind the scenes it was authentic , uh, but it was also funny. Uh, so yeah, I could go on <laugh>, but perfection or authenticity, do a mix. Guys, thanks for listening.
Speaker 1:23:23
Well , thanks so much for listening All the way to the end of Wedding Florist Social. Remember the hit subscribe so that you don't miss out earning future 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 Flourish Community Group. I
Speaker 2:23:38
Look forward to seeing you there.