Jeff asks:
When you look back on leads, what seems to be working? Do you have a rough breakdown of where/how couples are finding you? Do you find Instagram/Facebook ads work? Venue referrals? The Google…?
There’s no single good answer to this question today, so I’m not going to answer it directly, but instead share a model I continually reference and always update.
- I need to be aware that the moment I write off something new, a new product, or social network, or feature of an app, that’s the very second I start becoming irrelevant to a market that is sailing further and further away from my demographic. So I subscribe to email newsletters and listen to podcasts that feature new technologies, apps, features, communication strategies, social networks. When a new social network or app launches that is gaining some buzz, I sign up and try to keep abreast of it.
- I follow the trends, but also the general community talk, about where people are today. I feel like there’s a lot of opinion about people being or not being on different social networks, so I try to get the information from the horses mouth and ask people in the demographic I would like to serve, what they are using, what they love and don’t love. Because in the end I have to be active where they are, to be even noticed, let alone considered.
- When I know where I should be, I set out to master it, to own it, to be the best me I could be on that platform.
- And finally, on that platform, I recognise it’s for free, so I put some money towards ads or boosting there. For two reasons, one because it increases visibility if targeted right, secondly, in a world where no-one wants to pay for anything, when you pay $1 you’re immediately in the top percentile of customers and algorithmically those networks show you some love.
So currently my model is telling me to be more active on Facebook than most networks, because businesses have left Facebook, while users haven’t. I am continually active on Instagram, but focusing on IGTV because it’s a new feature and Instagram is boosting it. I’m playing around with TikTok but haven’t mastered it yet, and I’m keeping my eye on smart speakers to see if there’s an opportunity there in the future.
Smart speakers? What even are smart speakers?
???? Hey Google/Hey Siri/Alexa, can you please tell Sarah what a smart speaker is?