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Social Media Photography

It’s no surprise that most of us rely exclusively on social media for our marketing. It continues to grow and change every day—especially with the integration on photography and video. In our line of business, we must rely heavily on photography to show off our designs and intrigue the customers. This is why we have come up with some important tips on photography for your social media marketing.

The Importance of Photos

A picture is worth a thousand words—and, in some cases, the only thing standing between you and a customer making a purchase.  Taking a quick photo of your design can be a great thing, but if the photo isn’t very good, it could end up hurting you in the long run. A bad photo could imply that you are unprofessional and even make your beautiful design look rather dismal. “But I don’t know a thing about photography!” Not to worry! Here are some basics on photography that can make your designs stand out—even if taken with your phone!

Basics

Lighting
Lighting can make or break your photo. Ever notice that little grainy look in some of your photos? That’s due to lack of lighting. You could go all out and set up a whole photo room where you have very expensive lights. OR you can use the best lighting of all: natural light. Try taking your pictures outside during the morning when the light is at its best.

Location
It’s important to consider where to take your photos. A messy workplace can take focus away from your beautiful designs and it can also make you look unprofessional. Designate a specific area that is only for photos. You can also make an easy backdrop on the side or back of your shop to use for your shots.

Angles
Sometimes one photo isn’t enough. Make sure to take many pictures from different angles. Sometimes a design looks best if taken from the bottom up or a close up of an embellishment stands out more than a basic picture.

Pro Tip: Include the recipient of the gift if possible! Nothing intrigues customers than seeing the result of a beautiful gift. This also promps your customers to share your pictures!

There is no need to be an award winning photographer to take a couple great shots of your designs. Remember to always look at your photos as if you were the customer and post your fantastic pictures on all your social media platforms. For more great tips and marketing tricks, check back with the Bloomin’ Blog!

Twitter For Florists

FSN-Twitter

Businesses all social media platforms. From Facebook to Instagram, each one carries a different audience that can become a potential customer. Twitter, being one of the top social media platforms, is one that has many florists confused at how to exactly use in their marketing strategy. Here are some ways to make it work for your business.

Twitter+ You

What makes Twitter so interesting is its constant stream of news and posts that are constantly updated throughout the day. While you may post on your Facebook page about three times a week, on Twitter you can post several times a day. Not just that, you can re-post easily from customers, fellow florists, and others you follow–which grows your viewership.

Twit Pics

Pictures are definitely on the forefront of social media. With Twitter, any picture you post definitely stands out amongst the statuses and links in a feed. This can definitely be paired up with your Instagram strategy too!

Specials

Thinking of quick specials? Do a flower power hour where you offer a special discount for only 3 hours (or more!). Just have customers retweet your post and they get to use the discount!

Don’t hesitate to use different social media platforms to get your business’ name out there! Check back with the Bloomin’ Blog for more great marketing ideas!

Instagram For Florists

It’s no secret that flowers are visual and that customers are now looking for your business on social media. This is why you should consider extending your marketing through a solely visual marketing platform: Instagram.

You may be wondering  “what the heck is Instagram?”  and how you can market yourself through this platform when you aren’t much of a photographer? We have the answers and more!

Instagram + You

Instagram is all about the visual. It’s a platform of picture based posts that many businesses have taken as their main platform for sales. Why? Because customers are visual and when they see something they love, they want to buy. This works especially well for florists because flowers are visual, and customers want to see your designs before they make a purchase.

Strike A Pose

What makes Instagram so popular is its easy-to-use platform that allows anyone to be a photographer. There are many easy editing tools that can make your pictures look great, even if you aren’t trained in photography.

Making It Work For The Flower Shop

Here are 5 ways that you can implement Instagram into your business’ marketing strategy:

Show Off
Proud of your design? Show your great work to your followers and tell them how to order the same design at your shop.

Contests
Let your followers win a pretty bouquet. Have them like your post or comment and choose the winner randomly (do inform them ahead of time that the winner has to be in your area or has to visit the shop to pick up the arrangement).

Holiday Coupons
Give your followers a discount during the holidays. Post a graphic of a coupon for Mother’s Day, Valentine’s Day or any holiday and have them show you the coupon on their phone when they make their purchase.

Delivery Confirmation
Have customers upload a picture of their blooms on Instagram and tag you in the post. You can then repost it and show all your followers a happy customer.

Behind-the-Scenes
Designing for an event or putting together a photoshoot? Share it with your fans! They love seeing their favorite shops in action and may hire you for their next event!

Take advantage of this great social media platform that can benefit your business! For more great marketing tips, visit the Bloomin’ Blog!

Social Management Tools

In our growing, high-tech world, companies using social media are seeing big benefits. However, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. Businesses are told they need to be on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Instagram and many others, with more popping up every day. By using social management tools, you can streamline your social efforts into a routine that works for you.

Built-in Social Management

Facebook allows you to schedule posts, pictures, and more right from your Business Page. The next time you are posting a status or photo to your Page’s wall, click the little clock icon to schedule it to post at a later time. By scheduling a weeks worth of posts, you can take a lot of time out of your social media routine.

Scheduling Facebook Posts

Unfortunately Twitter does not have a way to schedule posts from the website, but there are many social media management tools that will let you do this. (Keep reading for more.)

Email Notifications

Another great way to cut down your time on social media sites is by having all important notifications sent to your email. Instead of needing to check each day for notifications, you can simply check your email and determine if anything requires your attention without having to login to the social networking site.

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Wedding Inspiration on Pinterest from FSN

Flower Shop Network Wedding Boards on Pinterest

Are you planning a wedding or other big event that needs flower inspiration? Don’t miss out on the resources from FSN! Flower Shop Network has been pinning away some of the best, most-inspirational wedding flower pieces in all the industry!

Whether you need ideas for bouquets or boutonnieres, we’ve got you covered and more. Flower Shop Network on Pinterest!

What is your favorite wedding board on Pinterest? Do you have a wedding board (or several??)? Share a link with us in the comments below!

New to Pinterest? Check out this post all about Pinterest: how it works and how to set up your own account.

Just remember, once you’ve picked out your wedding flowers, always always always order flowers from a real local florist. If you don’t know your local florist, use Flower Shop Network’s handy local florist finder to find a flower shop near you today!

What Is Pinterest & How Can It Work For Florists?

Pinterest Explained

What is Pinterest?

Pinterest is a Virtual Pinboard. It lets you organize and share all the beautiful things you find on the web. People use pinboards to plan their weddings, decorate their homes, and organize their favorite recipes.

Other reasons people use Pinterest:

  • Express yourself through pictures and images relevant to your life.
  • Remind yourself what you want to do, buy or revisit
  • Share or recommend things you think others should know about
  • Learn and explore specific or random topics.
  • Search and discover new or specific things to do, buy, look at or read.
  • All Pinterest members are active parts of the online word-of-mouth marketing team.

Best of all, you can browse pinboards created by other people. Browsing pinboards is a fun way to discover new things and get inspiration from people who share your interests.

Pinterest Example

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Twitter Talk With Savvy Florists

After watching the Best Practices in Social Media discussion from SAF’s Growth Solution’s Conference, I realized how few florists are actually using Twitter, but also how many have complete misconceptions of what Twitter really is. (I would also like to add that, here at FSN, we’re really good at this kinda stuff, so if you have questions, don’t hesitate to ask! Use the comments on our blog, or ask on our Facebook Page)

So, Just What Is Twitter?

A lot of people think Twitter is silly, and only for kids, CNN and people tweeting about going to the bathroom — this couldn’t be more wrong!

Let me walk you through how a person typically uses Twitter.

First of all, most Twitter users don’t even visit the website Twitter.com. Instead, they use some sort of desktop application to get their Twitter updates. That means, while they’re working at their computers, their Twitter feed is popping up on their screen without doing anything.

Before you say, why would anyone want that? Just think of the possibilities.
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Social Media Talk @ SAF Growth Solutions 2011

Is social media really worth it? FSN’s Jamie Adams talks social media at SAF’s Growth Solutions Conference with two of our favorite social florists, Georgianne Vinicombe of Monday Morning Flower & Balloon Company and Rebecca Redman of Windermere Flowers. [Read more…]

Easy Twitter For Busy Florists

Facebook, Youtube, and TWITTER?! How can we keep up?

It’s true, social media is a big commitment, but the results are remarkable for social florists! Staying in close touch with your customer base is essential in our very visual business. Adding social media to your routine makes it much easier and faster to get things done. A smartphone is a good idea to add to your mix because it allows you to be social anywhere, anytime!

Twitter is a useful tool for your business, and I’m going to show you the easy ways to making it work for you!

Twitter + Facebook = Harmony

Combining Facebook and TwitterFirst DO THIS, make Twitter easy, make it automatic!

You update your Facebook often, why not have those feed into your Twitter? When you update a status, add photos or share a link, it will automatically send these updates to your Twitter followers — it’s that easy! This way, you have a presence on Twitter, but are not spending any more time than normal.
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New Facebook Feature Could Mean Big Help For Florists

I am so excited about the newest feature announced by Facebook yesterday! If you recall our post on Tips For Tagging Pictures For Business Pages, we explained how Facebook did not allow for individuals to tag Pages in their pictures, well…

YOU CAN NOW!

What does this mean for you?

Facebook Tagging For Business PagesScenario 1: Sally Prom-Goer has just received her first prom corsage; she is so excited she instantly takes a picture with her phone and uploads it to Facebook for all of her friends to see. Included with her corsage was a card saying ‘Tag us on Facebook!’ and a address to your shop’s Facebook Page. She easily finds your Page, tags you in her picture.

So now she will forever have a picture of her corsage on her profile AND a link to your shop’s page. Of course, it’s the best looking corsage -ever- because it came from your shop, so all of her friends know exactly where to go when they need a corsage.

Scenario 2: Jenny Newlywed has just got all of her pictures back on a CD from her wedding photographer. Of course, she uploads them all to Facebook to show her friends and family. There are many beautiful pictures of the bouquets, reception flowers, and more designs from your flower shop. You send Jenny a private message in Facebook asking her to please tag your shop in the pictures of the flowers because they were so beautiful. You and Jenny got along great, and she instantly tags your shop in some 30 pictures.

Scenario 3: Robert Romantic sent his wife, Louis, 24 roses for their 10th wedding anniversary. Robert is at work when the flowers are delivered to their home, so Louis takes a picture of her arrangement with her mobile phone and uploads it to Facebook to show her friends, as well as Robert.

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