Searching for an easier way to manage your business Twitter account (s)?  Here at WeddingWire we are big fans of HootSuite.  HootSuite is a great Twitter toolbox, in which you can manage multiple Twitter profiles, add numerous editors, track your success and even schedule tweets in advance - all from one easy-to-use interface.  It’s a great way to stay on top of your Twitter accounts, allow multiple staff members to contribute as editors, and stay up-to-date on your tweets even on your busiest days.  When using Twitter for a business, it’s important to see what captures the interest of your followers.  In using the HootSuite ow.ly URL shortener, you can track click-throughs on your tweeted links, which will help you monitor messages and see which capture the interest of your followers.

Sign-up is simple.  Create your free HootSuite account, add a profile for each Twitter account you have, and start managing.

And that’s not all…HootSuite offers users the option to add the HootSuite Hootlet to your bookmark toolbar so that you can quickly tweet the pages you are browsing.   When using the Hootlet, the page title, the name of the site, and the ow.ly shortened link is automatically created in a pop-up window for you.  From here you can submit the tweet or schedule it for later.   Its features like this that really help simplify the overall Twitter process!

Visit www.HootSuite.com today to get started!

Staying up-to-date with business and marketing trends is critical to any company, but especially in an industry like weddings where most marketing happens online these days.  But information doesn’t just fall from the sky, it means we have to do some homework.  Finding time to learn something new everyday might not fit into your schedule, but carving out an hour or so a few days a week should be a priority, after all your clients expect you stay current with today’s trends.

Keeping current with wedding trends is probably easy as you know where and how to find that information, but what about search engine marketing trends?  Or Search Engine Optimization tactics?  Or web design best practices?

To start, you’ll need a RSS reader account.  I’ll suggest using Google Reader as it’s free and easy to setup.  Below are a few of the websites I follow regularly:

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In today’s wired world, engaging in social media is a powerful way to help increase your brand awareness and reach potential clients.  Just take a look at the recent results of surveys conducted by Nielsen Online:

• Over 67 percent of online users are engaging in “Member Communities”, which includes social networks and blogs, making it more popular than personal email.
• Twitter continues as the fastest growing social networking site, growing in popularity as not only a means of communication between friends, but as an essential part of brand marketing.
• While topping the charts for the number of unique visitors, Facebook also leads the way for stickiness, with the average user spending 3 hours and 16 minutes on the site. The average Twitter user sticks around for about 12 minutes.

Top 5 Social Networking Sites

It is evident in these results that social networking has become an essential part of today’s online experience.  At WeddingWire, we are committed to educating and connecting you with numerous social networks in order to extend your reach to today’s wired brides.

Facebook fan Page is a public profile you can create and personalize to showcase your business and services to Facebook users. With over 200 million registered users, creating a Facebook Page is one way to help reach your customers and potential clients. The best part is it’s completely free!

Creating a Page is easy. Simply visit Facebook Pages, click on “Create a Page” and let the fun begin.

• Step 1: Pick Category & Name
  Choose a category that best fits the services you provide. Please note that you will not be able to change your category once you choose, so pick the closest match. Next, choose a name for your Page. Since this Page is for your business, you should use your business name. This will help extend your brand awareness. Click “Create Page.”

• Step 2: Picture Time
  Click “Upload a Picture” at the top of your Page and upload a photo. A logo or a picture that represents your business is the best choice.

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LinkedIn has been beefing up their advertising platform to bring it more in line with Facebook recently and today on the LinkedIn Blog, they announced that their DirectAds advertising platform has been updated to include CPC (cost per click) ads. Previously, they were just offering impression based ad packages which isn’t ideal to small businesses with smaller marketing budgets.  Now that CPC ads are an option, why not try LinkedIn advertising. Many of you have tried Google Ads by now and some even Facebook ads. While LinkedIn doesn’t have the same user base and web traffic as either of those two sites (only about 37 million members), many will fall into the typical age range of engaged couples.  As the internet space becomes more crowded, branching out and trying different marketing avenues is a must.

When will Twitter release a CPC ad platform?

What is the foundation of social media? A simple question with multiple ways to respond, but I found a great post this morning that discusses the 5 C’s that make up the foundation of social media marketing.

• Conversation: Go where the conversations are taking place - Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, YouTube, etc.  Establish accounts and create your identity.  Stay up-to-date with your accounts and participate often.  Really get to know your followers and audience so you can actively participate.

• Community: Seize the opportunity to not only join and participate in conversations, but add your own value.  This is how you create a community, which you must work to maintain and earn the trust of your followers. A good site for community building (in addition to the ones mentioned above) is Ning.  Ning allows its users to create their own social websites and social networks. It’s a good place to create a form or community around your product, which in return can produce useful user feedback.

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It’s a busy time of year at WeddingWire headquarters.  We have been traveling all over the country sharing our industry knowledge, meeting and networking with vendors like you, and of course reaching out to brides!

Here are a few places we have been:

2009 Catersource and Event Solutions Conference & Tradeshow
Last week, WeddingWire attended the 2009 Catersource and Event Solutions Conference & Tradeshow in Las Vegas, NV.  It its 16th year, this educational conference and tradeshow brought together catering professionals from all over the world.  This year’s conference featured numerous sessions on how to market, staff and manage catering companies and provided professionals with the skills and networking opportunities needed to support business and increase bottom line.

WeddingWire had the opportunity to meet many of the catering attendees during the Tradeshow and Wedding Networking event.  The trip was very successful and we look forward to all the new members joining the WeddingWire network!

Association of Wedding Gown Specialists
Sonny Ganguly, WeddingWire’s Chief Marketing Officer, attended the annual meeting for the Association of Wedding Gown Specialists in San Antonio, TX, this past weekend.  Sonny presented on Reaching Today’s Wired Bride, and then also led round table discussions on internet marketing, social media, and site traffic.

Running of the Brides
Filene’s Basement is most famous for its annual Bridal Gown Events called “Running of the Brides,” where brides-to-be can save hundreds, even thousands of dollars on designer wedding gowns.  WeddingWire teams up with Filene’s Basement to promote and support these events in numerous locations throughout the year. Here the video from last Friday’s NYC Event.  Check out the WeddingWire users wearing “The Best & The Bridest” pink t-shirts in the front of the line!

Houston Wedding Showcase
WeddingWire sponsored and attended the Houston Wedding Showcase last Saturday. The Houston Wedding Showcase is a one-stop wedding planning show for engaged couples in the Houston area and is produced by two bridal show producers that have a combined 25 years of experience in the industry. This year’s February show was a huge success, attracting thousands of brides.  WeddingWire is proud to be a sponsor of this fresh and innovative bridal show in one of the country’s largest bridal markets!

Stay tuned for more WeddingWire events!

What is the difference between marketing and advertising? Although it seems like a simple question, it is very common to confuse the definition of the two.

By definition marketing is the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, and delivering offerings that have value for consumers and society at large (American Marketing Association).  Marketing is the first step in developing a product or service.  Seth Godin said it perfectly in his recent post, “Just about every successful product or service is the result of smart marketing thinking first, followed by a great product that makes the marketing story come true.”

Advertising is the act or practice of calling public attention to your product, service, need, etc. (dictionary.com). Advertising includes paid ads, which can be online, in print, on billboards, etc. Advertising is a main component of marketing.

A good way to look at it is to think of marketing as a pie, in which you have slices that include advertising, market research, product branding, interactive media, SEO, sales strategy, lead generation, consumer involvement, customer support, and more.  Marketing is everything you do as a small business to facilitate a connection between your business and your consumer.

Our goal at WeddingWire is to provide the platform for vendors in the wedding industry to do both.  As a vendor you can create an account and build your Storefront, which helps you create and communicate your product offerings to your consumers (engaged couples).  Our vendor catalog, which is listed off of numerous networks (i.e. Martha Stewart Weddings, BridalBuds, WeddingAces), serves as a means of advertisement for your business for all incoming engaged couples to see.

What are your thoughts on marketing and advertising? Share your feedback in the comments sections!

Congratulations to the recipients of the 2009 Bride’s Choice Awards! This new annual award program, launched at the beginning of the week, is unlike other award programs in our industry in which winners are selected by the company.  This year’s winners were determined exclusively by recent newlyweds from the WeddingWire community through survey results and reviews.  This year’s high-performing winners represent the top three percent of WeddingWire’s vendor community.

We want to thank all the winners for their hard work and dedication to the wedding industry!

Remember…reviews are one part of the nomination process, so don’t forget to invite your 2009 clients to review your services on WeddingWire in order to put you one step closer to being eligible for 2010 Bride’s Choice Awards!  Simply visit the Marketing section of your WeddingWire account to invite your past clients to review your services.

So you have all these great images uploaded to your WeddingWire Storefront, why not show them off? All tagged vendor images are published to the Ideas section for brides to see! Brides currently have the ability to search the Ideas section images, save their favorite images to their binder, and will soon also have more ways to integrate your images into their planning experience! And since your business name is linked to all your tagged images, this serves as another way to reach our community of brides.

Log-in to your WeddingWire account today and start tagging your images!

WeddingWire recently launched two blog communities for engaged couples.  The best part is the vendor catalog is featured on each blog, making it easy for incoming brides (and grooms) to find you!

• Bridalbuds.com - Real wedding experiences, wedding planning tips, DIY projects, and more from current engaged couples going through the planning process along with advice from newlyweds who have previously been in their position.

• WeddingAces.com - Firsthand knowledge and experiences straight from the experts of the wedding industry!  The diverse group of wedding bloggers featured on WeddingAces are actively involved within the WeddingWire network, blogosphere, and wedding industry.

Become a fan of our new sites on Facebook: BridalBuds and WeddingAces!

In follow-up to yesterday’s historical Presidential Inauguration, I thought I would focus on something fun today….like word clouds!  By definition a word cloud or tag cloud is a visual depiction of the word content or user-generated tags of a site (Wikipedia). Word clouds are a great way of showcasing the words most commonly used throughout websites, blog posts, speeches, etc.

So wondering what words were used most often in President Barack Obama’s Inaugural Address compared to past Presidents? Check out these word clouds I found:

President Barack Obama’s Inaugural Address - 2009

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