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3 Things I Just Learned from Martha Stewart

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Wedding Professionals:

Last week, I had the privilege of attending TWTRCON in New York City. TWTRCON is a one-day conference focused entirely on the business use of Twitter. The highlight of the day was hearing the keynote speaker, Martha Stewart, talk about social media. While Martha only spends 5 minutes a day tweeting, she had some very insightful tips to share. With 2 million loyal Twitter followers and 72,000 Facebook fans, Stewart is definitely someone worth listening to!

Here were Stewart's three insights:

Be where your customers are. Different social networks attract different crowds. Instead of just picking one network, Stewart suggests finding ways to adjust your communications to reach each social network or community differently. For example, Stewart’s Facebook fans tend to be most interested in fashion, while her Twitter followers love recipes and the sense that they’re having a real conversation with her.
You have to use your own voice. “Authenticity is extremely important in all social media,” she explained. That means no ghost-writing. I was surprised to hear that Stewart sends out every single Tweet herself and doesn’t pay someone to do that for her.
Experiment. You have to be willing to try different things. Stewart uses Twitter for research, asking questions and taking surveys. Being able to collect this information quickly has helped shape her life and her business decisions.

At the end of the event, I was also happy to find out that I had won TWTRCON’s Open Mike Contest. The rules of the contest were: Have a good idea about how to use Twitter? Can you sum it up in less than 140 characters? Then you may get a chance to go on stage and tell everyone about it at TWTRCON NY!

My winning tweet was: #TWTRCON OpenMike: Twitter made my biz possible,influential & profitable in 1 yr.Use its power 2 to do what u luv http://www.BridalTweet.com

I was flattered to win and even more ecstatic to have the chance to present on the same stage where Martha Stewart spoke earlier that day. I spoke for 140 seconds (yes, it was timed!) and I talked about the quick success of our thriving wedding forum. The main focus of my conversation was on the wonderful relationships that we’ve all built here.

Finally, I left the TWTRCON audience with my own three Twitter tips:

Only post messages that are valuable to your audience. Don’t talk about yourself and if the message is not something that you would personally ReTweet, then don’t send it out.
Ask questions in order to engage your audience.
Be responsive. Thank your audience and answer their questions in a timely manner.

What Twitter or social media tips would you like to share with our wedding forum? Please comment below.

(The photos in this blog post are from MarthaStewart.com.)

About This Blog: Christine Dyer is the Creator and Founder of BridalTweet. Christine has an MBA in marketing and shares over ten years of marketing expertise with the wedding community. In this weekly blog called Supercharge Your Wedding Business, you'll find advice on an array of wedding business topics such as how to market to brides, social networking, wedding PR, wedding sales, vendor networking, branding, pricing and much more. Please pass this news along to your own professional wedding network. To receive this advice in your email inbox each week, Sign Up for a Free BridalTweet Membership.

Comment by Astrid Mueller on July 13, 2010 at 4:43am: Hey Christine - congrats to winning the contest - what an honor! And double-win for you, because of your biz success :-)

Thank you for sharing Martha's tips about social media, and adding your own. All are good points. One made me curious though - the one about not sharing personal content. I think it depends who your audience is. I've found that if I am tweeting to build relationships with other wedding professionals, the occasional personal tweet is actually welcomed, and starts conversations. I personally also like to hear about other people's lives - in moderation of course. It makes people more approachable. When I started with social media, I heard that a small percentage of personal tweets, and big part of audience relevant information is a good mix. That has been working well for me so far. But again it depends on the audience - I can see that in your case it may not be necessary to bring yourself into the picture - in my case I'm the brand, and have to be in there.

Thanks again, great inspiration!

Comment by Megan Price on September 14, 2010 at 8:52am: Congratulations on your tweet being picked! Not only did you get to meet Martha, but you also got fantastic exposure for Bridal Tweet! Thanks for sharing the helpful tips as well!

Comment by Glenn S. Ferguson on September 14, 2010 at 8:55am: Congratulation Christine and thanks for the twitter advice...

Comment by Diane Martinson Live Music, Inc. on September 16, 2010 at 7:39am: Congratulations! You are inspiring. I am always interested in the helpful information you provide, thank you- Diane Martinson Music, Inc. Minneapolis,Mn

Comment by Danielle Evans on January 26, 2011 at 5:09am: Great Tips! Congrats on your win!

Comment by Quick Candles on January 26, 2011 at 7:40am: Awesome! Is it just me or does Martha Stewart know and do everything?

Comment by Arbie Goodfellow on March 8, 2011 at 7:13am: Congratulations!!

Great Job :)

Comment by Durango CO Photographer on March 8, 2011 at 7:17am: Congratulations. Here's wishing we can all be as successful as Martha.

Comment by A Bride,A Groom,A Notary LLC on May 26, 2011 at 3:10am: As always, thank you for the helpful tips.

Comment by Alison Rackley on October 11, 2011 at 5:32am: Thank for sharing your tips, just getting into 'Twitter' to promote my business... http://www.pinkcorsage.co.uk