Using Instagram for wedding marketing during Coronavirus

#DogsAtWeddings photo by Cameron Clark — *#DogsAtWeddings* *photo by* *Cameron Clark*

I’ve been fortunate to have worked with wedding pros from 94 countries over my career and I’ve heard from a ton of them this past month – all with similar questions, stories of lost business, uncertainties of what to say to clients who are completely stressed.⁣

We’re all in this together. If you have questions on Coronavirus and your wedding business, feel free to email me at hello@thinksplendid.com. ⁣I’ll be sharing my answers here on the Think Splendid blog so that everyone can benefit.⁣ I’ll also keep your name anonymous.

Remember the Splendid mantra for this: Don’t panic, but do overprepare.

Splendid Progress Worth Celebrating

We're an industry that makes our living by celebrating life's milestones, so I'm going to start each of these update posts with a few positive COVID-19 things we can all smile about:

GLOBAL RECOVERY RATE

The recovery rate is now more than 73,500 people, up from 71,000 yesterday.

SPREADING KINDNESS THROUGH SPREADSHEETS

From Wave 3 News:
”Louisville native Erin Hinson said she’s been watching the impact of the coronavirus unfold, wondering how she can help others while everyone starts to practice social distancing.

"I may never have the capacity to develop a vaccine or a magic pill to get rid of COVID-19, but I can master a spreadsheet," Hinson said. "I can organize and mobilize people."

Friday morning, she launched Louisville COVID-19 Elder Match. It’s a way to partner healthy young adults who have a low risk of contracting coronavirus with seniors in the same or a nearby zip code who need help.

In less than 24 hours and only a few social media posts about it, more than 100 people signed up to offer their help.”

This question is from a wedding photographer:

My questions are about social media posting. I am a wedding photographer and post every day on Instagram. My fear of continuing what I have been posting about (wedding photo ideas, my thoughts when creating, behind the scenes, etc.) is that it may be interpreted by some as being tone-deaf, or insensitive during this global crisis. What are your thoughts on wedding photography content and frequency of posting?

Answer from Liene:

When it comes to social media posts during a crisis, most people tend to fall into one of two camps:

That the usual routine should be suspended and the only focus should be on the crisis at hand, or
That everyone should ignore anything “negative” and act as though everything is business as usual.

While everything in the wedding and event industry is definitely not business as usual right now – and can’t be due to restrictions that governments in various countries have enacted – in my opinion it is okay (healthy, even!) to still post wedding-related content, but that you shouldn’t completely ignore what’s going on.

There is such a thing as “toxic positivity” which, rather than taking a glass half-full approach or the authentically optimistic view that, “This sucks, but we’re all in this together,” instead chooses to pretend that everything is totally fine and dismisses any realities that may make them confront feelings or facts they’d rather ignore.

You don’t want to be the person making false promises on things outside of everyone’s control in a misguided attempt to be encouraging.

You don’t know who will recover or who won’t if they get sick from this. (It is not just affecting the elderly, several people who have not survived were in their 20’s and 30’s.)
You can’t guarantee that everyone will be fine eating at your restaurants or having their smaller guest count event at your wedding venue just because you’re following extra-cautious hygiene procedures. (Public health experts and scientists have said repeatedly that is not the only way transmission of Coronavirus works.)
You don’t know whether or not warmer weather is going to make this go away. (Public health experts are cautioning against making this claim.)

History shows us that while things do tend to improve and recover as time marches on, there are entire groups of people who don’t get to experience the improvements and recoveries. Acting as though everything will be fine for everyone if they just stay “optimistic” is incredibly tone-deaf as well as incredibly irresponsible.

Use social media to build your brand by being trustworthy, even on the difficult issues, and not on making promises no one can guarantee.

That said, weddings represent love, hope, commitment, family, and community. For many, these are values worth celebrating and spending money on. These values are also why weddings can be a light, yet not superficial, break from heavier news.

These values are why we love royal weddings even if we don’t necessarily love the particular monarchies behind them.

These values are why we get excited when celebrities choose to tie the knot again after a very public, very messy divorce.

These values are why tons of people who have been married for decades or who are nowhere close to walking down the aisle themselves follow wedding hashtags on Instagram.

Scrolling a feed of pretty reminders that people continue to choose hope and love and commitment again and again – even when life serves up heartbreak, natural disasters, and yes, health pandemics – can be a form of mental self-care for many people. Seriously, look at the #DogsAtWeddings Instagram hashtag and try not to smile.

Providing an outlet for people to be able to de-stress is worth your time, even if it is through marketing your business and artistic perspective.

If you want to avoid coming across as tone-deaf, here are some tactics to consider:

One option is to create a post for your Instagram feed that tells people you are paying attention to what’s going on and are working on backup plans, but you are going to use your feed to serve as a place people can turn to when they’re feeling overwhelmed and need to decompress.
Another option is to set a schedule on when you’ll post about COVID-19 business-related issues and share that with your followers. Let them know they can count on you for inspiration but you’ll also be sharing not-so-glamorous updates each Monday or Wednesday.
You could also opt to keep your feed dedicated to pretty scrolling and use Instagram Stories for behind-the-scenes updates where you “get more real.”
Avoid posting photos of yourself choosing to ignore the social distancing measures public health experts, medical professionals, and government authorities have recommended or put in place. It’s incredibly tone-deaf: you don’t come across as brave and calm, you come across as selfish, unintelligent, and uninformed.

Here’s why: cases of COVID-19 increased by 20% in Italy just yesterday – its largest day-to-day jump thus far – and officials “cited irresponsible behavior by many citizens, who despite the earlier warnings not to gather in large numbers, headed to beaches or ski resorts., and hung out together . . . especially after the closure of schools.” In addition, you can feel perfectly healthy, yet have it and be spreading it to others. Multiple “studies have shown that people without symptoms are causing substantial amounts of infection.”

Instead, consider showing what you and your team are doing to help slow the spread, whether that’s sharing photos of your team members working from their respective homes instead of your studio, or discussing mockups and design samples via Zoom with the wedding pros you're collaborating with, or Facetiming with your clients instead of meeting in person, etc. It can also be helpful to give a peek into the project management tech tools you use to collaborate with your team and clients, such as Aisle Planner, Asana, Basecamp, etc.
Avoid anything that looks like you’re profiteering off people’s fears. We all have to still make a living, but selling something like an online course on “how to Coronavirus-proof your business” is gross.

If you want to continue posting your work in a responsible manner and give people who want it the mental reprieve from everything going on, I think it’s an outlet many of us could use right now.

In fact, if the entire wedding industry decided to add to the #DogsAtWeddings hashtag over the next few weeks, well I, for one, wouldn’t be mad about it.