Give Your Wedding Some Social Media Flair

I Do!

Hey girls,

I thought this would be a fun post and offer some insight and stimulate ideas, whether you’re planning a wedding, daydreaming of a wedding or helping a friend with wedding details. I’m currently the maid of honor for my sister’s wedding and have been helping her with details here and there. All this wedding chatter between her, my mom and my friends got me thinking about how to use social media in wedding planning and other wedding related things.

I’m not suggesting ditching the custom stationary save-the-date cards, bridal shower or wedding invites. Here are just some ideas to integrate social media into the traditional wedding flair! Moreover, people are spending more time online, sharing content, posting photos, shopping and collaborating…so why not get your wedding online?

Create a Facebook Group
Create a Facebook Group in place of a standard wedding website. This will save you money and give your guests easier access to information because they’re most likely already on Facebook when you make updates. Your Facebook Group can be private so you can avoid offending those who didn’t make the invite list. In the Group, you can upload photos of the venue, accommodations for out-of-towners, the wedding party and of course you and your honey. My friend, Stephanie, created a Facebook Group for her Hawaii wedding and it’s been fun being a part of it. I love seeing people post “I RSVP’d! Can’t wait” in the Group news feed.

Now you can enjoy the benefits of group chat with multiple people! Don’t forget Facebook’s new integration with Skype for some live video chat with your Group members too.

As the date gets closer, post weather updates and exciting news about last minute details!

Get on Google+
Google’s answer to social media as of June 30! Google+ comes with amenities such as Circles, Sparks, Hangouts, among other things!

Circles fall under the same concept as Facebook friend lists. A posting you do in Google+ can deploy publicly or to specific Circles, so why not create a Circle consisting of your wedding party, your wedding vendors and/or your out-of-town wedding guests (post travel deals and ideas for sight-seeing).

Sparks allow you to compartmentalize the topics you’re interested in so you can find them easier online. Create Sparks for wedding, stationary, catering etc.

Hangouts give you the opportunity for live video chat. Live chat with guests, the future in-laws, wedding party and others!

Create a hashtag
Example: #BenLovesAshley
Update your Twitter friends on your wedding planning progress, post pics via Instagr.am or other photo sharing app and post video clips!

Need to discuss color palette, the most affordable (but nice) hotel accommodations, etc. Organize a tweet chat with your closest friends using your hashtag.

Integrate your hashtag onto your save-the-date cards and wedding invitations. This will encourage your guests to join the conversation on Twitter leading up to the event, and tweet from your wedding in real time posting pics and video!

Use QR codes
I love QR codes because it gives us the opportunity to spoon-feed people information, making online navigation easier and information transition faster.

A QR code on a wedding invite could easily point to:
– A mobile website of your gift registry which could be at Pottery Barn, Crate & Barrel, etc.
– A YouTube or Vimeo video of you and your honey leaving a personal message for your guests.
– An RSVP form, which can easily be created online using SurveyMonkey. Try it!

Use a QR code scanner app on your phone to scan me!

Scan me too!

I used http://qrcode.kaywa.com/ to create the above QR codes.

What are some other ways to give weddings some social media flair? Lets chat about it!

Text-to-buy. Ecommerce to Mcommerce.

Hey girls,

Text-to-buy from a magazine! Lucky Magazine that is. A glossy and colorful fashion playground we get to flip through every month.

You may have noticed the text-to-buy options already, in-fact, I saw this around the holidays and didn’t think much of it until my flight to Washington D.C. this week. It got me thinking….

Is this the new “ecommerce?” Can we close the Internet browsers and apps on your cell phones and instead make purchases via text? It all seems so easy. Too good to be true. Almost as easy (but not as easy) as scanning a QR code to make a purchase.

I decided to test it out on an adorable pair of Aldo shoes I saw in the July issue of Lucky Magazine.

My text-to-buy experience.
1. I texted APPLE1 to 58259 and received a reply message “Want to buy the shoes? Click here http://www.luckymag.com/go/apple1 Msg and data rates may apply.”
2. Well, I DO want to buy the shoes. They’re cute! I clicked the link.
3. A browser window opened on my iPhone and it was the shoes on a mobile version of Aldo’s website. Smart move Aldo! A mobile version of the site makes the mobile shopping experience much better for the consumer.
4. I made the purchase from my iPhone and went about my day!

How easy was that? Imagine sitting at the metro stop and making a purchase for those new stud earrings you adore or another pair of skinny jeans? This new method of “ecommerce” or should we say “mcommerce” could be good for the economy, yet then again not-so-good for our wallets because shopping is becoming easier. Uh oh!!

Have you see other text-to-buy ads outside of Lucky Magazine? If so, where? Lets talk about!