Founder of of Think Splendid and Wedding Industry Jobs
We are so excited about your new project Wedding Industry Jobs. It seems to already be catching on and getting buzz. Could you tell us about Wedding Industry Jobs and the evolution of the idea? Why did you choose to launch it now? How do you see Wedding Jobs effecting the wedding industry? Whats your long term vision for Wedding Industry Jobs?
FindAWeddingJob.com started as an idea on a Sunday morning. I started working on it that afternoon and had launched a “sneak peek” Sunday night. Monday morning was the official polished up launch. I wanted to do it for a couple of reasons:
First, in my work with Splendid Communications, I meet a lot of wedding professionals all over the country. One of the common complaints is how hard it is to find good employees who are both creative and have an office work ethic (meeting deadlines, etc). The mainstream job boards are usually cost-prohibitive (costing $300 and up for a 30 day listing) for small wedding businesses, so I wanted to create something that was accessible financially. FindAWeddingJob.com integrates with other job boards, including LinkedIn, so that their listings are seen by a wide group of people, increasing their chances of hiring the right employee.
Second, I am asked all the time if I know people in the industry who are hiring, and while I try to retweet the openings, it’s hard to remember who mentioned they had an opening and when. I also know many wedding professionals who get inquiries, and if they’re not hiring, I wanted them to be able to refer those job seekers to the job board. We’ve all been in the difficult boat of looking for a job at one point or another and it’s just good karma if someone can say “we’re not hiring, but here’s a resource that may help you.”
My goal is for the site to become an invaluable resource both for wedding professionals and job seekers. Many people complain about the industry being over-saturated, but the simple truth is that it’s not going to desaturate any time soon. I’d rather it be over-saturated with talent than over-saturated with incompetent people. Getting a foot in the door with an internship or job found on the board and learning the ropes from talented people in the industry is a much better solution than a former bride with no other wedding-related experience picking up a camera or deciding to plan weddings.
Your @weddingjobs twitter stream has already gained a lot of traction these past few days. How did you gain this traction so quickly? What do you think this says about the wedding industry? Does using twitter to connect people for jobs reflect a trend in social media? In the current economy, what role does twitter play in the job market?
I am a digital marketing strategist for the wedding industry, so the @weddingjobs twitter growth is no accident or stroke of luck. For the job board to work, both wedding professionals and job seekers need to know about it and use it. In the case of this specific product, quantity of followers is important (this is not always the case for other wedding businesses). I don’t want to give away too many specifics about the strategy since this is the type of work I consult clients on, but I will say that the growth is organic and I think that is key for anyone looking to grow a Twitter presence. There are services that will auto-follow a bunch of people to build up your followers and then clean out those who don’t follow back, but I do not recommend ever using these. If you see someone who has 40,000 followers and is following 38,000 people, they are using this type of service. It cuts out the engagement and listening and the conversion from follower to product user or client are much lower than when growth is organic. Simply having a lot of followers doesn’t pay the bills.
Twitter is huge in the current economy because, aside from personal use, people use it to stay connected to their industry, whether they’re a business owner or employee. If they’re looking for a job, being up to date on the latest news, trends and industry players gives them a competitive advantage that another candidate may not have.
How can we and others help spread the word about your new venture?
Refer people to FindAWeddingJob.com and the WeddingJobBlog.com! If you get a lot of job inquiries, consider setting up an auto-reply for those particular emails that says you’re not hiring right now but that the site may have something available. Follow us on Twitter and retweet job listings that might be relevant to your followers.
But we also love Think Splendid and Splendid Communications. For those who don’t know the story of Think Splendid and Splendid Communications, could you give us the elevator pitch?
Splendid Communications is a digital marketing consulting firm for the wedding industry. I had built a successful wedding planning business through digital and social media marketing because it was a medium that was familiar to me (I have been blogging personally for 12 years). The main arm of that strategy was the wedding blog, which generated over $27 million in revenue for the Phoenix and Washington DC areas in less than four years. My plan had always been to sell the wedding consulting company, so I decided to transition into helping other companies figure out the social media landscape in a strategic way. Think Splendid is the tagline and the brand name used on our social media platforms.
Love Liene like we do?? Then check back in next Tuesday for Part 2!
