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Eps. 93 - How to blowup on Tiktok - Meagan Culkin
176 Plays1 year ago
Happy Woo Wednesdays!
We have Meagan Culkin in the Get a Heck Yes house and she has blown up on TikTok.
There are so many things we are already doing within our businesses that can easily be converted into social media content, which allows us to reach new potential clients.
TikTok 101: A Guide to Getting Started: Do you keep hearing about how you need to be on TikTok but don’t know where to start? In this presentation, I will walk you through the reasons why we need to be showing up on TikTok as industry experts, and how to go about it in a way that is easy and approachable; no dancing required!
Meagan Culkin is the owner of Magnolia Collective, a planning and design company that serves both the NC and VA markets. When not designing event spaces, Meagan spends her time offering consulting for wedding businesses, discovering foodie haunts in her new hometown of Richmond, VA, and trying to get her dogs to cooperate for Tiktok videos.
Connect with Meagan
https://www.tiktok.com/@magnolia.collective?_t=8cCcNfpZL0V&_r=1
Connect with Carissa
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Transcript
Introduction and Free Masterclass
00:00:00
Speaker
Happy Woo Wednesdays! Thanks for all the good feedback on my new mini-masterclass. DM me the word TRAINING to my Instagram, at Carissa Woo, C-A-R-I-S-S-A-W-O-O, to get my free masterclass called, Get on Your First Preferred Venue Vendor List. The holy graham list! Also, my team is doing free website audits. It's going off in the DM.
Meet Megan Culkin and Magnolia Collective
00:00:26
Speaker
Today I have Megan Culkin in the Get a Heck Yes House. She is a wedding planner in NC and is currently booking 10 weddings from her TikTok. Check her out at Magnolia Collective. I got so many TikTok mindset shifts and tips and tricks today. So will you. Enjoy.
00:00:50
Speaker
Welcome to Get a Heck Yes with Carissa Wu. I'm your host, Carissa, and I've been a Los Angeles wedding photographer for over a decade. I've traveled the world, built my team, and seen it all. I now coach wedding photographers hit 10K a month and build a thriving business. In this podcast, we are going to deep dive into how top wedding creatives get that heck yes from their dream clients. We are not holding back on the struggles of the business and how to push through the noise. Some healthy hustle, mindset shifts, up-leveling your money story,
00:01:19
Speaker
time packs because I'm a mom of two, a little bit of woo-woo, and most importantly, self-love and confidence are just a few of the many things we will talk about. I want to give you a genuine thank you for following along my journey. I hope to inspire you every Woo Wednesday so that you say heck yes to listening to this podcast. See you guys soon!
00:01:41
Speaker
Hey, everyone. Welcome back to Get a Heck Yes with me, your host, Carissa Wu. You know me. Today, I have a very special
Megan Culkin's Wedding Planning Journey
00:01:48
Speaker
guest. Her name is Megan Culkin, and she is the owner of Magnolia Collective, a planning and design company that serves both the North Carolina and Virginia markets. When not designing event spaces, Megan spent her time offering consulting for wedding businesses, discovering foodie hunts in her new hometown of Richmond,
00:02:09
Speaker
and trying to get her dogs to cooperate for a TikTok video. That's hilarious. Today, we're talking all about TikTok. You guys, if you want to jump the gun, go check her out on TikTok. It's Magnolia, I think, Doc Collective, right? Correct, yep. Yay, yeah. I spend a lot of time on your TikTok, and it's super amazing. We're going to get all into it, but say hello to everyone, Megan. Hi, guys. How are you? I'm glad to be here today. Yay, yay.
00:02:36
Speaker
Tell everyone a little bit about you and your journey. Yeah. So I started planning 13 years ago. I was still in college and was very much in that like planning for Sorority Sisters and, you know, like just helping out friends. And I definitely was
00:02:59
Speaker
one of the people that make myself cringe now where I'm like, oh, I helped someone do a wedding and I had a great time. So now I'm going to do that. That's not cringe. I had a background in catering and in banquets. And so
00:03:16
Speaker
I worked in banquets full time and then, you know, was always kind of living in the hospitality world and then was doing planning on the side until about like six years in when I transitioned, I was just too busy to kind of all of a sudden all of these like
00:03:36
Speaker
part-time, oh yeah, I'll plan your event or I'll help with your event became too busy to juggle both. So I switched over to full-time about eight years ago. Oh wow. And you've been doing it for 13 years. So me and you are similar in that way. So we've been around town and now you're kind of like an educator, right? Yes, absolutely. Yeah. So we have a team of planners and designers and associate planners.
00:04:03
Speaker
So obviously, like between the two markets, we can handle multiple events in a weekend. And I work with all of the couples. So rather than them meeting one planner and then working all the way through, they always kind of work with me for, you know, consistency. And then if I'm not going to be personally there on the wedding weekend, then I kind of hand it off.
00:04:28
Speaker
Yeah, I love that. Tell us a little bit about Magnolia Collective, like your niche, your who factor, what made you stand out, just all that jazz. Yeah. So, kind of our two big camps that we specialize in are intercultural weddings, and fusion weddings of any type, and then private residence weddings. So, really those weddings where people say like, not
00:04:55
Speaker
this is not the type of wedding that everyone is doing. And I can't quite wrap my head around how I'm going to do it, you know? And so then we love to come in and just really like, take that, learn a lot about the couple and figure out what makes them unique and really kind of help them bring their vision to life from there.
00:05:17
Speaker
Yeah, I feel like private residence is getting more popular each year, right? It is, yeah. And I think, you know, COVID had a lot to do with that where it had always kind of been in this camp of like, well, we're only doing large scale events if they're going to be private residents. But now, obviously, when we were in this world of like these intimate weddings, you saw that difference of like still being able to have a really intentional celebration
00:05:47
Speaker
at your private home. Yeah, I mean.
00:05:52
Speaker
You do need a planner to specialize in that because there's so many different elements that go into it. Like the rental, like you said, and like the, the car is a valet. Yeah, absolutely. It is. It is just like, um, the first conversation I always have with couples who are interested in private residence is it's like the red flag goes up for me if they're like, we want to save money. So we're going to have a wedding at home because it's,
00:06:19
Speaker
never cheaper, you know, there's all the permitting and the zoning and you're creating a venue. And so so many other places have already done that they've done that heavy lifting, you know, so whereas when someone says, this space is so important to me, you know, like my grandparents got married here, my parents got married here, and like, we just know it'll be a lot of work, but we don't care. That's that private residence couple, right? That it's like, okay, you guys get it.
00:06:48
Speaker
Oh, yeah, that's awesome. Random question because a lot of people have been asking me and I don't know how to answer this. But what are the upcoming trends or the trends right now for weddings?
Wedding Trends and Traditions
00:06:57
Speaker
Yeah, so I we have definitely seen smaller, smaller guest sizes, guest counts with larger budgets. So like, for example, we have a 35 person Indian fusion wedding up in DC.
00:07:15
Speaker
in September and their guest count is 35, their budget's about 35. So it is really creating that meaningful experience for all of those people and ensuring that they have that totally curated, memorable event, almost as if you would have a destination wedding. But it's not destination for them, it's just where they live, right?
00:07:44
Speaker
And that the other thing that we've seen are just kind of nuances throughout the day of like, people are not necessarily wanting to do a public cake cutting, they're more like, open that dance floor, we'll grab our photographer and snap a picture. But let's knock some of this, like do the toast the night before cut the public cake cutting, some of those things that like,
00:08:09
Speaker
prevent you from the party that people are, I see shifting around a lot to just kind of maximize their celebration time. Interesting. Random story, but I had my baby shower like right when COVID was starting and when I thought it was like nothing and a lot of people just kept like dropping out like flies.
00:08:29
Speaker
But I actually did have it and it pissed a lot of people off. Yeah, but it was very small. And that was the first time that I was like, Oh my God, I love intimate small parties. Yes. This whole time I thought I was like a more the myriad type girl. And now that I was like all about the intimate wedding.
00:08:47
Speaker
Yeah, so we had I was I think it was 2016 we had two sisters that were getting married within like four months of each other and They had both come to us and they were like Our mom's head's gonna explode, you know, like we need help and so they had both gone to college on scholarships and one was a doctor and one was a nurse and
00:09:15
Speaker
you know, dad had taken their dad as a financial planner, which I feel like is really important because this is not always that well, you know, thought out on the front end. But he had taken any of the money he had saved from their college that he didn't have to use and rolled it over into their wedding funds. So he gave both girls $40,000, which obviously went a little bit further in 2015.
00:09:41
Speaker
and said, you know, you are welcome to use all of this money. You're welcome to use it as a seed and then, you know, support or use part of it and then put a down payment on a house, whatever. The money is yours.
00:09:55
Speaker
do whatever you want. Sister one got married first. She ended up having like, she doubled the budget, had 200 people in a big ballroom with a band. Sister number two took about half of it, had 19 people at her parents' private residence and used the other half of it as a down payment on the house.
00:10:18
Speaker
And getting to do both of those weddings was like so wonderful because it was a completely, same people, completely different experience. And, but it was exactly what they wanted. Wow. That was really cool. I've been watching a lot of like how to get rich with a roommate on Netflix. Yes. Yes. Down to like, you know, your money psychology and like where you want to put your money. So it's so, so interesting. That's a really cool story.
00:10:45
Speaker
Yeah, why is intercultural wedding so important to you? Like, how did that's kind of your niche? Like, like, why? Yeah, um, I really
00:10:58
Speaker
I grew up in Eastern North Carolina, but my whole family's from New York. And so I had this really interesting, and they're in New York and several of them are in the events industry. So my cousin is a florist, one of my cousins is a fashion designer for bridal. And so I would see this kind of juxtaposition of all of these amazing cultural weddings that were happening up there.
00:11:27
Speaker
versus I wasn't seeing them done at the same capacity here. But North Carolina has a really large amount of like transplants, you know, people who are coming from up north, and they either come down for college and then stay or retire. And so there was just really this, I felt like
00:11:50
Speaker
group of people who were used to celebrating and it being common to have a Russian Orthodox wedding, a Greek Orthodox wedding, a Jewish wedding, you know, and then here they are in North Carolina and they're like
00:12:04
Speaker
there's Southern Baptist or Presbyterian or just like, what do we do? And so I just really loved like, kind of digging in and figuring out what was really important to them and like how we could find a way to make everybody feel seen and welcome and celebrated and not at all like
00:12:27
Speaker
a scenario where it would be like, well, I've never done this, but I guess I'll figure it out for you. You know, because that is so important to just feel like you're not, as the couple, the only people who know what's going on, you know, and like, it's not in the same way for LGBT weddings, it's not the same, you shouldn't have to spend most of your time educating other people on how to do their job, right?
00:12:52
Speaker
So I just like kind of made it my passion project to really like research and learn all the things and ask all the questions so that if anyone from any culture came through our door, I was asking all of the questions that would essentially matter to them. And then our portfolio just kind of built off of that. Oh, that's so cool. I guess I answered this question, but maybe you can answer it a little differently. But what is your biggest
00:13:19
Speaker
Heck yes, sales technique. Yeah. So for me, it is definitely, we booked a client this morning and it was really just listening to what their priorities are, right? You know, like I love to see if they come in and they're like multicultural for example, and they're like, the groom is Indian and I was raised in the South and like, I want to,
00:13:48
Speaker
represent both cultures, but I don't really know how to do it. You know, like, I like to ask really pointed questions of like, okay, well,
00:13:55
Speaker
If you're having a fusion wedding, does that mean you wanna have family dances with the entire groom's family? Are we gonna have henna? Are we going to do garlands instead of vows? And just actually pointed things that they're like either, wow, I didn't think of this, or yes, we want henna and who do we call and what do we do? Where it's actually us being able to answer their problems
00:14:25
Speaker
in that first phone call. It's not like a dangle of carrot and, you know, like it's serving them right from the jump, right? Of like, I'm going to give you this for free. Like you, if you say you want this, we've done a wedding like this before and this is how it went and this is how we workshopped it. And it makes people say, oh my gosh, well, if you already served us this way in this first 45 minutes,
00:14:52
Speaker
imagine how much more effective this is going to be in the next nine months, you know, like we've got to, we've got to continue this conversation, right. And, and it's just that kind of like, we're in the job of hospitality, right. So like,
00:15:07
Speaker
We want to show up and serve people well. And I think that that comes from that very first phone call. Wow. That's a really good answer. They're probably like, you know our wedding more than we know our wedding. Yeah. Yeah. And that is always the biggest green flag to me. And then also when we're in that first call and they say, I'm already less stressed. You've already loved me so much.
00:15:34
Speaker
I feel like they are going to sign that contract, you know, like, yeah, they're in.
Impact of TikTok on Business
00:15:42
Speaker
Cool. Okay. Just to preface this hot topic, but I heard you on Brandy guards, CEO podcast. And it's all about, it was about Tik TOK and it instantly
00:15:54
Speaker
got me thinking differently about TikTok and I just started posting different BTS or like a cherry blossom tree I saw, something I was doing like behind the scenes. So it totally changed the game with me because I could not wrap my head around TikTok even though I do Instagram reels. So it was a really interesting mindset shift. So I just
00:16:15
Speaker
had to have you on my podcast. So I'm super excited. We're going to be talking about TikTok 101, a guide to getting started. So take it away with anything you want to take it away with. TikTok for me, definitely started during COVID in terms of I had been watching it and it had kind of been on my radar, but I hadn't really figured out how to make it work in the wedding industry yet, right? Like, so when I started
00:16:42
Speaker
There were a lot of engaged couples that were saying, I'm making this craft or I'm, you know, picking out outfits for my engagement party. Like, what should I wear? And then as COVID was really kicking off, people were saying, this vendor canceled my wedding and I hate them. And they were having like,
00:17:02
Speaker
a very angry, very scary conversation when there were no professionals in that conversation, right? So I just very organically like kind of jumped in and was like, okay, so this is, everyone's panicking, right? But like, no one is educating and no one is telling them like, they are in their bubble of like,
00:17:25
Speaker
I'm the only one that is going through this, right? Like, um, I just kind of started having conversations and just kind of jumping in and, but then also like making a running list of like, all right, this is coming up a lot. How can my platform be one that like answers a question or.
00:17:45
Speaker
Um, you know, if we have a couple that is moving their 350 person wedding into like a 30 person wedding, what does that behind the scenes look like? You know, like, what is that process? Um, we had a couple of weddings that went from venues to private residents in, you know, a two week period or something. And when you have.
00:18:09
Speaker
a normal trajectory of like nine to 15 months to plan a private residence wedding. What does some of those things look like, right? You just started talking basically. Exactly, exactly. And it was very much like me in on the couch in pajamas, you know, like not like here I am all dressed up for work because like we were not dressed up for work. We weren't doing anything, right? But I think that that
00:18:36
Speaker
is what a lot of people care about, right? Like, um, before I was on, um, before I was really on TikTok, I would never like, post my face on social media without makeup or like without a blowout or something. It was like, you know, if I'm going to be dressed up for professional headshots, that's the day I'm going to film something. And obviously, like,
00:19:02
Speaker
you see today, like my hair is air dried and I'm not wearing makeup, but I also did like 10 videos for TikTok today. And it is just kind of fine, right? Like- Your hair looks really good though. But it's just like, it's a mindset shift of people just want you to show up and be honest with them. And I think that's rooted in the fact that they were scared and
00:19:29
Speaker
feeling like no one was telling them the truth, right? So like, they care less about you looking totally put together and what you have to tell them. So that's just kind of how I
00:19:42
Speaker
I lead with like, I'm just gonna show up. And like, sometimes it's pretty and sometimes it's not. But that's just- I love it. It's so real, it's so raw. And I like, you talk about going on a date or like just- Yeah. Or a bathroom. But let's paint the picture for the audience. Like, how many followers? What are the differences between TikTok unrills? How do you batch? Any tips and tricks?
00:20:07
Speaker
Yeah, definitely. So, um, the one thing that I say, and I people ask me all the time, like, you know, we're wedding professionals, we we're not our end goal is not to have like hundreds of 1000s of followers, right? Um, but the biggest takeaway for me is that like, large follower counts do not equal, like, do not always equate that return on investment, right? When I had
00:20:35
Speaker
I had my first video go viral and I had less than 5,000 followers, but as a result of that viral video, two brides saw me that we're getting married at a venue that we were working at and they hired me sight unseen because of a video of like a tour of their venue that
00:20:57
Speaker
that I had done. And so with less than 5,000 followers, that ended up, yes, it was a month of coordination package or whatever, but it still worked out to be over $5,000 in revenue from me essentially doing a venue tour that I would have been doing anyways, right?
00:21:17
Speaker
And it really moved the needle for me and made me see that you never know what video is going to go viral. But also, even if it doesn't go viral, it can have a couple of hundred views. But if one of those people that got tagged in it is someone who is looking for an answer to that question, you just became invaluable to them.
00:21:43
Speaker
It becomes your social proof. It becomes your living portfolio of, look at the value that I add to your day. And then when you send them a contract and they're like, wow, this is a little bit more than I was planning on spending. However, I have already seen that they answer all of these problems. They already fixed all of these problems for me. It's going to be worth it.
00:22:09
Speaker
Wow. A little logistic question. Because you tagged that venue in the venue tour, did they search that venue and then do you automatically pop up or how does it work? The algorithm is always shifting. It does a couple of different things. If you're ever posting a video and even if it's like
00:22:32
Speaker
of a scan of the room, right? In the same way that on Instagram you would want to tag any of the vendors who potentially have that, they have that platform and use that platform, it's going to increase your chances of it getting on that for you page, right? Like, so if, for example,
00:22:55
Speaker
I'll just use our market and I do a video of like setting up the room and I know the venue is on TikTok, the florist is on TikTok and the rental company is on TikTok. I'm gonna always tag those people because then they get pinged and it's an easy thing for them to tag.
00:23:13
Speaker
to repost it. That means their followers have now seen it. And then I also want to tag like the town, you know, the city Chapel Hill, North Carolina, Richmond, Virginia, because people who are just in that area are also going to see videos that are in Chapel Hill or in Richmond. So you have a better chance of just appearing.
00:23:38
Speaker
It just sets you up for success a little bit more, right? There's no immediate, like, this is always your recipe to make it work, but it just increases your chances. You know, it's like buying more raffle tickets, right? It's just, it's like, okay, well, I'm gonna buy that arm's length of raffle tickets just to make sure.
00:23:59
Speaker
But, you know, the thing that actually is happening right now for us in real time, TikTok's work in, their algorithm is different from Instagram, but I will always see, like there was a video that I posted probably three years ago, my now ex-boyfriend, we were at a Cubs game and a couple got engaged, like five rows ahead of us.
00:24:27
Speaker
He ran down with my business card and gave it to them and was like, you don't know me, but my girlfriend's a wedding planner. She's right up there. Every year in baseball season, that video goes, makes the rotation again. And it's sometimes it goes really viral again. And other times it's just a couple of other, you know, likes and ads and whatever.
00:24:53
Speaker
But in the same vein, I have a recipe for snow cream, which is like, you know, fresh fallen snow and it's a vanilla ice cream recipe that I posted a couple of years ago. Anytime in the winter that there's inclement weather, that video gets pushed out again because it's just, there's something about it that they just are like, oh, this is a, this is seasonally, you know, something that people can relate to.
00:25:21
Speaker
Interesting. I didn't even know you could repost it. So you can repost it, but it's something that I don't even do. It's something that they just push out on their back end. So whenever there's niche things, and it can be anything, right? It could be your tablescape on Easter Sunday or what
00:25:44
Speaker
how you do place cards for Thanksgiving, you know, like that, the algorithm kind of categorizes those and remembers those and then we'll send them back out. Oh, that's so cool. So it does work for you that like Instagram doesn't always do.
00:26:01
Speaker
Pardon this short interruption, but me and the Get A Heck As team have some exciting news. If you haven't heard, I have a free mini masterclass how to get on your first preferred venue vendor list, the Holy Grail of Bliss. Hot Leads and these couples don't really care about price. It's 20 minutes and packed with goodness. The link is in the show notes.
00:26:22
Speaker
Also, we are offering website copy writing for all wedding professionals. With my digging and coaching skills and my team member Cindy with 15 years of copywriting experience, we will create your perfect website copy.
00:26:37
Speaker
We want you to cry of happiness when you get it back and say, wow, I'm so proud of myself as a business owner. Get a free audit of your current site. Go from meh to heck yes. Just DM me your website and I will send you a loom audit back. My Instagram is at Carissa Woo. Back to the conversation.
00:26:57
Speaker
Let's talk about your mindset when going to a wedding, like the B-roll, and then also your pillars on your TikTok, which I thought were
Logistical Challenges and Social Media
00:27:07
Speaker
cool. Event setup, wedding planning tips, and venue tour, which is cool because I talk about getting on the venue preferred vendor list. Yeah.
00:27:17
Speaker
are when I go in on a wedding day, I always think about what challenges might arise. So things like, because again, from coming from a planner bubble, a lot of times people don't really know what a planner does, you know, or they're like my venue said I need a day of coordinator and
00:27:36
Speaker
I don't think I need it. And you know, whatever. But if they've got do they have a neon sign that they want attached to Lord knows what and who's going to do that? Or do they have individual place cards that go into every champagne flute?
00:27:53
Speaker
who's gonna set those things up. Those logistically challenging things that if I can set up a video and do like a time lapse of it, of me just doing my job or the girls just doing their jobs or maybe it's a room flip and the photographer's husband is also helping light candles. When people can see behind the curtain a little bit and realize, man, I had no idea that this is what went into it,
00:28:22
Speaker
That's an easy sell. And now I never edit videos on a wedding day. You know, I just capture them. I keep my phone on me and I'm like, I'll figure that out later. You know, because I don't have time to do all the
00:28:37
Speaker
all the nuances of it. But also, because there's so many different trends and life cycles of events, sometimes you just capture something and you're like, maybe this will be useful later. And maybe it won't, you know, but like, I'd rather have it and not need it. Do you have a tripod? And then do you have like, generally, generally, so the back of my phone has a stand like this? Oh, where'd you get that one?
00:29:07
Speaker
Amazon. Yeah, because like it's, it's got like the ring thing, but then also, you know, you can move it. Yeah. I'll do this 90% of the time if you know, I want to show something behind the scenes. Um, I've got a tripod in my car and like a stand that if I feel like
00:29:29
Speaker
it's my phone's going to be in the way. It might be easier to set it up. But a lot of times that little stand on the back of my phone. Yeah, that's so yeah, you don't have time for the tripod sometimes. Yeah, yeah. And then talking about the different sections on my on my TikTok, like the little folders, I based it off of obviously they can always change, right? But like, those tend to be the things that
00:29:57
Speaker
don't have an expiration date, right? Like you are not, I don't tend to put like how I decorated for Christmas in a folder because it's only really relevant at the holidays. Whereas a venue tour, anybody can be looking for a venue tour and be like, Oh, I want to go check that out.
00:30:17
Speaker
Or, oh, yeah, I thought I saw that. And now a friend of mine said that she's getting married there, you know, so yeah. So I just kind of like looking at that way of like, what is something that can be like a stagnant post that is helpful to anybody? Should they come across it? I think the venue tour one is genius.
00:30:40
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Well, it's helpful because people like to see where you've been, where you work, where you like to be. And that is probably the one that even if you go in and see most of those videos have like
00:30:56
Speaker
maybe 2000 views on them, but a lot of times it's like five or 600. But if you look in the comments, or you look in the saves, or you know, those other kinds of logistical pieces, those are oftentimes the ones that result in
00:31:14
Speaker
a DM on Instagram, like, Hey, I saw you do did this venue tour, or they reached out on our contact form. So I'm like, I don't care that that video didn't perform well, because it got in front of the right people. So who cares? I love it. How many weddings you book or get? How many words do you get from TikTok or Instagram?
00:31:33
Speaker
Yeah, so last year we booked six of our, we do about 30 weddings a year, 30 to 35. Six of our weddings came from either Instagram or TikTok. That's great. And then this year we've had four inquiries so far that are either like in the process of signing their contract or reached out and specifically said,
00:31:57
Speaker
this is where I found you, you know, like this is what I want. We had one just the other day that we did this 500 person private residence wedding this past weekend and a video of their wedding favors went viral and a girl reached out on Tuesday and she just said, you know,
00:32:20
Speaker
I went to high school with the groom from the wedding that you did this past weekend. And so I saw these, I've been seeing these videos. I'm getting married in September. Are you available for my date? So it was just like, but she feels that connection because she knew the people that were there. Oh, so cool. That's always exciting. You know, when, when you see that paper trail kind of
00:32:47
Speaker
Oh, that's so exciting. It's just gonna get better and better. Yeah. Okay, say photographer or whatever, professional is listening right now. And they want to get started today. What are some action steps that they could do? Like, absolutely. Um, I always say start with a list of what like sets you apart. What is your what is your thing that is in your process that maybe nobody else does, you know, photographers that do like this sneak peeks
00:33:16
Speaker
you know, they do a quick upload and they bring out an iPad and show it during the reception. So you see like 10 photos. That is not something that everybody does, you know, like, do you edit your own photos or are you sending them off? Like, what is your process for prepping for an event? Any of the things that are some are normal in your workflow, but are an above and beyond thing, you know, those are always great things to showcase because
00:33:46
Speaker
it shows the value of your brand, right? It shows why they should book you instead of somebody else. Like this photographer sends a date night box and added extra prints to the package that they selected and did stuff like that. And so, wow, they were absolutely worth it because I just wanted to be their friend at the end of the process, something like that.
00:34:15
Speaker
Oh, that's a really good, good one. So everyone make a list of why you stand out and just start jotting it down, maybe a list of 10 to 20. Yeah, absolutely. And like the other so I always say like, what are the things that you do that nobody else does? What are the biggest questions that you get from clients, you know, or if you ask them, like,
00:34:39
Speaker
what stresses you out and they always say, you know, say you're a DJ and they always say, well, I hate coming up with the playlists for cocktail hour. You know, like we have a DJ friend that they do almost like a music quiz that it's like, oh, if you said that you like Taylor Swift and you know, Nathaniel Radcliffe and John Mayer, this is the playlist for cocktail hour. That's probably the best for you.
00:35:08
Speaker
edit it, you know, take stuff out of it if you want. But whereas if you like the killers and okay go and you know, like all of these kind of bands, you want to be over here. So like, any way that you can take some of that stress away from what they're doing is immediate value. Okay, one last question about TikTok before we get into rapid fire questions, but say you have a fear of showing your face.
00:35:39
Speaker
And even being in front of the camera, which is how would you get over that home? So I would say start with your voice because a lot of people hate their voice being recorded, right?
00:35:54
Speaker
So it'll be the combination. I think if you can get used to one at a time, it's easier. So like, if I'm doing like a scan of the room, right? And I'm videotaping like all of this stuff. Maybe I'm just using the audio and saying, okay, so for this wedding, this is what I did. And you're showing the beautiful content
00:36:20
Speaker
But then you're associating your voice with it as a personalized thing. Once you get comfortable with something like that, then I think you can do more of the videos. And you can always start with videos where it's like, oh, I got headshots taken today. I feel comfortable in front of the camera today. Not everybody has to
00:36:46
Speaker
you know have their pajamas on on the couch doing a video you know like or wearing a big oversized sweatshirt or something like um but make like little goals for yourself you know and the more that you do them then all of a sudden it's it's easier you know inherently i did not start
00:37:08
Speaker
being comfortable in front of the camera without makeup on, you know, I like got there. And I just honestly realized that like, people didn't seem to care. You know, it was not really-
00:37:23
Speaker
It was just like, and also, you know, if somebody was asking me a question in a comment on TikTok, and I waited three days until I was going to be dressed up, versus I just went and answered it on a quick form video right then. They appreciate the fact that I answered their question so quickly, way more than if I looked. Are there any apps that you use to help you with TikTok?
Tools for TikTok Content Creation
00:37:49
Speaker
Like to
00:37:49
Speaker
Yeah. So cap cut is a godsend because
00:37:59
Speaker
It has so many, you know, if you're on TikTok and you see all of the trending things where it's like maybe a character from the office with a trending sound or, you know, like any of these really fast slideshows or things like that, a lot of those happen in the app called CapCut. And so if you see them on TikTok, you can just click on the little CapCut logo
00:38:26
Speaker
it takes you over into that app and it's literally a matter of like drag and drop your photos and images and then they do all of the editing and it brings it right back to TikTok. So it does all of the work for you and all you had to do was drag and drop, right? Oh, yay.
00:38:50
Speaker
is a gem. Um, the other two that I use are called in shot. Okay. Um, and, um, let me pull it up so I can show you the logo looks like, um, a little Instagram logo. So these are all my social icons. I don't know how clear they are, but the top row that, that one that looks like a, um, Instagram shot
00:39:15
Speaker
That one is great for if you've got like photo galleries from a photographer and you want to showcase a lot of them. I always put them in there because then it's easier to like
00:39:28
Speaker
change the duration of how long they're edited. And in TikTok, sometimes you have to go in one at a time. There you can do it all at once, you know, so it would be very quick. And then the last one that I use, if I'm ever taking something from TikTok and putting it on Instagram, like as a real, save tick is, you know,
00:39:51
Speaker
It's T-I-K. You just copy and paste your link from TikTok into SaveTik and download it, it removes the watermark. So then that way your Instagram reels will perform a lot better because you're not being punished for having the watermark.
00:40:15
Speaker
Yay, I was so pumped about TikTok. These are really exciting for me. I'm so excited to have you on. Okay, cool. Rapid fire questions. What do you like to do for fun, Megan? I love to travel, even if it's just like a day trip to find like a small town that I've never been to before and just kind of like get acclimated with the community. I'm also like a Netflix binger for sure. Nice. What are you watching right now?
00:40:44
Speaker
Um, I, well, they took new girl off of Netflix and I'll never forgive them. So I have been watching Hulu a lot, but I really want to start, um, that new series, it's called like the delegate or something like that. Um, and it looks kind of like, um, the ones that are like the law shows or like the CIA shows, I do a deep dive on those like blacklist. I love that one. And I'll sit and watch those all day long.
00:41:12
Speaker
Oh, okay. But yeah, so I love those tend to be the ones that are very different from our job. You should watch us be with us. Steven, you know, an alley one. Oh, okay. Oh, yes, I, I watched like the first episode of that when I was like traveling. Um, and I was so I was like, Oh my gosh, I'm, I'm totally sucked in. And then I was like, Wait a minute.
00:41:34
Speaker
I have like weddings this weekend. I need to go to sleep and actually rest. But yes, I absolutely need to go back and watch because that first episode I like it totally sucked me in. I was like, Oh my gosh, it's unpredictable. What is your biggest self care hat?
00:41:49
Speaker
Um, I love to go get my nails done or a pedicure, particularly my nails because they have to hold my hands. So I cannot be on my phone. It is the only, you know, like I love that. Also, um, I like, I used to purposely schedule my day. If I would have like a block in the day where I didn't have any meetings and I would go see a matinee, like just go to a movie for an hour and a half, you know, like,
00:42:16
Speaker
Same thing, like, I'm just gonna shut off my brain. Oh, I like that. Wow. So, those are always my two go-tos. Cool. And then tell us about, like, your, you as an educator, not, you know, educating photographers or as a wedding professional? We definitely focus on any planners, venue owners, photographers, whomever. I do one-on-one coaching for TikTok right now.
00:42:45
Speaker
um we do have a couple of workshops um that are coming up and but i really like when we do those to have like florists sit together photographers sit together you know venue owners sit together because it is very different and very personalized on like what's going to work for
00:43:03
Speaker
each kind of niche. So I really love to sit down with people, figure out like, what's their brand? What do they like to do in their business? And what do they not like to do in their business? Because again, like if you hate being client facing, you really just want to make pretty flowers all day. You know, like that's a different type of content than
00:43:26
Speaker
the people who love the people side of things, right? So I really love to kind of work through that. And then we kind of set it up a couple of different ways, right? Like it's, some people are like, if you give me a checklist, I'm definitely going to go do it. Thank you very much. And others are like, I need the accountability because I take care of everybody else and I don't take care of myself.
00:43:50
Speaker
You know, like, so those people that we give them the work and then like circle back with them and be like, how you doing? Let me see what you've got, you know? And I feel like that works really well for people as well to just kind of know that someone is actually like, not just giving them the tools and then saying like, good luck, see you later. But we really kind of build out like a one-on-one plan for whoever, you know, what works for them.
00:44:18
Speaker
Cool, I love that. And then you have a little promo, and then where can everyone find you? This has been such a fun conversation. Yeah, so we are offering $30 off any consulting for TikTok or social media. If you mentioned that you found us on the podcast. And I also have a downloadable, like,
00:44:43
Speaker
cheat sheet that I'll send you for optimizing your social media content, just for like, when you've got a TikTok and it's performing really well, like, what do you want to do with it? Where do you want to place it? Where's the best place for it?
00:44:59
Speaker
And we are Magnolia Collective on all social media platforms, but on Instagram we're Magnolia Collective LLC because there's also a Magnolia Collective boutique that popped up in Texas like a couple of years ago.
00:45:17
Speaker
We definitely, definitely reach out where we find out. Check her out, she's so fun to follow. Yeah, let us know. She's scrolling, scrolling, scrolling. Yeah, if I can answer any questions, I'm always happy to help. Thank you, Megan. This was a great conversation. Thank you, you're so welcome.
00:45:37
Speaker
Thanks for joining me this week on Get a Heck Yes with Carissa Wu. Make sure to follow, subscribe, leave a review, or tell a friend about the show. Take a screenshot and post to IG. Tag me. Also, don't forget to download my free guide on how to become a lead generating machine. See you next time, wedding pros!