improve vase life, etc.), goodwill initia- tives (Petal It Forward, floral donations to nursing homes, free meals for health care workers), and solidarity with social movements, including #MeToo and #BlackLivesMatter. Vinicombe’s posts include many
“thank yous” to her clients and her employees (an approach that human- izes her business), examples of Monday Morning Flowers’ different services and snippets from university research studies touting the mental health ben- efits of flowers (a message that clearly resonated with her following during the shutdown). Featured in every post? An image. “People love looking at pretty flowers,” she said. “Floral photography definitely stands out in users’ feeds and draws them in.” Levine agrees wholeheartedly on the
advantages of photos. She reuses her favorite images from Instagram. (“The trick is to not post them to different sites at the exact same time,” she said.) She also tweaks the captions. Instagram, for instance, rewards long, breezy messages. On LinkedIn, Levine favors a succinct sentence or two — with subtle differences between her own page and her shop’s page. “The verbiage on my page is more casual and personal,” she said.
Follow the Leaders In addition to posting your own content on LinkedIn, you can — and should — follow what others promote on the site. Some of the world’s top influencers, such as Bill and Melinda Gates, Richard Branson and Ariana Huffington, are prolific advice givers, along with scores of marketing, customer service and HR experts, from companies big and small. A key opportunity to make friends
and stay top of mind is to like and comment on posts from leaders in your geographical area. “It shows that you are an interested, caring member of your business community,” said Vinicombe, who allots roughly 80 percent of her time on the site to interacting with others’ posts. One of her strongest business allies is a funeral director she met on LinkedIn five years ago. “Death is such a sensitive subject — I know it’s hard for him to post things,” she said. “Whenever he did, I made sure to put some kind of positive comment.” Vinicombe’s constant encouragement earned her a referral, which has since snowballed. “That relationship has brought in tens of thousands of dollars,” she said.
SERIOUS CRED Nic Faitos always shares any media coverage he or his business, Starbright Floral Design, receives. “That’s instant credibility,” he said.
“LinkedIn has more than 500 million users — many of which have a lot of spending power — and I’ve only seen a handful of other florists on there. I absolutely take advantage of the lack of competition.”
—Nic Faitos The magazine of the Society of American Florists (SAF) 33
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