There’s nothing worse than sitting scrolling through
Facebook in the months of March through about July when engagements and
weddings are a part of everyday life on social media. While this industry is
often forgotten about (especially for those of us who are single) the wedding
industry demands billions of dollars per year. If you’ve never had to plan a
wedding I can honestly say it’s a lot of work and not something most people
would just do on a whim. But thankfully today, there are various sites and apps
that can help girls plan their dream weddings well within their budget. In this
post, I will be comparing two sites that help with planning a wedding and talk
about how both are working to create a social space to promote e-commerce in
this dynamic industry.
Both The Knot and Wedding Wire exist to accomplish one
thing…help future brides plan their special day and promote local and non-local
businesses in the wedding industry. These indirect distribution channels are getting
lots of mention for making a simple solution for brides who do not actually
want to pay for a wedding planner. With checklists, budgeting tools, and great
location services, both websites can help you plan a wedding easily and within
your budget. From rings, to dresses, to cakes and everything in between, both
The Knot and Wedding Wire have everything you need to plan the perfect wedding.
They compare prices using tools like a catalog aggregator as
well as providing sites of various vendors so that customers can negotiate
prices and find which vendors are within their budget.
When first looking at The Knot and Wedding Wire websites,
some obvious similarities will show up. Both in a similar light blue color
scheme, both organizing their websites by wedding topic, and both creating a
place where people can come and share their wedding experiences in hopes to
help the next person out with their journey.
The Knot uses great colors and pictures on their site making
it user friendly and easy to navigate.
Wedding Wire goes with a more professional scheme and setup,
focusing a lot more on the organizational aspect of the weddings first, and then
getting into the fun, inspirational aspects.
Both sites are used for social commerce by having other
users and previous brides provide reviews of the products and vendors offered.
The sites offer a community of people ready to help out the stressed bride with
dress, cake, or whatever other decisions she might need to make. These people
have either been there themselves or are currently in the same place making the
online community of people not only helpful but relatable for brides. While
Wedding Wire is more forum based, taking any questions by users and putting them
into a list for others to see, The Knot lists their questions beautifully by
category or type of question at the top and allows for you to search for
specific discussions if you so choose, allowing users more freedom in how they
choose to communicate with other users of the site.
The websites each have a Pinterest page where they provide useful information and inspiration for every aspect of a wedding and allow users to share or save things to their own boards, basically branching off the websites themselves. They also keep their Twitter pages updated with the latest wedding trends and other themes or ideas from brides who have used the site. By sharing pictures posted by other brides, they not only promote their websites to the friends of that bride, but anyone the bride might have been in contact with for the wedding, further expanding their business to new places. And while The Knot tends to be a couple followers short of Wedding Wire on social media, they do beat them by a little on Instagram, a site that both companies use for social and promotional purposes in different ways.
Wedding Wire goes in a more professional direction with
their Instagram, using photos of various venues, dresses, and vendors. While
there are some pictures of weddings, their profile focuses on inspiring brides
as well as promoting the vendors using their site.
The Knot however takes a more social approach, posting from
people’s actual weddings, making their profile a little less staged and more of
a social experience. Still promoting their vendors and providing inspiration,
The Knot takes their Instagram profile a step further, reminding people that
they care about their brides and want to make their wedding experience personal
and fun. By sharing from other brides and actual weddings, they also add a nice
social experience to their Instagram and make it more relatable for other
brides who follow them.
Whether you love weddings (being a wedding planner is my
retirement plan) or you hate the thought of them, the industry continues to
thrive as people plan for their special days. And although the experience can
be rather stressful (guys will never understand the process, I assure you it is
rigorous), it can also be a fun and inspirational time for everyone involved. And
what better way to engage in social commerce than to plan for your special day
with the support of others going through the same struggles as you? They even
have an app for that!
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