Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Deb Schrock. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Deb, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Let’s talk about social media – do you manage your own or do you have someone or a company that handles it for you? Why did you make the choice you did?

We used to manage our own social media, but we recently hired an intern to manage our social media for the summer. She is a junior in college studying public relations with a concentration in event planning. Social media is something we have never been very familiar with so it has been very nice to have someone else come on and help us with it. We have been so happy with the results and what she has done for us, our website, and our social media platforms. She knows so much about these types of things and we enjoy being able to learn stuff from her. If you are a business owner who is not familiar with social media, or you are focused on your business and don’t want to have to worry about social media as well, I would recommend hiring an intern for a period of time and then if you are happy, you could hire someone full time, or like me just have someone on for the height of wedding season.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

My husband, Mark, and I have worked all our lives and we got to a point where we wanted to do something completely different. We always thought about having our own wedding venue and being able to make a place to fulfill others’ wedding day dreams. We love being able to see how much people love our space and appreciate the thought and work we have put into it. We also love being able to play such a huge role on their big day, there is magic every time. We have really tried to think of every detail to make everything easier when it comes to your wedding day. One of the things we are most proud of is the fact that our barn is completely temperature controlled. You are able to heat or cool the barn with the doors closed at whatever temperature you’d like, which is especially nice on those hot summer days. We have several setups for the ceremony on the grounds so the ceremony and reception can all be at the same location. We have a bride’s room and groom’s room for them to set up and get ready for the day, full men’s and women’s bathrooms, and a catering kitchen to allow your outside caterers a place to prepare your meal. There are so many amazing amenities that we have to offer and so many extra items you could rent, such as: linens, silverware, dishware, glassware, decorations, signage, centerpieces, servings trays, and more. We love to provide as much as we can for the bride and groom to have an amazing wedding day in the beautiful setting that we have tried to create here at Twin Gables.

How did you build your audience on social media?

We are still in the process of building our audience on social media, as this is only our third wedding season so far, but the best thing to do is learn. Social media is always growing and changing, there are always new trends and things that will catch people’s attention and you have to know about those things and understand how they work in order to be able to use it to build your audience. In addition to understanding the media, it is always important to show as much of yourself and your business as you can. Any positive thing that you have to offer or that you create, you should share it so other people can see and become interested as well. There is however a line between putting yourself out there in a way that will help and doing too much on social media that can turn someone away. You should always present yourself in a positive light and not try to sound like you are an advertisement. You want to be real and personable to be able to make good, true connections instead of just focusing on likes and followers.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

I think what has helped us the most is unpaid advertising that comes from word of mouth. When people come to the venue for an event they are always so pleasantly surprised. They are always telling me how beautiful everything is, how much they like “the vibe of the whole place”, everywhere you look is so aesthetic, and many more comments like this. Because people are always amazed when they come to an event here, they then also spread the word to people they know about our venue. We have been able to build up a reputation with the people that attend, and then they tell other people about us. We aren’t very mainstream, so we are not a very well-known place where everyone knows us, but there are a lot of people that know of us and about us. These things come with time and I believe that if you just keep being yourself and doing the right thing by your business and customers, you will grow and build a good reputation all around.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.twingableseventcenter.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/twingableseventcenter/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/twingableseventcenter/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/twingablesevent
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/twin-gables-event-center-sturgis
• The Knot: https://www.theknot.com/marketplace/twin-gables-event-center-sturgis-mi-2041144
• Wedding Wire: https://www.weddingwire.com/biz/twin-gables-event-center/8565fcd0cc73b71d.html