During June's Mornings with Mayesh episode, Yvonne & Dave discuss the world of flowers. See a great selection of flowers that are available now and learn more about some great large blooms that are available each month. In addition, they answer some great audience questions like what are good subs for eucalyptus, providing an overview of how grading works, explaining why we stream on Facebook, how to update your category listing for Instagram to "florist", and much more. Also, be sure to watch/listen to the entire show because at the end, Yvonne will discuss Instagram's algorithm and what it means for you. Enjoy and don't forget to send in your questions for our next show on July 10th!
Here is the podcast replay, video and show notes:
SHOW NOTES
FLOWER QUESTIONS
- Fresh flowers straight from our cooler today and here is the link to latest flower 411:
- Roxanne G Boerke: I’m based in Chicago. What is one go to large bloom by season? ie peonies for spring
- Here are a few seasonal ideas for larger focal flowers by season:
- Summer: Dahlias (Dave's pick), Anthurium, Artichokes, Buddleia, Calla Lilies, China Mums, Eremurus, Eucomis, Gerberas, Giant Alliums, Giant Coxcomb Celosia, Giant Poppies, Ginger, Heliconia, Liles, Phalaenopsis stems, Protea, sunflowers.
- Fall: Chrysanthemum disbuds (Dave's pick), Amaryllis, Anthuriums, Calla lilies, Cotton on the stem, Dahlias, Gerberas, Ginger, Giant Coxcomb Celosia, Heliconia, Kale, Lilies, Marigolds, Phalaenopsis stems, Peonies, Protea, Sunflowers.
- Winter: Amaryllis (Dave's pick), Anthurium, Calla Lilies, Cymbidium stems, Gerberas, Giant Gloriosa from Japan, Giant Ranunculus from Japan, Ginger, Heliconia, Kale, Liles, Phalaenopsis stems, Peonies, Protea, Vanda stems.
- Spring: Anthuriums (Dave's pick), Artichokes, Banksias, Calla lilies, Giant Coxcomb Celosia, China Mums, French Tulips, Gerberas, Ginger, Heliconia, Kale, Lilies, Peonies, Phalaenopsis stems, Protea, Sunflowers & Vanda stems.
- Don't forget to check out our Mayesh Floral Meme Instagram Challenge that is happening right now: https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/mayeshfloralmeme/
- Here's the link to our Flower Guide: http://info.mayesh.com/flower-guide-offer
- Be sure to download our ultimate flower guide. it is 12 month of flower availability lists in 1 handy document! It great to use for consultations, planning product palettes and for new employees to reference.
- Kelly: What are some good subs for Euc?
- Bay Laurel, olive foliage, purple acacia foliage, grevillea foliage, green nandina, nagi, camelia. Please be aware that from around late April through early June a lot of these greens start their new growth cycle and are too tender to cut. Eucalyptus can have brown to purple soft tips that wilt very quickly but due to their enormous demand, they are being harvested in this delicate state anyway.
- Kelly: I’m having trouble understanding quality tiers on product and how to request higher grades on certain items. Can you explain?
- Grading is used to indicate the stage at which a flower is cut (aka it’s open-ness) or to indicate the stem length (which in some cases will translate to a larger bloom head). For instance, carnations are graded by “standard, select and fancy” which translates to short, medium & long stem length. Alstroemeria is graded by fancy, select and super select meaning short, medium & long stem length. Learning the dialogue used with different flowers will help you navigate the ordering process. Roses are graded by centimeters for their stem length.
- Mayesh is known for our higher end “Luxe Blooms” procurement. We pride ourselves on carrying the best of the best.
- Mayesh reps know their clients well and accommodate you based on your personal preferences and needs. For instance, most of our wedding and event clients only want the best! Tall sturdy stems, large blooms, in vogue colors and varieties and we are experts at making your installations truly magical.
- We also offer more economical choices by keeping a well-stocked online inventory in our Mayesh market. On Mayesh market, you are buying full boxes of flowers so there is a bulk purchase discount on the cost. The quality is still excellent but geared more towards the frugal buyer by utilizing growers from all over the globe.
- We are able to quickly assemble a purchase order “quote” with our best guess on pricing that can be e-mailed for your approval. This ensures you are in budget and are able to make alterations before the product is in transit. This saves everyone money in the long run by reducing excess inventory.
- Always discuss the particulars with your sales rep including budget. We work hard to get you exactly what you need!
MARKETING NEWS
- Heather: Why do you stream on FB instead of YouTube?
- Mainly because I use BeLive.tv for this show, which gives me features that I need and BeLive connects to Facebook. Another reason, though, is that I find our community on Facebook to be more engaging with live content than on YouTube.
- Charlene: How do you change your category listing for Facebook and Instagram?
- Charlene saw that we are listed as a “Florist” and wants to know how to get that for her pages, right now her profile says “Artist”.
- Instagram instructions state: "…if you want to change the category that appears on your Instagram business profile, you'll need to update the category from the Facebook Page associated with your business."
- But that may not work for you and if it doesn’t try the following:
- Reset your Instagram to a private account. Select the category you want on Facebook, like Florist (which is not listed in IG’s categories for some reason) and then switched your Instagram account back to a business profile and that should do the trick.
- I sent Charlene the instructions, and here was her response “It worked! thank you so much for taking the time to help a stranger. I really appreciate it.”
- Instagram Algorithm - With 800+ million users the newest algorithm allows you to see 90% of your friends posts and spend more time on the app according to the stats.
- Post link: https://techcrunch.com/2018/06/01/how-instagram-feed-works/
- IG reveal how their algorithm works and I thought it would be informative to review the main points.
- Interest - IG predicts what you will care about based on rankings of what matters to you.
- as you may know, if you watched past shows, is that I have dogs that includes a sharpei puppy, so I follow some doggie & sharpei pages and their posts always show up in my feed.
- Timeliness or Recency - you will see posts that were created that day over posts created last week.
- Relationship - how close are you to someone. For example, if you comment on someone’s post or if you are tagged in photos - Instagram will use relationships to figure out what to show you.
- These are the 3 factors and nothing really surprising. It makes sense, but good to know. And beyond these factors, they use:
- Frequency - how often you go into IG and figure out the best posts to show you since your last visit.
- Following - the more people you follow the wider the breadth of people and pages IG will be using to pick from which means you will see less of any specific author. It’s common sense, but something to keep in mind and this is something that I feel like hinders me from being able to keep up with some designers that I like to follow.
- Usage - how long are you spending on IG will affect what IG will show you - if you are on longer then IG will have to dive deeper to show you more content.
- IG also revealed some myth busters!
- IG does not hide posts in your feed - if you keep on scrolling you will eventually see everything from everyone you follow and get to the end. Has anyone seen “the end of the feed”?
- Feeds do not favor photos or videos, but rather what you engage with the most. So if you watch lots of videos, then they will show you more videos.
- Brands should have a good mix of both because your followers will have different preferences.
- Also, IG doesn’t favor authors who use Stories, Lives, and other special features. But just because it doesn’t affect the newsfeed algorithm, there are still benefits to use the features to engage with your audience.
- IG doesn’t give preference to business accounts or personal accounts. Just have the right account for your purpose - if you have a business then for me, it makes sense to have a business account.
- A few months ago, I saw a bunch of content created around shadowbanning, but I never saw it happen or experienced it myself, but according to IG, shadowbanning is not a real thing. So use as many hashtags as you want, but again be smart, don’t be spammy, and make sure they relate to your posts. That is just good business.
If you think of new questions for our next show, you can post them in the comments here or use the contact form to send them to Yvonne.
Be sure to mark your calendar for July 10th at 10 am EST for the next Mornings with Mayesh – see you soon!