Betches is a digital media brand for millennial and gen z women that produces hilarious, authentic, and binge-worthy social content, podcasts, video series, and articles. Founded in 2011, Betches has since expanded to become a robust, digital destination that boasts a strong social media presence through their Instagram, @Betches, with more than 6.9M followers, a growing podcast platform of 10 podcasts, various Facebook groups, and email newsletters.
In early 2019, Betches saw an opportunity to expand into an untapped audience: brides. There’s a lot of noise in the bridal space, but it all seems to be the same lavish, unattainable inspo that leaves you feeling like you aren’t bride-ing correctly. But the goal wasn’t to just be another media company posting about weddings, but to instead be a go-to destination for hilarious–and valuable–content around all things weddings. No one truly brings you the no BS approach about weddings like Betches Brides.
By leveraging creative in-house teams and resources, Betches was able to launch an entire new vertical to serve as the go-to resource for brides, or anyone interested in weddings, by creating a new Instagram account, podcast, Facebook Group, and soon to be email newsletter. Our objective is to take a truthful look behind the veil about what it really takesto get from saying YES!, to happily ever after. We are here to offer realistic advice without the princess poof.
Betches decided to build the Betches Brides community with several owned content platforms, anchored in their signature voice that delivers accessible content and a unique perspective.
To launch and grow the Betches Brides online community, Betches used the following strategy:
@betchesbrides Instagram: While Betches is a social-first media brand, they knew it would be beneficial to expand their audience here as the first step to the overall online community. They launched the @BetchesBrides Instagram account in March 2019 and grew an audience quickly by leveraging other Betches platforms and vertical accounts. Serving as the main hub for wedding-related content on betches, the Instagram account grew popularity by sharing content types such as: funny wedding-related tweets, wedding planning hacks and pro-tips, celebrity weddings and engagements, inspiration from audience members’ weddings, and behind-the-scenes content into the weddings of Betches Co-Founders and employees (or betches brides) who were embarking on their own wedding-planning journeys. By closely managing and monitoring incoming comments and DM’s from fans, the Instagram account has also become an on-demand resource for advice around all the awkward areas of weddings that no one talks about, such as: cost of weddings, who to invite, dealing with awkward family dynamics, and more.
Betches Brides Podcast: After growing a highly engaged audience on social media, Betches decided to launch a podcast in July 2019 to further engage this community through a different medium. Betches Brides is a place for brides, or really anyone, to get an honest look at what it’s like to plan a wedding. From choosing an overpriced wedding dress that you will only wear once to staffing your bridal party without pissing off the one friend you left out, this podcast has you covered from the engagement all the way to the honeymoon and beyond. Each episode is centered around one main topic with questions and topics provided by social media audiences (audience members remain anonymous). Personal stories about the topic are shared by both the host and the guest. Examples topics include: Indian/Cultural Weddings featuring three brides and their different experiences; How to plan a honeymoon by yourself; How to navigate being a bridesmaid; How to put up boundaries with your over-opinionated family, etc.
Various Segments include:
Fostering community through Facebook: To culminate the online betches brides community in one place where they can interact with each other, Betches launched a private Betches Brides Facebook group. Within the group, brides around the world are able to actively share wedding planning tips/inspiration, give/receive advice, share honeymoon and bachelorette itineraries, and more. In order to cross-promote communities, we pull discussions and submissions from the Facebook group to create content with for the Podcast and Instagram account.
INSTAGRAM:
Growth rate since launch: in the 12 months since launch the account has grown 1550%, growing on avg 33% per month
Average Engagement rate: 7.6%
PODCAST:
Total listens in 2019: 281k
Average monthly downloads: 65k
FACEBOOK GROUP:
Total members: 10k
ARTICLES on betches.com:
Over 1.5MM+ page views on wedding-related articles from 2019
