To understand what the celebrant industry in Tasmania looks like to couples planning their wedding, we took an in-depth look at the modern marketplace. The data we collated reveals why it’s so difficult for clients to research wedding celebrants and identified some interesting growth opportunities for officiants in the Tasmanian market.
One of the first issues we encountered when starting this research, was identifying whether celebrants were currently active, or not, in the wedding industry. Not all registered celebrants are trading businesses, not all seek wedding bookings and a large proportion do not actively promote themselves online.
We wanted to understand what the industry looks like from a customer’s perspective. Celebrants that showed no evidence of self promotion in the past 3 months were considered inactive for our purposes. In total, there are 80 wedding celebrants in Tasmania that;
- have an up to date business presence on social media and/or
- are actively engaging with clients online and/or
- had recently received online recommendations
The latest data from the Bureau of Statistics shows a declining number of weddings in Tasmania - with 2,356 weddings conducted in 2015, down from an average in the preceding 4 years of 2,542. As civil celebrants are now conducting close to 80% of weddings across the state, there is plenty of work available for celebrants, and plenty of competition in the market too. Celebrants seeking ways to stand apart and increase their bookings in upcoming seasons may find the following data of interest…
Celebrant Websites
In contrast to other sectors of the wedding market, the celebrant industry are collectively less focused on the humble website as a critical element of their sales process. In fact, 24% of celebrants in Tasmania don’t even have a website. Even fewer have a modern website designed to attract today’s customers.
To get an industry-wide perspective on what celebrant websites look like, we provided each with a subjective grading that describes how modern the site is. Those described as Modern were generally designed for visual impact and had fewer words, easier navigation and quick links to social media platforms. ‘Reasonable’ websites were those that effectively share information but lack the large images and visual impact of the more modern sites:
Social media provides many benefits for business which is why most sectors of the wedding industry spend much of their marketing efforts on social platforms including Facebook. Around 92% of Wedding Photographers maintain a Facebook page for their business. Comparatively, only 65% of celebrants in Tasmania have a Facebook page and only 50% have posted in the last 3 months.
Officiants in Tassie have a current average of 250 Likes per page. The range of followers starts at 25 and the ‘most popular’ celebrant has a fairly modest high in wedding standards of 700+ Likes. There are only 4 celebrants in Tasmania with a Facebook following that exceed an audience of 500.
For Celebrants who use the platform effectively, Facebook provides an excellent opportunity for potential customers to make a connection with you. Customers do look on Facebook to assess celebrants and if you’re one of the few vendors providing regular up-to-date material on your page, they’ll stick around and read your material, investing their efforts in getting to know you.
Reviews
32 Wedding Celebrants have received reviews on Facebook. Reviews are a powerfully effective tool for enabling customers to make a connection with you. If a Bride & Groom were reading Facebook reviews to find a celebrant in Tasmania, the number of vendors in contention drops to 40% of the industry. Are you in that 40%?
If you haven't yet switched the review function on your Facebook page on, here’s what you’re missing out on: 98% of reviews received by Tassie Celebrants are rated 5 stars. Four stars is the next most popular rating, accounting for slightly more than 1% of all reviews. Less than 1% of reviews receive a 1 star rating. 84% of celebrants who receive Facebook reviews have an overall rating of 5 stars.
There are 4 wedding celebrants in Tasmania who have received Google reviews. The average rating of those reviews is 5 stars. Tassie Brides and Grooms looking for celebrant reviews online will find the largest number on Facebook. There were a total of 377 Facebook reviews at time of research, which is 6 times more than any other online platform.
For couples who are seeking a wedding celebrant in Tasmania, we have provided Facebook links to celebrants in Launceston and in Hobart on our Facebook page.
Only 12.5% of Celebrants in Tasmania have a (business oriented) Instagram account. At the time of research, followers ranged in number from 25 to 629 and not all accounts had been active in the past 3 months.
In conclusion, there are many opportunities available to Tasmanian celebrants seeking a competitive advantage in today’s wedding marketplace. Modern websites and up to date social media pages are not the reliable norm in our southern-most state so vendors there that invest effort into their online presence will see great results. And they’ll make life easier for customers to find and connect with celebrants online.
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