I speak with many salon owners who tell me, “I post on Facebook from time to time, but I don’t really know what to post and when.” Other times they say, ”I know I should be on social media more, and I need a plan of attack.” Well thankfully I know a thing or two about salons and social media.
When I started using social Media in my salon it was still relatively new and I didn’t really know what or how to use it as a business tool. After I sold my salon, and before I joined Timely Salon Software, I ran a small social media consultancy business I was able to see first hand how much of an impact social media could have on a business. I was able to grow salon businesses, increase profits, and strengthen relationships between the salon and their clientele. Here are some of the tips I’ve learned on how to get a business started with social media.
The secret to doing well on social media is to know your audience intimately. What type of client do you want to attract? Who are the clients you have in your salon now, and do you love to look after them when they’re in your chair? We all have clients who complain, moan and are never happy with what we do, but they still keep coming back and causing you grief. Lets not focus on attracting more like them. You can be picky about who you you choose to promote your business to.
Build a clear picture of who your perfect client is and give her a name. Build a virtual profile based on what she does, where she goes, and what personal values she has. Let’s start by giving her a name – we’ll call her Jessica. What social media platform does Jessica use? Is she in her 50’s and and in need of a regular colour touch up, or is she in her early 20’s and wanting to look like the latest celebrity? You’ll speak differently to Jessica depending on who she is as a person.
Once you know who Jessica is, you can speak directly to her in all of your business marketing. This starts with picking the right social media platform. If Jessica is 45-55 year old career woman, she is more likely to be on LinkedIn and Twitter than on Instagram and Snapchat, so take that into consideration when choosing your social platform. The 25 year old Jessica who loves to follow celebrity fashion might hang out in Instagram to keep up with the Jenners and Amy Pham, so making sure you have a presence on the right platform for your business is the first step.
My advice would be to nail Facebook before you venture out onto other social platforms, since everyone is on Facebook.
Now you know where Jessica hangs out online, it’s time to start sharing with her.
Show Jessica who you are as a brand and salon team. Post pictures of the hair you do or real things your team get up to outside of work, like courses they attend and team building activities. Continue the real conversations you have inside your salon on your social media pages.
It’s important to be relevant with what you post. There are so many pages posting so many things but you need to be known for something on social media. You’re a hair salon, so post things that are about salons or come from a hair salon’s perspective. For example, a picture of a cute dog is not relevant to your salon, but if the dog has a very cute hairstyle or has come in with a client, it might be.
Also remember that everything you post should be directed at Jessica. Keep in mind that you’re speaking to her. Before you push send, ask yourself if what you’re posting is relevant to your business and interesting to Jessica.
The final thing to keep in mind is that social media is about a conversation. It starts inside your salon business and should be continued through your social pages between salon visits. Hair salons are not only about doing hair; they are a place where we build strong client-stylist relationships, which adds significant value to the salon experience. Social media allows you to build and strengthen those relationships by maintaining your rapport outside your place of business.
Social media doesn’t need to be a challenge if you see it as a way to continue your customer conversations and build relationships while they’re away. Of course to do this you need to know who you’re speaking to. Creating a profile of your perfect client will allow you to speak directly to them and keep them interested in who you are and what you do. Use this as a guideline when deciding what to post and when, and you will do just fine on your salon’s social media. Good luck out there!
Marketing & Business Development Manager at Timely Software. After 20 years of owning an award-winning salon and 3 years running online marketing businesses,Larissa knows first-hand how hard it is to keep up with the evolving digital landscape, while keeping clients happy and looking after the day-to-day pressures of running a business. larissa@gettimely.com
It’s less than 2 weeks in to 2014 and our Worldwide Salon Marketing members are already out of the blocks with a roar with emails and phone calls coming in to our office from excited salon owners telling us about their successful campaigns.
This morning I spoke on the phone with Maree Hoare, of Red Hair in Palmerston North. Maree joined us just one month ago and has shown immediately what it takes to be a successful marketer of her business.
She hasn’t sat around waiting for the phone to ring, instead she’s got straight down to business, is creating her own success and taking complete control of her business.
When Maree opened her salon this morning she noticed some gaps in the booking system later in the week. So armed with the tools she needed to fix that problem, she opened up her computer, visited the members only template website and found an SMS example that she could adapt for her own salon.
She sent the message out to just 400 people of her SMS list and within 30 minutes had no fewer than 12 bookings.
“With schools being on holiday it gets a bit quiet around this time of year in Palmerston North, I need to keep my team busy and so at this late stage it seemed a text message to my clients would be the quickest option to fill the gaps later in the week. It took me a few minutes to put the message together from the examples on the website and then I sent it out and within minutes the phone was ringing hot! The system says the SMS’s are still being sent out so I am sure I will get even more calls than the dozen we have already had in the last half an hour. But I am really happy with the result.”
The hair offer Maree sent out by text was for $79. Given that a text will cost about 10c per message that’s a $40 cost for a return so far of $948. I would call that a great return on investment.
And the message also saw at least 2 long lost clients make a booking in the salon.
Since joining WSM in December, Maree has already put in to action steps to help her work more as a marketer on her business. Could you imagine earning $948 in 30 minutes if you were cutting someones hair or doing a facial? Not likely unless you are the hairdresser to David Beckham. So Maree is already seeing the value of her time spent marketing rather than being a technician cutting hair.
And in addition to Maree’s amazing SMS campaign she also launched her mini memberships last week which she has already sold 7 bringing in and extra $1400 in income.
A massive congrats to Maree for her great start to 2014 and we can’t wait to hear more from her as the year progresses.
If you are not a member of one of our WSM programs but want to kick start 2014 the way Maree has done then click here now to apply and one of our team will be on the phone to you immediately. Or call one of our worldwide offices to speak with someone now.
Over the last 5 years since starting Worldwide Salon Marketing in New Zealand we have seen and heard many success stories from salons owners, some of whom prior to joining WSM have been close to closing their doors, and others that already have successful and established salons but just want to know how to improve their businesses even further and make more money.
It’s fantastic to be part of helping salons achieve great success and reach goals, so when that success is recognized by a third party its even more satisfying.
Which is exactly what happened to Margaret Walsh of Face & Body in Titirangi.
At the recent New Zealand Beauty Gala Awards at the Pullman Hotel in Auckland Margaret and her team at Face and Body in Titirangi, picked up the ‘Runner-up’ prize in the category for Marketing Excellence, an Award sponsored by Worldwide Salon Marketing NZ.
Worldwide Salon Marketing wants to congratulate Margaret for her achievement. Marketing is always evolving and Margaret has shown that her salon has used a great blend of traditional media, whilst embracing new media like apps and social media.
WELL DONE MARGARET WALSH & THE TEAM AT FACE & BODY TITIRANGI!!!
And I also want to extend a MASSIVE congratulations to the winner of Marketing Excellence, Nicola Quinn from Nicola Quinn Day Spa in Christchurch.
There’s a funny story behind this also. Nicola is not a member of WSM, however I have always been an admirer of Nicola’s salon, even more so since the terrible things that have happened with the earthquakes in Christchurch over the last couple of years.
Whilst in Christchurch visiting some of our WSM members I popped in to say hello to Nicola who was unavailable. So I left her a hand written note encouraging her to enter the Marketing Excellence award, which she obviously did. When presenting her award on the night Nicola told me she still has my note, which I thought was great.
So a BIG CONGRATS to Nicola Quinn and her team at Nicola Quinn Day Spa.
Finally, Worldwide Salon Marketing NZ also co-sponsored the ‘Best New Business’ category to which we would like to congratulate Louise Dickinson of ‘Chrysalis’ in Browns Bay, Auckland.
Well done to ALL the finalists from the Team at Worldwide Salon Marketing!
Christopher and the Team at Worldwide Salon Marketing New Zealand help salon owners chase the dream of becoming more successful and profitable. If you like the sound of that then click here to find out more – obligation FREE. We have packages that can fit ALL salon types and sizes!
The ‘You Beauty Salon Tour’ is underway and the first date at Gloss Beauty Boutique in Matamata was a HUGE success!
The VIP night saw customers of Gloss Beauty be entertained with live music (from me), makeup demos from Rachael D’Aguiar and they had the opportunity to purchase one-night only special offers.
Gloss Beauty took in over $3500 sales for the night, and we raised around $500 for Look Good Feel Better women’s cancer charity. A great result all round!
And to add to that the event got some great FREE media coverage for Gloss Beauty in the regional paper the Waikato Times and also a more local paper called the Matamata Chronicle….Priceless!
And if that wasn’t enough, at least half a dozen customers of Gloss Beauty gave a glowing video testimonial, all raving about how amazing the salon is!!! Check out some of them below…
The You Beauty Salon Tour is about to get rolling again with dates this week in Auckland and Tauranga so be sure to check back later in the week for an update.
Or follow the Tour on Facebook or Twitter (links below)
And if you want to be involved and help raise some money for Look Good Feel Better then simply download my debut EP from iTunes with all proceeds going to Look Good Feel Better throughout May.
If you are part of the statistic that shows Australia and New Zealand salons lose an estimated $423 million per annum (ouch!) in customer no-shows then you will want to read this report.
Stop banging your head against a wall because there are solutions to the problem. In this 15-page in depth report you will find:
The ‘You and Us – A Beautiful Partnership’ letter, laying down the ground rules and expectations between the salon and customer from the word ‘GO!’
The actual words you and your staff can use to communicate your salons cancellation policy effectively and confidently to a customer.
And some great advice on the best ways to remind your customers about their appointments so they don’t forget.
Plus the report also shares our complete findings from the survey.
And the report is already proving to be a HIT with salons who have read it so far, like Trish House from Esthetica in Dargaville, NZ…
“Hi Chris
I just want to say how much I appreciate the help with reducing No-Shows in our clinic. This is something I’ve been “meaning to get to” for ages but just haven’t sat down and nutted out a strategy for it. I finally got the facility for accepting credit card payment over the phone last month, and now with the report I have the impetous and direction to implement this policy properly once and for all!”
The No-show report is available now on the Salon Finder App website. To claim your FREE copy of the report it’s quite simple.
First, click hereor visit www.salonfinderapp.com Second, either register if it’s your first time here, or log back in if you are a returning user. Third, once registered and logged in you will see the report on the left hand side of screen, you can click on it to download.
I hope this report goes someway to helping you reduce costly no-shows!
Stadiums, town halls, pubs. They’re your traditional music venues. But salons?
Well, for NZ singer-songwriter Chris Sanders, he is about to embark on what could be called the world’s most unique music tour ever. A tour of salons, and it’s all in the name of a good cause, women’s cancer support network ‘Look Good, Feel Better’.
The Six date ‘You Beauty Salon Tour’ starting on May 17, will see Chris perform songs from his debut EP ‘Home Away From Home’ and material from his new album to be released later in 2013.
A veteran of over 1600 gigs, Chris (35) who has supported artists like Tim Finn, Dave Dobbyn and Anika Moa, will be donating ALL sales from his EP through iTunes to ‘Look Good, Feel Better’ throughout May.
Download this music and help it rank in the digital music charts and really raise awareness for these women who are living with cancer.
All Sales of Chris’ EP ‘Home Away From Home’ will be donated to Look Good Feel Better, from now until May 31st 2013
With his other hat on, he is known within the salon business community as a ‘salon saviour’, having helped hundreds of salons from going out of business. Think Tabatha, minus the swearing…
“It made sense for me to combine my musical gift and connection with the salon industry, to help an organisation that supports women with cancer restore and enhance their appearance before and after treatment” says Chris. “And as a former salon owner, I saw first hand how a good doll up can help the self esteem and confidence of our clients who were battling cancer.”
In addition to Chris donating all his iTunes sales, each salon on the tour is running an Exclusive Customer VIP night with fund raising activities, hair and beauty demos, special one night only offers and giveaways.
And Salon Finder iPhone & iPad app will also be donating 10c from every download of its FREE app throughout May as well.
Since 1992 Look Good Feel Better has run beauty workshops for New Zealand women to help them cope with the physical side effects of cancer treatment, such as drying flaking skin, hair loss and pigmentation changes, and will help more than 3000 women in 2013.
“We are incredibly excited to be a part of this very unique salon music tour and we really encourage people to download Chris’ music and attend one of the ‘You Beauty Tour’ events to help build awareness of our cause” says Look Good, Feel Better General Manager Yvonne Brownlie. “It means more women will find out about the support that is available to them or a friend who is dealing with cancer”.
It’s less than 2 weeks in to 2014 and our Worldwide Salon Marketing members are already out of the blocks with a roar with emails and phone calls coming in to our office from excited salon owners telling us about their successful campaigns.
