February - Stylist and Salon Newspapers

Marketing with Social Media
Three Months
of Marketing
Elizabeth Kraus
Ding-dong! The doorbell rings while
you are making dinner and (reluctantly)
you answer, opening the door to a total
stranger who (you correctly assume) is
there to make a pitch.
Despite your repeated attempts to (politely)
say, “no, thank you,” the salesperson
(trained to overcome your objections with at
least 99 different scripts) continues to pressure,
cajole, flatter and otherwise annoy
you until you either give in and buy a little
something or send them away with a firm
rejection.
How do you feel afterward? Would you
answer the door to this stranger again or
pretend not to be home? Would you seek
out the company that trained them in order
to make additional purchases, thanking them
for preparing the salesperson not to take no for
an answer? Or would you craft a less complimentary
message for this company?
While, for the most part, traditional
marketing and advertising is comprised of
overt sales and brand messages and a call
to action, when it comes to social media
marketing, one of the keys to a successful
strategy lies in the first word: Social.
While you may include overt marketing
messages on your social marketing channels
once established, your primary goal in using
this media should be to further increase
your web presence, letting customers and
prospects know more about who you are
(sharing your values, principles, expertise),
and creating opportunities for word-ofmouth
marketing.
Using social media marketing channels
to facilitate a hard sell message is a turn-off
that will likely ensure that your sites receive
significantly less – not more – traffic.
Why? In social media marketing you are
inviting your customers and prospects to
engage with you on a more personal level.
You are asking them to trust you enough
for an introduction to their friends, family,
co-workers and neighbors. How personal
would you get with the salesperson at the
front door? Would you send them on to
your family and friends?
When it comes to social media marketing
for your salon, remember this is not just another
marketing channel. Before you set up a
Facebook page for your salon or professional
services, set up a Facebook page for yourself.
Add “Friends” and review their pages; chances
are you will find that they are on Facebook
primarily for social purposes and engaged
primarily in social conversations.
When it comes to your salon’s social
media marketing, use these channels in such
a way that it is welcome in the lives of your
readers. Craft messages that will be seen as
an organic part of the conversation found in
the “News Feed” on Facebook, rather than
blatant sales pitches. Use these sites as if
you were invited into the living room of the
reader for a visit; yes, you would talk about
your business, but you would not try to sell
them – well – anything.
One of the best aspects of social media
marketing is that there is little monetary
cost associated with its use; however, it
can become a costly endeavor in terms of
time, especially when this assignment is
one added to a long list in the life of a busy
salon professional.
Some guidebooks suggest that as much
as 25 percent of your working time should
be devoted to social media channels. While
the time you need to devote to this aspect
of marketing may vary, the point remains
that to be effective, it requires that time be
consistently invested in updating, blogging,
adding photos to demonstrate your work,
inviting people to events and providing follow
up to questions and comments.
Like any other campaign, your social
media marketing cannot thrive without
being nurtured. If time is at a premium
for you, if you have never ventured onto
the internet or if the idea of setting up a
Facebook page or Twittering makes you
break into a cold sweat, don’t despair!
Social media sites have created interfaces
that can – literally – be managed by even a
computer novice.
If you are still reluctant to do it yourself,
you can readily find a high school student
in your family or among your clientele
aspiring to a future in the salon industry or
marketing who would be thrilled to work
for you for a couple hours each week either
to set up and manage your social marketing
channels on an on-going basis, or to train
you to take over. You may find that once
you begin to experiment with these social
sites, it’s easy to become addicted to the
real conversations that are occurring every
day on the “virtual” world.
And remember, as you wade deeper in to
viral marketing waters, use these channels to
create more “customer love” by sharing stories
about your salon or staff that you would
want to share in your client’s living room,
and that they will want to pass on to others.
Elizabeth Kraus is the founder of Be InPulse Marketing and Design in
Auburn, Washington and the author of 12 Months of Marketing for Salon
and Spa. Email the author at elizabeth@12monthsofmarketing.net.
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CALIFORNIA STYLIST & SALON | FEBRUARY 2010 |