Getting the most out of social media for your business!

The reason why posts/ pictures/ videos go viral is usually down to three things; humour, inspiration or aesthetics. When you bring this into context with salons, you need to question ‘what draws salon clients in?’, ‘what is the reason behind their visit?’ Whether your salon be hair, beauty, fitness or clinic, your clients have somewhere been given inspiration to endure a new creative haircut, beautiful makeover or voluptuous new lips. The key to making your business successful on social media is to become that inspiration, that go to top- tipper. Here are a few simple things you can try to become a social media EXPERT...

1.  Assign a ‘Vlogger and Blogger’ to your salon website and social media. Video blogging has become all the rage since people have realised they can share tips and advice all online. It is the perfect way to be ‘in the know’ about all the latest trends in makeup, hair styles, tanning and so on. This takes time so make sure you allow ‘the chosen one’ at least an hour a day to reply to posts, update new pictures, chat with clients and partake in good PR for your salon. Time and consistency are essential with social media and online so make sure you are inputting 100% and you will reap the benefits.

2.  Use your Facebook cover photo as a place to show latest treatment discounts, promotions and offers. Most people think this should have the same consistent image which is not necessarily true, especially if you are newly established. Remember this is the first thing your current and potential clients will see when they land on your page and there is an enhanced call to action when clients see discounted promotions compared to when they see an image of a massage in action.

3.  List your service fields clearly on Facebook. Your salon might specify tanning, beauty and nails but what kind of beauty? Do you do waxing, eyebrow tints, spray tanning or sunbeds? This could cost you a sale by not being specific enough because some customers will not call up to find out what you specialise in. Make it to the point and clear.

4. Keep up to date with what is going on in your city. Whether there is a big bank holiday event, prom at the local high school or a nationally celebrated day, tailor it to your

treatments somehow. Try partnering with local businesses such as florists on Valentine’s or Mother’s Day to really push the boat out and confirm you to be a key contender for any beauty, hair or spa related business.

5.  Take a picture of your favourite client achievement of the day or week after you have completed your service and put it on Facebook. Always make sure this is okay with your client first but if people see a beautiful new hairdo or some alternative nail art then they are more susceptible to use it as inspiration!

6.  Follow celeb trends! Why not try posting a picture of a celebrity’s new style or smooth face or lovely nails. Tell your clients how achieve this today at your salon with available appointments attached. Imagery instigates urgency so encourage that inner spontaneity.

7.  People who love the beauty industry usually really appreciate ‘hints and tips’. So use your social media expert to get posting new ideas online, to your blog and social media. Even if it’s a quick ‘French Plait- HOW TO GUIDE’. This stimulates a sense of gratefulness which stems to curiosity which can then stem onto footfall.

8.  Post your unique drawings, ideas, photographs or props as originality on Social media. If you don’t want to show things to competitors in your nearby area then why not post pictures of your salon instead. Show your new props or treatments you have purchased or provide because believe it or not, clients will be interested to see what you have that’s ever-evolving.

9.  Never be negative or judgemental about certain hair, nail, cosmetic (you get the picture) looks. They might not be to your acquired taste, however you might have that handful of clients who once thought you were AMAZING but now won’t go to you because you inadvertently called a replica of their new do ‘whack’. Seeya.

10.  Speculate posts carefully before posting. Is every bit of information essential? Clients will read but only if they want to. Encourage a read and keep that engagement by stimulating quickly and ensuring the passage is short and to the point. This is not only more likely to generate reads but will stick in the consumers mind more so.

11.  Don’t be afraid to engage and be social! Comment on things instead of just liking. Engage and show that you see what your clients are seeking. Personal services tend to warm potential clients more so.

12.  Save your best content for the correct time and day. When you measure marketing properly, you should be able to calculate peak points of the day and therefore, pits.

Annual Marketing Ideas for your salon..

Marketing is a fundamental exercise for a beauty salon due to the mere fact that there is so much competition now. The important factor is standing out of the crowd, knowing what your business offers that others do not. 

Most salons offer similar treatments, give or take the odd tweak. The trick is to always go that little bit further to stand out. Market your treatments with a V.I.P service, make it clear that you can offer more without your customer paying more. For example with every manicure, throw in a ‘luxury hand massage’ or add a pedicure with a hot stone foot massage for the winter months ready for flip flop season. This can also be used as a perfect re book time, sell your services and make your customer aware of what they might get with a haircut, an LA blow dry? Think creatively! Why would they go bog standard when they can get premium at no extra price? 

Personalise your services. Whether you have 10,000 or 200 clients, SMS or email marketing is a brilliant way to let people know offers in your salon. Salon Trackers advanced marketing suite allows you to breakdown age, gender, last visit, purchase details and so on, so you can target exactly who you want to. Being personal is the greatest selling tool because it lets people know you are thinking of them as an individual rather than as a sale. 

Marketing, events and promotion need to have some form of consistency. When you decide you need to promote to new clients, set about it in the right way and start a plan for the next 6 months. Know when people want individual treatments…. Here are a few ideas from us for each month.

April/May- Tanning sessions are a safe bet with these months. The run up to summer and the odd sunny day makes us think of the preparation we have to do for our holidays. If you have sunbeds, this is usually an area clients like to ‘build on’. Surround your promotions around the lead up to holidays. However, don’t rule out your safe bets as even in the run up to summer we are prone to April showers. It is important to still incorporate safety treatments as a backup such as massages, hair masks, nails and waxing. Perfect all year round. 

June/ July/ August- The summer months are perfect for targeting body treatment promotions. The occasional heat wave and beer garden events are here so make sure you have the holiday options that everyone wants to see such as manicure, pedicure, waxing and spray tanning/sunbeds. Widen your target market towards the males in this season too. The metrosexual male has made it acceptable for men to look primped and preened in summer too so pull out all the stops for a pre-holiday prep package! School proms tend to be in the summer months too. Do your research and find out what to include in the makeover package then target your local high school mums (the decision makers).

September/October/November- Time to push the darker hair colours, new edgy cuts, lash extensions and HD brows. Roll out the red carpet and roll in the party season prep. Make sure you change up the feel in your salon too to represent promotions, this always helps upselling when you switch up your retail products to deeper treatments and relaxation massages. 

December- The run up to Christmas is always hectic, everyone wants to look their best with countless memories being made at this time of year. Many pictures are taken around this time so much like holidays everyone wants to look their best from their toes to their hair. 

January- Winter warmer treatments, perfect time to incorporate skin renewal treatments, masks for face and hair that might be dry and damaged.

February- Valentine’s Day is the perfect opportunity show the spa and relaxation treatments of your salon for individual or couple’s promotion. In the run up to Valentine’s Day why not offer a full body wax and spray tan at a discounted price. 

March- Tend the girls back into the hair salon with promotions on highlights and lowlights. Use the upcoming spring months as a time to rebuild summer back into your promotions. Inject some life through the treatments and focus on the shine. Don’t forget this is the month of Mother’s Day too so incorporate this into your marketing promotions plan. Get ready for the planning of your Easter promotions.

Pre-Tan Prep!

Give V.I.P service by offering this spray tan after-care advice to all your clients this coming Easter bank holiday, courtesy of Salon Tracker...

Pre Tan Pointers

- Clean yourself up before your spray tan session. Make sure you are all buffed and exfoliated 24 hours prior so your skin is fresh.

- Rid skin of all moistures. Skin shouldn't hold any deodorising products, perfumes, moisturisers or make up on as this can affect the tans development and end result.

- Be sure to remove all extras i.e. jewellery, contact lenses. This will prevent damage to your personals.

After Tan Tips:

- Wear dark loose clothing to protect the tan and your clothing! You don’t want smears on a newly sprayed tan or it rubbing off onto your clothes to stain. Avoid wearing light colours for 8 hours of even 12 to be safe while the tan develops.

- Avoid any water activities for around 8 hours or even 12 to be safe! Whether it be exercising and sweating, bathing or swimming. All strenuous activity is out of bounds! This is us giving you permission to skip the gym- yes! ;o)

- After you have exceeded this time and when it is time to shower, dont worry- it is normal to see the bath tub run orange. It is merely excess liquid on your skin but your tan will still remain with a more natural sun-kissed glow. Just remember when you shower, don't use an exfoliation scrub or blunt blade razor. The tan will need to be treat delicately so wash with a mild lather with your hands and to avoid arguments with your other half/ friends/ parents.....use a dark towel to gently pat yourself down after! If shaving is a must use an electric razor or a lubricated razor if you do not have an electric; keep it gently and to a minimal.

- Apply a light oil or moisturiser to damp skin after the shower and also before bed so that your tan will maintain an even fade. After this initial period, moisturising daily using a thick moisturiser will prolong your tan.

- Exfoliate 3 days after tanning, so your tan fades evenly.

- Certain products such as alcohol based products, anti-ageing products, exfoliation and blackhead scrubs, plasters or stickers can ruin tan by lightening or causing blotches.

- Perfumes and body sprays when sprayed directly onto skin, can remove or fade the tan. Instead, spray on clothing or hair.

Lynsey Bennett, TheSecret Day Spa » Belfast

“We have found Salon Tracker to be an invaluable part of the day-to-day running of our salon. It is so easy to use and our salon is now practically paper free! It is far from being just a booking system as it let's you keep track of stock control, marketing and HR details. 

Our no-shows have decreased by at least 70% and our revenue has increased using the effective marketing features. Having moved premises Salon Tracker has been brilliant, we initially did an advertising campaign to let our clients know our new address, however, it wasn’t until we used SMS messaging that we saw a significant increase in client foot fall. In the first week after sending SMS messages at least 60% of those targeted visited our new salon. 

The marketing function of the software is great, we have an SMS message marketing campaign scheduled for end of Oct 2009. Our aim is to target females 25 + to inform them of new services, such as botox and derma filler injections. As we have captured clients DOB we are able to select the appropriate demographic with no wastage.”

Beauty is a state of mind...

In this 5 minute video Dove go to show the effects and strength of inner beauty and confidence. A lovely little video.

Salon Tracker x

Text marketing can transform your salon business

At Salon Tracker we are seeing many salon owners increasing their sales by using SMS text messaging to customers using our leading salon management solutions provider. Text message marketing gives salons and spas an easy way to increase revenues, avoid missed appointments nor no shows and keep customers loyal.

Salon Tracker managing director Lorraine Cave says: “We like to think that Salon Tracker, which can manage your text marketing automatically, gives salon owner’s marketing strategy a digital makeover. Text message appointment reminders means no-shows are no more. Mobile coupons and discounts are also a simple ways to bring in new customers when business might be slow up a slowdown.

“Sending beauty tips can keep your customers entertained and engaged with your business. And all these messages can be reinforced through the salons website or Facebook page.”

Appointment reminder messages have been proven to dramatically reduce no-shows, and text promotions help maintain a steady flow of clients through your doors and by using its salon management software users don't need to remember to send your messages each day.

Once salon owners have chosen their messages and loaded them onto the system they can send them automatically.

Since 90 per cent of texts are read in three minutes, it doesn’t take long for a steady stream of loyal customers to walk in, often with a friend or two. At Salon Tracker we offer five reasons to text messaging:

• Customers are already texting–why not text with them?

• People will see your texts and 97 per cent of marketing texts are read.

• Texts are instant and can customers into your salon exactly when you need them.

• With texts you can reach your customers any time and anywhere.

• The cost of text campaigns are small - as little as three pence per text.

Salon Tracker users Luke James of Ultra Tan in Hull, says: "We put a text message together on a Friday morning and we had 48 people in that afternoon and evening alone in response. That's a 33 per cent response in under right hours.

“In real terms that was an extra £1,000 sales for a cost of under £20. It's great because the cost is low and it’s easy. We are now experimenting with other offers and getting good responses."

Salon Tracker is available in three formats – Standard, Professional and Enterprise – and allows users to manage every facet of their beauty business.

Fully integrated with Facebook and with a dynamic SMS messaging service, Salon Tracker allows users to manage and prioritise appointments; capture customer information and build an interactive database – which can even tell users how clients like their coffee and market special offers to customers direct from the system with mobile text messages.

The system also delivers fast and efficient Point of Sale with simple business sales reports; cash flow and profit and loss accounts management; staff commission and stock management; and remote access from anywhere in the world – even when the salon owner is on holiday.

The profit power of SMS...

Marketing can be costly, time consuming and difficult to get right. There are a variety of approaches salon owners can adopt to market their business, such as social media, print or online but SMS is one of the emerging trends in today’s market. Here at Salon Tracker, we are seeing many salon owners increasing their sales by using SMS text messaging to customers using our leading salon management solution. You might question why and the answer is that, it is the only form of marketing that reaches your customers instantly and directly. Of course it is of high importance to keep enticing new customers, however new research has proven that it costs six times more to acquire new customers than it does to keep existing ones. Food for thought…

Here are our list of top reasons why you should invest in Salon Tracker and start your SMS marketing ASAP...

1.   Get personal. Text message marketing is a highly personable tool and can help salons increase their profits by encouraging customer loyalty and repeat visits and through preventing no shows. 

2.   Targeted marketing. Look at your customer database, how many people have a birthday in the next two weeks? Birthday messages with vouchers are a great way to increase customer loyalty because the message is targeted directly at the customer (see point 1). This in turn, encourages a booking. 

3.   Reducing No Shows. For most salons no shows can be very weakening, the hour is now wasted and you have lost money. Reminder texts can reduce this problem as clients will be reminded of their booking prompting them to ring if they are unable to make the appointment. Ask all clients to try give 24 hours’ notice so you can try and fill the missed booking.

4.  Filling Cancellations. In addition, the use of text messages can allow you to fill in no-show gaps. You can send a text message to clients offering 50% discount between the hours of 2-3pm for example.  This offer is sure to get your free slot filled and ensure you spend your time productively. You might not make what you would have but anything is something when it is short notice!

5.   Making it simple. Having a salon software system can increase the benefits and ease of using text marketing. Salon software systems allow you to select which clients you want to target in your campaigns, for example you may want to target clients who haven’t visited the salon in the last 6 months with a 20% discount. Birthday messages can be automatically set so you don’t have to spend time checking your client list every day to see who has a birthday. A salon software system will also give reports enabling you to track results to show which campaigns deliver effective response.

6.   Improve client database. Texting can result in word of mouth. If in a group of friends, one receives a texts, she might not be interested but knowledge of certain promotions could almost double the awareness of your salon consequently helping expand your client base.

Salon Tracker is available in three formats – Standard, Professional and Enterprise. Optional integration with online booking, Facebook and a dynamic SMS messaging service, Salon Tracker allows users to manage and prioritise appointments. You have the ability to capture customer information and build an interactive database so that you are giving your clients a first class experience with a first class product. 

Call us today on 0113 350 8230 for your FREE trial!