Salon Tracker Software: Our Social Media Tips for Salon Owners

Over the last decade, Social Media has become one of the main communication methods and promotional portals for the majority of businesses, whether these be start-up, SMEs or blue chip organisations. Social networking combined with the massive increase in smart-phone users, means that social media marketing is now one of the fastest ways in which businesses can relay a message to its consumers, as these can be received instantly on a mobile device or tablet.

Here at Salon Tracker, we just wanted to give you guys as salon owners a few tips on how you can use social media to your advantage and hopefully increase profits by doing so, whether this be through paid advertising or a bit of free PR:

- If you haven’t done so already, set your business up on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and Google +. Company pages are FREE to set up, and whilst these channels may not necessarily apply to every business, for salon owners, Pinterest and Instagram are great places to visually showcase your salons’ work and to also gather inspiration. Facebook, Twitter and Google+ are the three other most popular social media channels, in which engagement is key on Facebook and Twitter and you can gather customer reviews through Google + and also Facebook again.

- Now you’ve created the above, it’s time to plan your content. For those of you that are worrying about managing these social media networks around your busy salon schedule, there is no need, as there are websites out there to help you. A great one is the specialist social media management scheduler ‘Hootsuite’.  Hootsuite allows businesses to plan their Tweets, Facebook and Google+ posts for weeks/months in advance, meaning that whenever you have a spare couple of hours, you can schedule your messages that will then be posted automatically at your chosen times. Again, this site is FREE to sign up to and gives you the peace of mind that your social media is under control whilst you are busy keeping an eye on the salon. Another great tool on Hootsuite is their ‘auto-schedule’, which after you have been using the scheduler for a couple of weeks, it will automatically post status’s/tweets/updates at optimum times based on the performance of your previous media.

- Create a professional company website. Along with the increase in social media, comes the rise in people browsing the web, in which now many businesses have had to ensure that their website is optimum for mobile, as over 50% of people searching the web use their smart phone in which to do so. (Dailymail, 2015) Another plus of having a website is that your salon business is present on google, in which enhances your search engine optimisation (SEO). This evidently meaning that when it comes to your target market searching for salons in your area, or salons that offer similar services, your salon will appear higher up in the google ranking dependent on your SEO. SEO is improved the more content that is published containing a back-link to your website, which will be increased through reviews, conversations on salon related social forums, such as Salon Geek, and also though blog posting – which we will come on to next.

- Create a company blog and have your professionals showcase their work and styling tips through content. Not only is this interesting for your followers and a great place for them to gather inspiration, it will also as mentioned above, increase your company SEO. Use your employees expertise to create engaging content and share these on your social networks to gain yourself a further chance of external sharing and backlinks to your website. You can also share these posts yourself on your google+ pages and salon forums to improve the readership level and to increase brand awareness.

- Facebook Ads! 9/10, Facebook is one of the main social networks, especially for salon owners and one of the main platforms that their target market will be using. FB ads are extremely simple to create and aren’t too text heavy, meaning that they are easy for consumers to interpret, providing that a powerful image and caption is used. Facebook is a fantastic platform for B2C marketing and also, an excellent tool to attract further consumers as your updates can be shared and updated among individuals & their friends. You can set budgets per month for your Facebook ads so that initially you can test out a couple of layouts to see which would work best for your business and also, so as to ensure that you keep within your marketing budget until you have seen the ROI from your campaigns.

- Engaging content that is posted at Optimum times! It’s alright being present on all the relevant networks but you need to make sure that you are scheduling updates to be posted at the best possible times in order to achieve a high level of engagement. According to the Huffington Post (2016) for maximum viewing and re-tweets on Twitter, content should be posted at either 12pm (to attract people on a lunch time) or between 5pm/6pm (attracts people on commute from work.) For Facebook, according to Microsoft (2016) the best time to post to achieve maximum shares and FB likes is on a Friday afternoon between 1pm & 3pm, as the average post life is much longer on a FB newsfeed as a pose to on a Twitter feed. Plus, the more likes a post has, the higher up the feed it will appear, meaning that it will be shared constantly through in to Friday night. Instagram is slightly different again, as the main achievement here is to gain as many likes on pictures as possible, as the more likes your content has, the more likely it is to appear on the main Instagram news page. According again to Huffington post and Latergramme (2016), Wednesday at 5pm is the best time to post on the Mid-week commute. For many consumers, they will scroll aimlessly through their social media channels until they come across something enticing or entertaining, therefore make sure that your content is always No.1 relevant, and No.2 interesting, to capture the attention of your target market. Then be sure to check that your content is constantly refreshed and you’re not repeating yourself too much.  That way, you are ensuring that the consumer then remains a follower of your social media pages and hopefully, will help to promote your content to others in order to achieve a greater following.

Hope these tips helps, Happy Marketing!

Salon Tracker x

Salon Tracker: Beauty Product of the Month

It’s been quite a while since we’ve done a product review, therefore with Spring fast approaching (with the hope that the recent un-seasonal snow has eventually left us for good!) we thought that we would share one of our fave collections for this season, that being one of OPI’s latest Spring polish collections: ‘New Orleans’. (OPI)

Made up of 12 different colours, the collection is heavily inclusive of pinks, purples & blues. However, there are a mix of bright corals to subtle chromes and even a deep green thrown in there, making there a colour to suit every occasion, and the shades will last perfectly in to the Summer months. Be it dull days with April showers or glorious sunny afternoons, these polishes are designed to complement each outfit perfectly.

Ranging from £10.00-£12.50 a bottle, these are a fantastic investment for every girls nail collection, and also, a great addition to beauty salons who already use and offer the OPI range. What do we love about OPI? The bottles seem to last forever, with sometimes only one coat being needed for that bold nail statement...A must-have nail Collection for 2016!

Our favourites are Humidi-Tea & Got myself in to a Jambalaya, what's yours?

Check out OPI's 'New Orleans' Collection Below:

Salon Tracker x

I'm so Swamped

Humidi-Tea

  

    Suzi Nails New Orleans

Let me Bay you a Drink

Manicure For Beads

            

        Spare me a French Quarter

          

                       She's a bad Muffa Letta

  Crawfishin for a Compliment

Got myself into a Jambalaya

Rich girls and Po-boys

Take a right on bourbon

Show us your tips

OPI. 2016. Web. 3 May 2016.

Salon Tracker: How our Salon Software can help to improve the Safety & Security of Tanning Salons

It’s that time of year again, as we approach the season where glow & glamour is on high demand…but is your tanning salon as safe and secure as it could be?

You’ve probably heard us mention before if you already follow our news feed that trading standards ‘unannounced’ salon visits are on the up. According to the Daily Mail (2015) “three salons were each fined £250 last year for allowing illegal tanning”, and these fines can be as excessive at £10k.

We don’t want this to happen to you and that’s why as we enter the beginning of peak tanning season, here at Salon Tracker we wanted to reinforce the importance of following the legal tanning guidelines and also, how our software can help to enforce that.

Our software packages include many features that contribute towards safely tanning clients and so we have listed a few below so that you guys gain an idea of how we can help!

Enable Tanning Rules

For any client that you add in to the Salon tracker system, there is the option to add a date of birth, in which salon owners could enforce a rule that all ID must be checked to log a date of birth accurately. The benefit for tanning salons of this feature is that they can then turn on our ‘tanning rules’ which then completely disables anyone whom has a date of birth saved that is under 18 from being able to book on to a sunbed. Similarly, another rule is that clients whom have had a sunbed in the last 24 hours, a rule notification would flag up that this particular client had already used a sunbed in the last 24 hours, again disabling them from booking another until it is out of the 24 hour time period.

E-signature attached to all digital client cards

As part of our Professional software package and above, we offer integration with an electronic signature pad, meaning that for any type of salon, including tanning, all disclaimers can be signed for electronically and saved to a client’s digital record card. Not only is this an efficient welcoming process, it is also space saving as salons can do away with their paper disclaimers and record cards!

Fingerprint Recognition for Staff and Clients

Again, on the Professional package and above, our software integrates with a fingerprint reader, which can be used not only secure client details but to also track staff shift patterns and activity. For tanning salons in particular, this helps to lock down on illegal tanning as a fingerprint is unique to any one person and therefore no one can fraudulently use someone else’s data to tan. Another plus is that salon owners can track when an employee started and finished their shift, and also what they were doing during the duration of that, therefore meaning that staff equally can’t abuse the system and no ‘miscellaneous’ minutes can be booked by employees.

T-Max Integration an Accurate Minute Tracking

T-max integration is beneficial in terms of taking control of your tanning business, as every minute that is used on the sunbed is accurately tracked and has to be assigned to a particular client. The T-Max integration allows a live bed view, meaning that technicians and clients can see an accurate countdown of how long a customer has remaining on that particular bed. Again, this means that there will be no ‘mysterious’ freebie minutes given away or any ‘missing’ tokens, as all tanning minutes that have been put through the system that day will appear on a report as service minutes, in which you can also track this by bed number.

Home Access for Salon Owners

Salon owners now have the ability to view business activity including reports, such as daily takings and stock checks, accurately track KPI’s and monitor staff shift patterns- all whilst absent from the salon. Our software will track all transactions undertaken by each employee login, meaning mistakes or malicious tanning bookings cannot be covered up. The staff rota reports that record each employees’ clock-in and out time via the fingerprint reader will accurately track the duration of those staff shifts and will highlight any lateness, in which an owner can identify from home and follow up on their salon return.

If any of the above sounds like it would benefit you, why not get in touch and have a chat with a member of our team? Everyone who enquires is entitled to a FREE no obligation fortnight trial of our software…to receive your trial click the link > http://www.salontracker.co.uk/FreeTrial.aspx

Salon Tracker x

National Hairstylist Appreciation Day 2016!

It’s that time of year again, the day that is celebrated nationally, recognising the hard work and commitment of all the great stylists out there – its National Hairstylist Appreciation Day! For those of you who followed our news page last year, you may remember that we shared our top 21 points that we need to thank our hairdressers for (and if you didn’t catch that, here’s the link http://bit.ly/1Ag8zqh ). This year, we’ve opted for something a little different. As National Hairdressers is celebrated on April 30th each year, we thought that we’d post a little earlier this time, giving you guys some ideas as to how you can celebrate it in the salon and also, use it to promote your business as well! So, here goes…

Appreciation Day Event

The great thing about this year is the national day falls on a Saturday, which is brill in terms of the custom that you would have in on a weekend and also, a fab day to host an event! Advertising your event is also easy, for all of you who are already on Facebook, create an events page which is free to do and list the details to all of your followers. If you have salon software, send out a bulk SMS or email campaign, for a small price you can target hundreds of clients and see the return across the weekend. If neither of the above apply to you, you have always got the traditional paper marketing method, send out postcards to your clients’ addresses, places like Vista print usually have great deals on and it’s often nice for a client to receive something through the post- as it’s quite a rarity nowadays!

Event ideas; you could have a champagne reception for all clients on arrival, with a non-alcoholic equivalent for the kids and some sweets or cupcakes? You could do a re-booking offer, where if customers re-book that day they receive a small discount on their next appointment. Or even run a ‘specials list’ across the weekend, where certain treatments are a cheaper value for ‘one weekend only.’ They are just a few ideas but obviously, you guys will know what has worked well for you in the salon before so National Appreciation day is another excuse to throw another fantastic event!

Goody Bags

A way to recognise the celebration and also, a way to 1. Make clients feel valued and 2. Promote your own treatments & retail products. Some of the beauties of salon goody bags are that you can hand out product samples to prompt clients to buy next time and also, include vouchers or money-off coupons to persuade them to book further treatments. You can get gift bags personalised for a small cost on eBay or on paperbagco, which not only makes the bag feel more luxury, it also increases brand awareness.

Rewards

For any salons that currently have a reward or loyalty scheme, why not create a one-off reward for clients based on the national event. It could worth as little as £5.00 or 10% off. The message could be something like; “We’re celebrating national hairstylist appreciation day & we’d like you to join us…book before <whichever> date to receive £5.00 off your next treatment?” If you push something like this to clients, especially those of you who currently have a mobile app or an SMS marketing feature, you are likely to see return pretty quickly as the message will be received instantly!

Competition

Always a great one to generate brand awareness and a bit of fun between clients. Set up some rules that clients have to abide by to enter, for example it may be £1.00 to enter their details, then all the money generated you could put towards the winning client having a treatment or perhaps vouchers for somewhere- good for any of you salons that team up with other local businesses in the area. Alternatively, you could host a free competition, by adverting this on your social media sites and getting clients to take part by commenting their names below. Another great idea, to boost some team morale, why not host a little competition between you and your colleagues? Up the price of entry a little bit, say £5.00 and depending how big your salon team is, contribute some of the money towards a team night out and the rest towards a little gift for the winner!

Happy Hairstylist Appreciation Day, we hope you have lots of fun celebrating! And to our own hairdressers…here’s to you, thank you!

Salon Tracker x

How you can support ‘Earth Day’ in the salon…

We all know how important it is to recycle and to be as economical as possible within our day-to-day routines, however on April 22nd 2016 the nation will celebrate ‘Earth Day’. It is a day to stress to everyone the importance of looking after the environment, our natural surroundings and also to remind people of the ways in which they could contribute further to looking after our planet. What with global warming on the rise, Earth day is designed to unite the population in how we can all work together to become more Eco-friendly!

So, some of you who have followed our news page for a while may remember that last year we shared a few ideas on how you can ‘be green’ and improve your daily tasks to become more economical. Today we’re going to specialise this purely to salons, as for you guys as business owners and therapists, some of the main improvements could be made whilst you’re at work. Here goes…

1. The obvious one, RECYCLE! Where ever you can, try your best to re-use or renew recyclable materials. Shampoo bottles can be refilled, product packaging can be recycled and delivery boxes can be used for storage.

2. Buy fair trade compliments such as tea, coffee & biscuits…hey they might be a little pricier but at least you know that you’re doing your bit to help.

3. Car share with other fellow employees or if home is within distance, walk to work! Cut down on carbon gasses and also get a bit of exercise out of it, win win!

4. Invest in low energy lighting, the bulbs last longer and they use less electricity than normal ranges!

5. Cut down on the amount of paper that you waste and if you need paper, make sure to buy a recycled batch. Or, even we can help out here…say goodbye to wasting paper completely and invest in our Salon Software! :D We are aware that this will increase the electricity usage, but if you have thousands of clients, it’s surely got to be better than wasting a bit of paper per every client that you have!

6. Do away with disposable towels and use normal cotton ones. Again, this will increase water waste but if you ensure that you only use the washer when there is a full load, then this must be helping save on disposable waste and improve the management of that!

7. Buy natural ingredient products wherever you can, for example soaps in the kitchen or bathroom areas, or even certain cleaning products. Obviously, being in a salon the majority of your beauty products/hair dyes won’t be primarily natural ingredients and this 100% can’t be helped, but by investing in the above products mentioned then at least you are contributing a little bit!

8. Decorate your salon with eco-friendly trimmings! Plants and natural flowers are a great one here, or stones and sand accessories. These will also create a clean feel to your salon which is always a winner with clients!

9. Watch your salon heating! Only have it on when necessary and keep it to room temperature rather than over exceeding.

10. Make sure to switch plugs off, lights off and don’t leave anything on stand-by, not only are you cutting down on energy waste you are also chopping down your electricity bill!


Salon Tracker x

Do you want to improve your tanning business with Salon Software?

So, for all of you who have followed our news page for a while you may remember that around this time last year we shifted our focus on to the safety and security of tanning salons. As we approach the desirable time for tan-lovers again, we thought that we would re-visit this and remind you guys of why Salon Tracker Software can really help to improve the safety, security and efficiency of your tanning business.

Business Security

A main gripe that we found last year was that a lot of tanning salon owners were noticing that their reports from sunbed usage weren’t matching up vs their client record cards. Our salon software eliminates the chance of any miscellaneous minutes, meaning that it accurately tracks all client usage and records this on their digital client card- no more mystery minutes! Business security is improved with our T-Max timer integration, as our software integrates with the timers and tracks client usage exactly as it is, meaning that all sunbed minutes are accounted for and there is no way that a sunbed could be used maliciously, as minutes must be assigned to one person at any time.

Efficiency and Organisation

Our software encompasses a seamless welcoming process for clients, in which in a tanning salon is something that is very beneficial when it comes to the registration process, as you know that every client must be over 18 to tan. Salon Tracker stores all client information under one digital record card, meaning that your salon can become paperless. This also includes disclaimers, as our software has the ability to link up with an electronic signature pad that can be used to sign the disclaimers that will then remain on the customers’ digital record card- no more searching through realms of documents!

Safety and Legality

As we have just mentioned about all clients needing to be over 18 before they can use the sunbed, how can you be sure that you completely eliminate fraudulent behaviour? Our client cards come with password protection so that a customer has to input a 4 digit pin in order to open their client card and book on to a sunbed. However, you do still have that small chance of a client telling a friend the pin and that person may still be under 18, therefore you then have the unfortunate risk of a person using the sunbed illegally. To completely eliminate this, we offer a fingerprint recognition feature where a client’s fingerprint is saved on their record card and only by the presentation of that matching fingerprint are they then able to book on to a sunbed.

Salon Management When Absent

In the past, we have had a couple of Salon owners mention that certain staff members were using the sunbeds for free in their manager or boss’s absence. We have now introduced a ‘HQ’ feature where salon owners can access reports, Salon Activity and staff rotas from home. This being especially useful for tanning businesses with multiple sites, as it can prove to be difficult to keep track of salon happenings at each location throughout any one day. Our enterprise software package also includes a ‘Siteview’ feature that means the same reports can be accessed on the move via a mobile phone or tablet.

So, does this sound like it could help you? For more information why not enquire in to a FREE demo & trial of our software http://bit.ly/RGeGVd or call and speak to a member of our team on 0113 350 8230.

We look forward to hearing from you.


Salon Tracker x

Salon Tracker Software; Tips for 'Spring-stepping' in to Wedding Season!

HAPPY SPRING guys! We absolutely love this season change in particular because it officially means- bridal season (as you can probably tell our marketing team is all female!) We just love seeing all of the hair and beauty looks on social media and seeing all of the new promotions everybody offers. Wedding season is really a great opportunity to capitalise on in the salon industry because every bride (and groom!) wants to look their absolute best on their big day and of course where there is preparation, there is success!

For any bride, especially on her wedding day, it’s absolutely imperative to look 10/10, which is why the preparation and glam squad joining her have to be absolutely on point. On the most important day of her life, she is looking for the WOW factor, which is why below we have detailed alllll the points where you can absolutely nail the marketing with wedding season approaching.

· Marketing- Coming from a salon software point of view, your marketing has to be in tip top shape! Are you engaging with clients and giving them incentive to give you the nudge when they have a friend who is getting married? Nowadays, every business is marketing so you need to give your client reason to choose you, perhaps a complimentary treatment.

· Don’t just focus on the big day- as we mentioned above wedding planning can be a long process, as can new habits and changes in the skin. You need to educate your clients and ensure them that over time, differences will appear in the way they feel and look with investment and commitment. Being a bride is no quick fix situation! Another good point is to remember your bride will have a hen party or engagement that you could potentially up-sell to using group packages.

· Get the groomsmen involved!– There’s more to a wedding day than the bride (I know we don’t get it either). Offer to cater for the male too in terms of shaving and waxing services, or to provide for his skincare for the day. If you have a great brand you use within retail products, why not recommend this. Most males nowadays are extremely open to treatments and services at the salon.

· Online Visibility- For brides, a big part of preparation is research. When they are scouting around researching their options, you need to ensure you are there for them to fall upon. Do you have a website and social media page? Is your website mobile optimised? Are your bridal packages all online with the prices? It’s one thing getting your clients to view you online but it’s another thing getting them to reach out and make that call. Have you thought about targeting your search on Facebook to find ‘engaged’ couples in your area? A great way to get in front of those to be married!

· Imagery Enticement- people aren’t going to come to you without seeing a few reviews; both verbal and visual. They want to see some inspiration with regards to wedding hair, makeup, tan and nails- are your services for them? It could be worth asking your brides and their photographers for professional pictures from their big day to publish on your site for that look of professionalism! 

· Networking- Are you speaking with other wedding suppliers such as photographers, planners and florists? Do they attend bridal fares for customers- how do they get their customers? Speak to them, they are not your direct competition so are probably willing to help or even partner up, if this is something you would consider doing.

· Trust- is crucial and what better way to establish this than with a heart to heart over a nice cup of English tea. Find out about the individual and offer a consultation. Be open about the products, style and techniques you use and what you would recommend for her judging on her appearance, makeup, face shape etc on what you have witnessed so far. You could also offer a bridal beauty checklist, which is a great way to find out their current skin type, body or hair concerns. For example, do they want to build on their natural nails or grow their eyebrows? How can you help them with this? She must feel your priority and know she can trust you to make her look her best on her big day.

· Complimentary Consultation- if you can justify it, don’t charge your bride to be for the consultation. Your sales skills and using all of the above tips should help you out with winning her custom, but not paying for a consultation means two things; you are confident in what you can and will offer, and also, you are looking for the right look and feel for her on this occasion- even if that means trying out a couple of techniques.

· Look and act professional!- This is the most understated tip of the century. If someone turned up late to a consultation, who is to say it won’t happen on your big day? Traffic, the kids playing up, whatever it may be, avoid it at all costs. Be over punctual and over prepared- always! Looking good is also imperative. You are selling your visual skills so who better to model this than yourself.