Social Media

Having trouble figuring our why you don't have Facebook likes?

One challenge of Facebook is understanding a business's role in developing an engaged audience. When you buy radio you basically buy an audience, a known quantity. Radio stations create content and then give it away to anyone interested in what they are broadcasting. This is how they develop an audience. For example, you can buy "time" on a station that appeals to women between 35 and 49 based on music preferences for that "demo." Essentially you buy the right to interrupt the target audience's free music and try to get their attention for your advertisement.

Facebook is different. The traffic on any Facebook page (personal or business) comes from content its owner creates and delivers. If you want Facebook fans you must create a page that is as interesting (or useful) to your target audience as the music on their favorite radio station is to them.  If your Facebook page is not relevant, fun or useful no one (but your blood relatives and BFFs) will "like" it. To put it another way, your posts have to be worth liking.

If I have a shop selling cookies, my very best friends and customers might like my page just because they love me or my product. But if my Facebook page is inconsistent and boring they might keep buying my cookies (or might not if I irritate them) but I will eventually lose them as Facebook fans. There are plenty of other interesting pages to read and only so much time in a day.

What if, instead, I post a picture of a plate of cookies with a kid's hand-written note saying "i luv u momee" or "sory i broc your window" to generate engagement?  What if I invite people to post pictures or stories of cookie apology-worthy moments? Your goal is to create connections with an interesting post that will be "liked" and more importantly shared with lots of "friends" who might wonder where they could get those tempting cookies.

At Spaboom, we have created really clever ways (like Sweepstakes) to build your fan base over time, but these clever tools work best if you already have an interesting Facebook page.  What makes an interesting Facebook page? That depends on your business and your customers. There is one sure measurement of a quality on a Facebook page, the number of likes, comments and shares you get from your posts. If that number is 0 you have some work to do if you want to be liked.

Posted in General, Social Media, Spa Marketing • 6 Comments »

Janell was "rocking the webinah" yet again with a presentation on how to reward your clients with . . . Rewards! This is SpaBoom's newest feature and ready for your use and feedback (see our blog post on how to get it started in mere moments, here: Reward Your Repeat Customers)

Watch the engaging and quick webinar on strategy and how to hit the ground running (the start is even hitting the ground running – sorry for that!), held on April 17th: Thanks For Being a Friend

Download the presentation: Thanks For Being a Friend [PDF]

Posted in Creating Customers, Social Media, Spa Business Management, SpaBoom New Features, SpaBoom Webinars • Comment »

Remember that whole Timeline thing? Now that it's old news and we're all used to it and stuff, we have some follow up on changes to the Facebook Sweepstakes app.

We want the app to draw people in for you whether you are running a Sweepstakes or not. Therefore, we've added the ability to drive email newsletter subscriptions when you're not running a Sweepstakes. You can turn this on by going to Marketing/Social Media/Facebook Authorization. Customize the text that appears and save and you are ready to go. When fans visit the app and you're not running a Sweepstakes, they'll be prompted to sign up!

We've also created some pretty new images for the Sweepstakes App that you can upload to your Facebook page. In the spirit of promoting email signups, these images say "Follow us!" You can download the images (and instructions for how to use them in Facebook) here. We'll be adding new images throughout the year, so check back from time to time.

Posted in Social Media • Comment »

We hope you found much to love in our Facebook Timeline for Brands webinar. Considering the changes went live today on Facebook, you need to make sure your strategy is in place to present your very best face forward to your public – clients and future customers!

Download and follow along with the presentation here: Facebook Timeline Webinar Slides.

Watch the webinar on all these changes and your strategy, held on March 27th: Facebook Timeline for Brands

Download the presentation: Facebook Timeline for Brands [PDF]

Posted in Social Media, Spa Business Management, Spa Technology, SpaBoom Webinars, Tutorials • Comment »

Facebook Timeline goes live for brands today.

Early results are in with some interesting revelations that you can apply to your spa or salon business right now. It’s important to proactively make these changes to leverage the enhanced look and to increase engagement with your fans.

Here are 2 key insights so far:

Photos and videos increase engagement.

Wildfire Interactive conducted a study by looking at 43 brands, ranging in fans from 20 thousand to 40 million, and analyzed key engagement variables (21 days prior to and 21 days after the change). They found that the new Timeline layout enhanced engagement because images and videos are displayed more prominently on the page; videos and pictures have been shown to garner more attention and with the new format, they are getting more comments as well.

New pinning feature increases engagement

Pinning is a new Facebook timeline feature that allows your spa or salon to "pin" a particular post/promotion to the top of your Facebook page where it will remain for up to 7 days.

Search Engine Watch reports that timeline’s new pinning feature has helped lift brand page engagement, as analyzed by Simply Measured. Pinning allows your fans to clearly see important content and gives you the ability to tell your story more effectively.

Think about what your fans need to know about your business first and then pin that item to the top. It could be a video about your latest service, a new promotion or an event going on in your spa or salon. Your fans will take a look at your cover photo and then directly to your pin to see your latest news.

Make sure your cover photo is attractive and represents your brand. You can now add key dates and milestones to your page so take time to fill it in completely. It's important to use the new pin feature effectively by changing it out on a regular basis. Finally, manage your page by adding photos and videos that increase engagement for your business.

Take a peek at the webinar we did this week, going over everything: Facebook Timeline for Brands.

Posted in General, Social Media • Comment »

It's a leap year, but February was still a short month. So, how many minutes on average did women aged 25 to 54 with children spend on Facebook in February? You guessed it, 484 minutes.

Packaged goods stalwart P&G has taken notice:

P&G is widely reported to be reducing their marketing budget, and then focusing more of what's left on social media. And you should do the same. You may not have the celebrity endorsements of Ellen DeGeneres and Sofia Vergara, but you don't need it. You're not trying to get people to talk about Pepto Bismol and Tide. You want them to talk about going to spa, which they already want to do!

Your clients are on Facebook. Their friends are on Facebook. And those are the people you want, so you have to be on Facebook. Spend less money and get more clients.

Posted in Social Media, Spa Marketing • Comment »

Jason Spero, Head of Global Mobile for Google, has developed his 12 mobile predictions for 2012 based on a recent research report, Our Mobile Planet: Global Smartphone Users.

Smartphones and tablets are changing the dynamics of everyday life and are impacting how spas and salons communicate with clients online. Our love affair with mobile devices creates tremendous opportunities as well as new challenges that local businesses must face head on. Spas and salons that take a proactive approach to mobile will be far ahead of the pack by years end. SpaBoom's dynamic websites automatically detect a mobile device and show an optimized mobile version, which is better for SEO. Your address links to Google Maps so clients can find you, and your phone number becomes a link so they can call you.

Don't wait, changes are happening quickly and your ability to adapt your mobile strategy will be a critical component for effective client engagement. Start by checking out Jason's predictions and then take a look at some of our recent posts about tablets and optimizing your website for speed and mobile.

Here are Jason's 12 predictions for significant developments in mobile in 2012:

• More than 1 billion people will use mobile devices as their primary internet access point.
• There will be 10 days where >50% of trending search terms will be on mobile
• Mobile’s role in driving people into stores will be proven and it will blow us away
• “Mobile driven spend” will emerge as a big category
• Smartphones will prove exceptional at driving a new consumer behavior
• Tablets will take their place as the 4th screen
• New industry standards will make mobile display easy to run
• 5 new, mobile first companies will reach the Angry Birds level of success
• The ROI on mobile and tablet advertising will increase as a result of the unmatched relevance of proximity
• The intersection of mobile and social will spark a dramatic new form of engaging consumers
• 80% of the largest 2,000 websites globally will have an HTML5 site
• One million small businesses globally will build a mobile website

Posted in General, Social Media, Spa Marketing • Comment »

You may have noticed that Facebook announced that Timeline is now available for Pages. In fact, all Pages will be converted to Timeline by the end of this month. We're recommending that you hold off converting your business page to Timeline until we've had a little more time to develop a comprehensive social media plan around this exciting new design.

If you've already converted your Page, don't worry! It didn't break anything.

Today we're going to spend a little time in this post discussing what Timeline is and how it works. The next post in this series will discuss more of what you should do with your Timeline.

Cover Photo

The first thing to see on a page is a big beautiful cover photo. The cover photo has to be at least 399 pixels wide. If you pick a photo that is too small, it'll get stretched and look funny. If you pick one that is larger than the minimum size, you'll be able to drag it around to select the part of the photo you want to appear. Please be aware that cover photos are not supposed to contain:

• Price or purchase information, such as "40% off" or "Download it at our website"
• Contact information, such as web address, email, mailing address or other information intended for your Page's About section
• References to user interface elements, such as Like or Share, or any other Facebook site features
• Calls to action, such as "Get it now" or "Tell your friends"

Profile picture

You still get a profile picture for your Page. This picture will appear with all your Page's posts.

About

The About section will include the address, phone number and hours (if you want).

Custom App views

To the right of the About section, is a section of up to 12 views of custom apps. The first four appear "above the fold" while the remaining views are accessed by clicking the More button.
The most important apps should be above the fold, including the Boomtime Sweepstakes app (naturally).

Photos

The Photos view is the only one that you can't move. It will always be in the first position.

Likes

If you click through on the Likes view, you can see a graph of the Like activity and other Insights information.

Other App views

For the remaining views, you click the More button to edit the views and then use the pencil to make changes to the view.

For example, you can select to swap the location with another view.

For some apps you can change the name and the image that appears with it. This is done through the Admin panel and is discussed below. (There is also an Edit Settings link on the pencil drop-down, but it doesn't appear to work in all browsers.)

Once you have your apps ordered and customized the way you want, take a look at the actual timeline.

On the right

On the right side of the timeline, you will see your friends who also like the Page. Under that will be a comment from a friend about this page, if there are any. So this content will be different for every person who views your Page.

Recent Activity

Under the friend-specific activity, a box that shows posts by other fans on the page appears.

The rest of the Timeline

The rest of the Timeline shows posts by your Page. There are a number of ways to make a post stand out and get attention.

Milestones

You can add posts and designate them as Milestones. Click the Milestone button in the post window to create a Milestone, such as when the business opened. Milestones appear as highlighted posts in the timeline.

Pinned topics

You can pin a post so that it stays at the top of the timeline. It will stay at the top for seven days. You can only have one pinned post at a time. You can pin the post from the pencil menu in the upper right-hand corner of the post. A pinned post will display a little bookmark graphic on it. Why does it have a bookmark instead of a little pin? No one knows.

Highlighted topics

Highlighting a post makes it spread across both sides of the Timeline. Click the star in the upper right-hand corner of a post to highlight it. You should consider adding a dramatic picture to highlighted posts to make the most of the expanded room.

Messaging

Messaging allows fans to send you message directly without having to post on the Timeline. This is handy when fans have sensitive information to transmit. You can't initiate messages with a fan. You can turn off Messaging through the Admin panel.

Admin panel

Open the Admin Panel. You can see some summary information about your page here. This is also where you see Messages from fans.

When you Edit Page, you have access to turn off messages and set the posting level to the page so that posts have to be reviewed before they will show up. Don't turn that option on, btw, we're just pointing out that it's available.

This slight overview should give you a lot to think about as you plan the transition for your business page.

Posted in Social Media • 3 Comments »

It's only been a few days since Janell presented her amazing webinar on revitalizing your salon's marketing image, and our materials are ready so you can relive the experience, or see it fresh. (Join us next time for awesome Q&A at the end and the chance to get your inquiries addressed.)

You can perfect your salon's marketing image, taking advantage of the first 2 biggest and busiest seasons in the industry — Mother's Day and The Wedding Season.

Janell demonstrated how to craft perfect multi-media campaign messages, utilize interesting and expert tips, and broaden your message reach while creating convenience for your clients — all in less time than a color treatment takes!

Watch the video:

Download the presentation: 30 Minute Salon Marketing Makeover [PDF]

Posted in Creating Customers, Social Media, Spa Marketing, SpaBoom Webinars • Comment »

If you've heard of our amazing Facebook Sweepstakes capabilities but have been hesitant to try it out, we've made it even easier.

First, we have a one-page guide to success for your first (or fortieth!) Sweepstakes using our experience with small businesses all over the country:

Facebook Success Guide

Included on that guide there is a perfectly summarized video you can watch in under 3 minutes that shows you the simple process of setting up a Sweepstakes.

Now, get going and grow your Likes!

Posted in Creating Customers, Social Media, Spa Marketing • 2 Comments »

We have all recently realized just how close we are to Kevin Bacon, but did you know that now, thanks to Facebook, you might be able to reach him in just over 4 Facebook friends? Whew, good to know and just in time for the remake of Footloose!

Marking the distance between ourselves and others is a very human characteristic. One of the best ways for spas and salons to connect the distance between the business and consumers is by utilizing social media as a networking advantage.

With the holidays upon us one of the quickest and fastest tools to build buzz and generate interest in your Spa /Salon’s holiday gifts is through social media, specifically Facebook.

Facebook is the quickest and most expedient way to share information about your services and holiday gift solutions with a much larger audience now more than ever before. Think about this example – I send my best friend in New Hampshire a gift certificate for her birthday, she posts it on Facebook; her sister-in-law who lives in Spain, sees the post, and buys a spa package gift certificate for the two of them to use while she is visiting over Christmas. What could be better than free advertising, a returning client and the purchase of a larger Christmas package gift certificate? Facebook makes the connection that easy.

You may not like the idea of Facebook, or use it personally, but don’t you want to reach those potential spa and salon goers who are talking about their next purchase, hair cut or service treatment? And who knows, maybe Kevin Bacon will stop in!

Posted in Creating Customers, General, Social Media, Spa Gift Certificates, Spa Marketing • Comment »

It's going to be an epic Cyber Monday, with $1.2 billion in online sales expected today. Mobile sales are a growing portion of online transactions, fundamentally changing holiday shopping and bringing an extra dose of revenue to savvy, mobile-ready retailers. Smart phones have changed our purchasing behavior forever. The number of consumers using smart phones to purchase gifts is expected to double to 14.5% this holiday.

SpaBoom's Dynamic Websites can automatically detect a smartphone user and deliver an optimized mobile version of your website. Your address becomes a link to Google Maps so customers can find you, and your phone number becomes a link so they can click to call you. Best of all, unlike creating a separate mobile website, the SpaBoom mobile version of your Dynamic Website is great for SEO (search engine optimization).

So what can your spa or salon do to catch more smart phone consumers sales this holiday?

Provide Stellar Customer Service

During the holiday many stores are too busy to provide customers with great customer service. Make sure your spa or salon is ready with superior service this holiday . You are a service business so use that to your advantage and shine above the rest of the fray.

Check Online Reviews Daily

Take a look at your spa or salon's online reviews every day. If you need to address any last-minute issues do it right now. You don't want to lose a sale over a bad review.

Create Simple, Valuable Promotions for Customers

Spas using the strategy outlined in our recent article on great Last-Minute Cyber Monday Ideas are generating up to 80% more business than a similar promotion from last year. Click here to see how you can set one up too.

Reward Social Media Use

Encourage your clients to check-in on Facebook at your business and give them an extra incentive when they do it. This targeted marketing will increase your online visibility with friends of existing customers.

This Cyber Monday 17.8 million people will use their phones to shop for deals and your spa or salon needs to be ready online to deliver a great experience and stay top-of-mind throughout the holiday.

If your site is not mobile optimized give us a call today!

Posted in General, Social Media, Spa Marketing • 2 Comments »

I received an email today from Amazon, inviting me to enter their sweepstakes on Facebook to win a Kindle. Over four weeks, they are giving out 4 Kindles plus 3 to the friends of the winners.

So, I can go to Facebook and Like Amazon, then enter the sweepstakes. Guess how many people Like Amazon right now? 1,686,315 (Scratch that.  Since starting this post they are now at 1,689,515.) Now, that might not be nearly the same number as those that have entered the contest, but really, what kind of odds does that represent? That's about a 1-in-fuggedaboutit odds. I might as well buy a lottery ticket. (Or just buy a Kindle. Perhaps that's the real hook.)

However, YOU can give your clients what they deserve — both the amazing gift of YOUR services, and a real actual chance to win. If you have a few hundred Likes, or even a few dozen, or a few thousand, the clients that enter your sweepstakes using the BoomTime Sweepstakes feature, they can count on having a fighting chance on seeing some gift certificate joy.

Now, that's something to get excited about.

Feel free to tout this very sentiment when you promote your Sweepstakes – use my words all you want. I won't mind.

Posted in Creating Customers, Social Media, Spa Marketing • Comment »

Need some effective and engaging social media tips to quickly incorporate into your holiday marketing plans?

Blue Glass blogger, Kerry Jones, offers up 60 creative social media tips that will help you connect and share your unique brand of spa or salon this holiday season. Some of her tips are more applicable to spas and salons than others but her blog post will get you thinking about new ways to add social media to your existing marketing strategy today and throughout 2012.

SpaBoomer's have access to powerful tools to promote great deals so think about running a BoomTime Deal during the holiday. It's easy to set-up and will get your clients excited about your holiday promotions.

A holiday Facebook Sweepstakes takes about 5 minutes to set-up and allows your spa or salon to gather new Facebook fans in a short amount of time. It's viral in nature; the sweepstakes application creates an incentive for existing fans to invite new people to increase the chances of winning. A more robust fan base means more people get your Facebook posts on their news feed during the holiday. In addition, when someone enters your sweepstakes they provide an email address and can give permission for your spa or salon to market to them. Those new email addresses go directly into your SpaBoom account. That means a new set of customers will see your holiday promotional email campaigns.

Use Facebook and Twitter to promote your spa or salon as a gift-solution center. You can promote treatments, product/service packages and create the awareness that your business offers a last-minute gift solution with Instant Gift Certificates.

Posted in General, Group Deals, Social Media • Comment »

Or maybe we should just say, "Let the real you shine through!"

More and more businesses are hiring out their social media management, often with mediocre or just plain dismal results.

Why doesn't hiring a 'pro' for this work?

Your social media audience, particularly your Facebook friends, want your thoughts, your expertise, your style, your viewpoint out there, not some canned copy that's being used repeatedly and which means, well, certainly less than what you have to say.

SpaBoom takes all the pain out of keeping it real out on Facebook-your posts are created automatically, and reflect exactly what you are featuring and promoting at any given time, so it's always all about your newest news.

3 Social Media Blunders To Learn From, on OpenForum.com, elaborates in Blunder 2:

So put the "real" you out there or you may find your following shrinks, rather than expands like you'd like.

It'll be time well spent.

Posted in Creating Customers, General, Social Media, Spa Marketing • 1 Comment »

Imagine if you installed a phone in your place of business and invited people to get in touch with you that way. Your phone number is easily found on the internet and anyone could call. And then… you pick up the phone about one in every 20 times it rings. Crazy, right?

This is what a new survey found on Facebook business pages – 95% of posts to business Facebook Pages go completely unanswered. Wow.

Some industries are better than others (telecommunications companies tended to be at the top and they're still just 25%!). Overall, it's pretty bleak. Luckily, it is not hard to fix.

There are clearly easy ways to build your customer relationships, and social media is one of the easiest. But you DO have to pay attention. Set up a notification so that you receive a text or an email when someone posts to your Wall. If the sheer volume would overwhelm your SMS plan, you might have other issues in managing your business. A couple per day or week isn't going to put much dent in your phone usage or even your free time.

Even when someone just posts a "thank you!", or a "I love this spa!" — give them feedback.  Acknowledge and thank them for reaching out.  For actual questions or concerns, handle those as needed.  Address posts as soon as possible — by the end of the business day is best.  Keep a good track record and your clients will be singing your praises — even more than they already do.

Posted in Creating Customers, Social Media, Spa Business Management • Comment »

It's the end of September. NOW is the time to perfect your holiday marketing campaign. It might seem soon, but trust us, your clients shop earlier every single year and having your strategy in place as soon as possible will get YOU in front of their shopping list before many of your local competition. Our webinar this week is exactly what you need.

Janell and Dena were rockin' and rollin' on Wednesday, taking a holiday-hungry audience through tips to leverage your online holiday marketing campaigns, resulting in growth potential for the coming year and increased revenue for your salon/spa this holiday season.

If you could not join in for the engaging presentation, just view and download our webinar files on your own schedule — but do it soon!

Watch the Video: Ignite Your Holiday Revenue for 2011

Download and follow along with our presentation [PDF]

Posted in Creating Customers, Holiday Promotion Brief, Social Media, Spa Gift Certificates, Spa Marketing, Spa Search Engine Optimization (SEO), SpaBoom Webinars • Comment »

Huzzah! If you had to suspend a Sweepstakes, please contact support to start it up again. If you weren't running a Sweepstakes — well, why not? Now is a good time to start one.

Posted in Social Media, SpaBoom System Events • 5 Comments »

Well, Facebook hasn't fixed the bug that caused our Sweepstakes app to stop working, so we've been busy totally re-writing the app. We're testing now and expect the fix to be available soon.

Posted in Social Media, SpaBoom System Events • 1 Comment »

Facebook introduced a bug yesterday that prevents your clients from actually entering your sweepstakes which pretty much defeats the purpose of running them. While we're working on a way around this issue, we've made it so you can't create a new Sweepstakes event. Sorry about that but it's for your own good. If you are running a sweepstakes right now, please contact support for options. Stay tuned for updates!

Posted in Social Media, SpaBoom System Events • Comment »