Creating Awesome with Social Media

As Chief Awesomness Empowerer at Passion Squared, Nina Kovner is the educator to turn to when it comes to building a purposeful brand, empowering entrepreneurs, and educating on all things social media. Nina recently hosted a social media webinar for Sola professionals (if you missed it, you can find a recording inside Sola Pro!). See the below for 10 webinar takeaways and learn how to Create Awesome with Social Media.

1. What is Social Media and Why Does it Matter?

Marketing is no longer about the stuff you make, but the stories you tell – the stories that connect with your audience (your “dream client”) on an emotional level. Marketing is about connection – the feeling someone gets when engaging with your brand.

The fundamentals revolve around the Three Rs: Relationships, Referrals, and Revenue. Everything starts with relationships, and social media provides the platforms that facilitate this process – Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, etc.

2. Building Relationships Online

Where do you focus your efforts and tell your stories? Be where your clients are and create stories that solve their problems, add value to their lives, and align with their beliefs. As a salon owner, it’s important to provide a place for your customers to follow your story as well as a place where they can share their experiences, too! Hand out stickers or business cards that have your social handles and branded hashtags. Or post a sign in your salon encouraging clients to share their experience.

3. Are You Discoverable?

The client journey includes Intent > Search > Discovery > Action. Someone will either click, follow, subscribe, and book, or they will not. Your job is to make the client journey as seamless as possible. The good news is that Sola provides all the platforms you need–a unique website landing page on solasalons.com (edit yours on Sola Pro!) and a booking platform (SolaGenius)–so that you can easily be found (search/discovery) and booked (action)!

4. Yelp

You’re probably on Yelp, whether you want to be or not. The way Yelp works is that it allows customers to leave a review of any business – with or without an “official” listing! You need to claim your Yelp page and respond to reviews – the good and the bad! The beauty of the Internet is that we’ve been given a new layer of word of mouth and referral opportunities. It’s better to know if a client had a bad experience than not know, so that you can correct it. The positives of the platform far outweigh the negatives.

5. #Hashtags

Using hashtags will boost the visibility of your content, so it’s important to include them in your Instagram posts. Adding them directly to your photo caption can be distracting and encourage people to click away from your post. Instead, add them as a comment so that you have the benefits of greater visibility without the clutter. Want to learn more about hashtags? Click here for more info on the Sola Blog.

6. The Three H's of Hashtags

• Branded: Brand recognition tool (#solasalons, #solasalonstudios)
• Local: Based on target market and locations (#soladenver, #denversalon)
• Content Relevant: Based on content (#hairstylist, #nailtechnician, #balayage)

7. Location Tags

Remember that places are searchable on Instagram. Always use the location option in your posts. If someone sees a picture of your work on Instagram and you use a location tag, they will be able to see where your salon is located, in addition to other images that have been tagged with your location tag. 

8. Personal vs. Professional?

Remember to keep your messaging consistent. If your brand message is that you provide vegan, environmentally-minded services, then it might make sense to share a post about a documentary on sustainability or a vegan smoothie recipe. However, it probably wouldn’t make sense to share something about a Netflix show you’ve been binge-watching, or your recent trip to Las Vegas. Remember, your content is your brand!

9. Don't Forget to Listen!

When you post a photo of your work, make sure you respond to the comments just as you would in real life. If a client gives you a shout out on social media, reply to their post and thank them for sharing your work! Your customers want to know that you are listening. A simple emoji will almost always do the trick :)

10. Build a Plan, Launch, Measure, and Adjust

Your plan literally can be on a napkin! You just have to do it. Go for it. And remember, social media is a human-to-human thing. It’s relationships between people. Overthinking is a way to play it safe. You are here to serve your clients and to add value to their lives. The cool thing is that you do this all day long offline.

A recording of the webinar is available inside Sola Pro (in addition to other awesome videos from Nina, created exclusively for Sola). Click here to watch this awesome webinar!