Instagram User newyorkcity Sandy photo

Oh Sandy

“No one is useless in this world who lightens the burdens of another.”

Charles Dickens

 

Instagram User newyorkcity Sandy photo(image courtesy of Instagram user @newyorkcity)

We’ve all seen the photos now, the news, the destruction, the lives lost from Sandy.  We also have witnessed people coming together, being kind to one another, helping friends, family and even strangers.

The social + digital web has allowed us to connect, share news, get updates on our loved ones.  It also can help us come together to help people who are in need.  Each one of us can do our part, whether with our time, our money or both.

We discovered over 600,000 images on Instagram using the hashtag #sandy, as well as several MILLION Tweets.  During the heart of the storm, “We are OK” was the most popular status update on Facebook, bringing some type of calm and comfort to millions who were so worried about their loved ones.  WOW.

Here are a few ways you can help those affected by Sandy’s destruction.

Disaster Relief Fund
The NCA Disaster Relief Fund was established in 1955 to assist salons in rebuilding following the devastation of natural disaster. Over the course of five decades, the fund has been there for professionals in times of dire need.

Red Cross
Each year, the American Red Cross immediately responds to about 70,000 natural and man-made disasters in the U.S., ranging from fires to hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, tornadoes, hazardous materials spills, transportation accidents and explosions.

FEMA
FEMA’s mission is to support our citizens and first responders to ensure that as a nation we work together to build, sustain, and improve our capability to prepare for, protect against, respond to, recover from, and mitigate all hazards.

We can all do our part to help the victims of this devastating natural disaster.  Even if you cannot give money, you can share resources on the social web, volunteer your time, anything, just do something. We thank you, and those in need thank you.

(shared with LOVE from your passionistas Nina + Gordon)
Facebooking for Office

Every Voice Counts

“We’ve GOT to make noises in greater amounts! So, open your mouth, lad! For every voice counts!”

 

Dr. Seuss, Horton Hears A Who!

One week from today, we will be electing a President.  We are not nor would we ever tell you who to vote for, we just want you to vote.  Because every vote, and every voice, COUNTS!

While many of us are exhausted by all the rants and ugliness being shared on our Facebook news feeds,  there is a good news side to all of the craziness.  This infographic on How Social Media Inspires Voters is an awesome example of the engagement and  empowerment the social + digital web has brought to us all.  Wow!

Facebooking for Office Infographic
(Infographic discovered on Mashable, courtesy of Online College Courses.)

Has the social web inspired you to get out and vote?  We sure hope so.

(shared with LOVE from your voting passionistas, Nina + Gordon)

PS: Please vote. Please make sure your voice is heard. It counts.

tribes-by-seth-godin

The S Word

 “Find your should and make it go away.”

Seth Godin

Seth Godin

We LOVE Seth Godin and his daily blog.  Seth is a best selling author, and is known to many as “America’s Greatest Marketer”.  He challenges our minds and beliefs and the status quo.  We heart.

Seth’s message to all of us on the S Word is one we all can benefit from…read on, will you?

“Banks should close at 4, books should be 200 pages long, CEOs should go to college, blogs should have comments, businessmen should be men, big deals should be done by lawyers, good food should be processed, surgeons should never advertise, hit musicians should be Americans, good employees should work at the same company for years… Find your should and make it go away.”

Click here to subscribe to Seth’s blog, and lets all try to replace the S Word with the W word, “would”.  Try it.  It can only make your life more awesome.

tribes-by-seth-godin

One of our favorite books from Seth is Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us.  In this book, you will learn about building community, whether it be your salon clients or brand customers, and how building your own tribe is the best way to grow your business. Click here to purchase.

(shared with LOVE from your passionistas Nina + Gordon)

Delivering Happiness

Delivering Happiness

“I had decided to stop chasing the money, and start chasing the passion.”

Tony Hsieh, Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose

When it comes to providing service (with their own unique brand twist), few companies can come close to Zappos in “delivering happiness”.

Both online and off, it’s so important to remember why we are in business in the first place, to deliver value, an exceptional experience, and more importantly, to ensure our team feels the love, cause when they feel the love, most likely your clients will too!

This is also true when it comes to how you are engaging your clients and team members on your social pages.  How cool is it to know that your job is to deliver happiness, doesn’t that make engaging online a bit more fun?

We heart this video, a fun glimpse behind the scenes of this incredible company, produced by the Zappos team.  Awesome!

Delivering Happiness, the book by Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh, is about the connection between passion, purpose and profits.  We LOVE.  Click here to purchase this awesome book, you will be so happy you did!

To learn more about the Delivering Happiness movement, click here.

(shared with LOVE from your passionistas Gordon + Nina)

Your Content Is Your Marketing

The Tools of The Trade

“What you seek, exists within you. Every resource you need is available to you.”

Marcia Wieder

Your Content Is Your Marketing

When we think of “tools of the trade”, we think of scissors, combs, blow dryers and products, not about the platforms and technology we need to empower our business in the awesome new social + digital world.

Remember, it’s about providing value to your community and becoming more discoverable on the web, to ignite word of mouth and referrals, and this happens by creating fresh, consistent and relevant content on the web.

So we decided to share a few of the “resources” we use, in hopes of making it easier for you to begin your content creation process.

Websites and Blogs
WordPress
We use WordPress for our website. You are on WordPress reading this blog post right now.  It’s fairly easy, we have full control, and once it’s designed, it costs nothing.

Tumblr
Tumblr is a great, and free, social blog platform that is awesome for salons to “anchor” beauty content as its really about images and very few words.

Inbox Marketing
MailChimp
We use MailChimp for our inbox marketing (emails to you).  It’s super easy and free (up to 12,000 emails a month).  Email marketing is still one of the BEST ways to engage clients and drive traffic to your social and digital pages and most importantly, into your salon.

Images
Photo & Quote Apps
While we do not create anywhere near the amount of images you will for your salons social pages, there are some great apps you can use to capture some pretty fantastic, quality images.  You can find these in the App store.

  • Instagram

  • Camera +

  • Instaquote

  • Over

To learn more on this topic, we just had an awesome webinar this week on Content Creation and Curation for Salons. If you want to view it simple click here and we will send you the link to view the recording.

We also offer one-one-one coaching and mentoring to help you better engage in the social + digital space to empower you and your business.  If you are serious about taking your marketing to the next level, click here, and we can chat and see if our program is right for you.

(shared with LOVE from your passionistas Nina + Gordon)