“Nothing is original. Steal from anywhere that resonates with inspiration or fuels your imagination. Devour old films, new films, music, books, paintings, photographs, poems, dreams, random conversations, architecture, bridges, street signs, trees, clouds, bodies of water, light and shadows. Select only things to steal from that speak directly to your soul. If you do this, your work (and theft) will be authentic. Authenticity is invaluable; originality is nonexistent.”
Jim Jarmusch
(image by Austin Kleon, Steal Like An Artist, discovered on Google)
We LOVE Austin Kleon. He masterfully shares in his book Steal Like An Artist how to use your creativity in the digital age. With the gazillions of images, articles, and information being shared, is there a right way to steal? The graphic above is an awesome illustration the new “rules of engagement”.
Your content is your marketing in the social + digital age, so understanding how to creatively create and curate (find + share) content is now a super important part of how you engage on your social pages.
If you love books like we do, click here to purchase Steal Like An Artist. It’s awesome!
(shared with LOVE from your passionistas Nina + Gordon)
PS: A big shout out of love and thanks to Austin Kleon for teaching us how to steal like an artist. We heart you.
“Things that help others is what gets the most shares.”
Chris Brogan
Even though this video was shot over 2 years ago, it’s still so relevant as Brian Solis speaks about the social value of “checking-in”. It’s a super simple way to understand “social currency” and the “social value” our interactions on the web play into growing our salons, businesses and brands.
“Social currency is represented in the resulting value and sentiment that stems from the exchange of social objects: words, videos, reactions, links. Social currency is a combination of actions and words.”
Brian Solis
So what does that mean for us?
Every time a client has a social interaction with our salon, every time they comment, share, like, and yes, even check-in, they are giving their endorsement of your salon to their group of friends. Sound familiar? Of course it does, it’s good ol fashion word of mouth, it’s just happening online.
When we provide engaging, relevant and valuable information and content on our social pages, people will take action.
Here are some examples of social actions: Facebook
Likes, comments, shares, RSVP’s to events, check-in’s
YELP
Reviews, checking-in
Foursquare
Checking-In, reviews
Twitter
Tweets, re-tweets, @ mentions
Pinterest
Likes, comments, re-pins
Instagram
Likes, comments
So, what are you doing on your social pages to create “social value” and “social currency”? Are you creating and delivering valuable content for your fans and followers or just trying to sell them something? In the end, the more value you deliver, the more actions you will get.
If you are ready to learn how to connect your offline efforts with your online efforts, we offer one-on-one coaching and mentoring to help you craft an awesome social + digital plan designed to increase your social value, currency and ultimately more word of mouth and referrals. Click here to learn more and get started!
(shared with LOVE from your passionistas, Nina + Gordon)
“Do not wait; the time will never be ‘just right’. Start where you stand, and work with whatever tools you may have at your command, and better tools will be found as you go along.”
Napoleon Hill
Meet Danielle Valiente, a super passionate salon owner, stylist, Paul Mitchell educator and blogger taking the social space by storm to get closer to her goals and dreams. Danielle is such a great example of delivering value through engaging content on social platforms and as she adds value, she is getting the attention of the likes of eHow and Lucky Magazine. Danielle took some time out of her super busy schedule to share her thoughts on how she is using the social web to empower herself and her community. Enjoy.
Nina: What are your current goals as a salon owner/session stylist, etc?
Danielle: My current goals as a salon owner are to continue building our brand and salon team. I set goals every year and work hard to reach them. As a session stylist, my goals are to continue to grow my portfolio, my contributions to Lucky Magazine and my video blogging.
Nina: Which social platform are you focusing on to reach that goal?
Danielle: Do I have to pick 1? Currently I use: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube as my main platforms. They each offer a little something different for reaching my audience.
Nina: Why those platforms?
Danielle: I’m focusing right now on building my YouTube presence. I love sharing education and information with people, so I’m using YouTube to bring my blogging education to life.
Nina: How did those platforms help you get closer to your goal?
Danielle: Currently I am one of Demand Media and eHows video talent. Every few months I create a series of how to videos that help hair stylists and the general public learn to do specific techniques related to hair styling.
Nina: What have the results been?
Danielle: eHow just added me to their YouTube page and within that day I already had hundreds of views.
Connect with Danielle on the social web and see all the cool stuff she is doing to build her brand.
“Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world.”
Harriet Tubman
PASSION
pas·sion n.
A powerful emotion, such as love, joy.
Intense, driving, or overmastering feeling or conviction.
Boundless enthusiasm.
SQUARED
squared v.
To raise (a number or quantity) to the second power.
We all understand what passion means, quite frankly, I think our industry invented the word. One of the gazillion awesome things about hairdressers (you) is the beautiful passion that you have for your art, clients, team mates, community and business. But what does Squared mean?
True Story
I will never forget the day, many years ago, when my incredibly awesome mentor and hero, John Paul DeJoria, said to me “I would rather have a passionate bitch working for me than someone who doesn’t care.” I love that man, always have, always will. I took it as a compliment. And he meant it as one. I have always stayed true to my beliefs. My passion has served me well. Yes, at times it gets me into trouble, but I will always be me, and if at times, people see that as being a “passionate bitch”, so be it. I care. And that means more than anything.
Do I Have to Do Math?
Squared has many meanings. The math one is what trips me up sometimes, and when I’m tripped up, I call Gordon (which I did last night), and he clears it all up. But this is not about a math lesson, this is about understanding the power of taking our passion and multiplying it via the social web.
Social Squared
The social platforms we play on are allowing us to share our passion like never before. And big stuff, big changes and shifts can happen when people around the world have the ability to connect and engage. In the old days (10 years ago), we did not have the ability like we have today to engage people and share with people. Today, we can get online and educate and inspire the world. This is powerful stuff.
How are you using social platforms to share your passion? To live your dream? To make your dent in the universe? Click here or hop on over to our Facebook page to share your story. We want to hear from you.
“We are massively underestimating this culture shift… We are in the era of the humanization of business. We’re living by small town rules again.”
Gary Vaynerchuk
Watch Gary Vee as he passionately shares his thoughts on the social revolution and what it means for our businesses. Listen at your own risk, lots of f-bombs and passion inside.
What excites us most about the social web for salons is most salons have always acted by “small town rules”. Salons and hairdressers are social by nature. Many of you have always cared deeply about your clients, your team and your community. A big first step is to take all of those values and principles you practice every day and apply them to the web. Ta-Da!
The social web is…
1. About people.
2. About listening.
3. About caring and loving.
4. About building relationships.
5. About meaningful conversations.
6. About giving a sh#t!
7. About authenticity.
8. About saying thank you.
9. About providing valuable + engaging content.
10. About building and growing word of mouth, referrals, organic discovery and your business.
The social web is not…
1. About selling.
2. About spamming.
3. About self-promotion.
4. About collecting likes and fans like baseball cards.
5. About asking people (over and over) to like and follow you.
6. About getting before you give.
7. About hype.
8. About bragging.
9. About posting just to post.
10. About outsourcing. (Can you really outsource listening to your clients? Think about it.)
Now you may be saying, wait a minute, I have to make money to pay my bills and I have to sell more stuff to do that. We understand, trust us, we have lots of bills too. With the new social economy and the connected consumer, you must first deliver value on your social pages, just like you do in your salon every day. You have to earn the business in the social space, not expect it because you have a website and Facebook page.
The first step is to understand, practice and consistently execute Steps 1-9 on the first list.
It takes time, but it is well worth it when you build an engaged community that loves you, what you stand for, the results you provide and they become raving fans on the web which turns into word of mouth and referrals! How awesome is that?
If you are looking for help to better understand the power of the social web and how it can help you grow, click here. We look forward to hearing from you and growing with you.
PS: This blog post was inspired by two of our social + digital heroes, author of The Thank You Economy Gary Vaynerchuk and author of The End Of Business As Usual Brian Solis. A big shout out of thanks to these two leaders who speak their truth, how refreshing.
(shared with LOVE from your passionistas Nina + Gordon)
