“The artist lives to have stories to tell and to learn to tell them well.”
Criss Jami
One thing we can always count on in the social + digital world is change. For those of you who are addicted to Pinterest and are using it for your business, you will be happy to know that Pinterest just launched Business Pages.Here is a super easy step-by-step for you.
Step One
Go to business.pinterest.com. If you want to change your existing page, select “Convert Existing Account”. If you want to start a new business page, select “Join As A Business”.
Step Two
Fill in all of your business information. If you are converting an account, it will look different. We will get to that in the next step.
Step Three
If you are converting an existing account, this is what it will look like. First, you select your business type, for salons, choose local business. For session stylists, beauty bloggers, etc choose professional. You now have an opportunity to edit your profile, change your business name, About section, user name etc. HINT: User names are your unique URL, so we suggest if possible, it be the exact name of your business. This helps with becoming more discoverable on the web, big time!
Step Four
We now have the opportunity to “verify” our websites. This allows for your actual website URL to be featured on your page. HINT: We highly recommend you have a super smart person do this, or what some people call the “IT” guy or girl. For those of us with WordPress blog sites, there is a way to verify, but again, its takes a IT person. We have our IT friends doing ours this week.
Step Five
While you have your super smart IT guy or girl, have them add the “widgets” you want to your website. Pinterest has added some cool new ones. All of these widgets are designed to increase engagement and connections. Super cool.
Step Six
Celebrate and keep pinning your passions! And be sure to thank your super smart IT friend for the help.
If you want to learn more about Pinterest, check out our webinar posted on PassionSquaredTV.
We also offer one-on-one mentoring in the world of social, digital, marketing and branding. If that sounds like your thing, click here to connect with us.
“Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep.”
Scott Adams
In the world of engagement on the social + digital web, a lot of what we are doing is quite frankly trial and error. We will not know what truly engaging content is until we actually start creating content and pay attention to the response of our community. And it takes time, sometimes several months, to find your groove, but once you do, it’s pretty awesome.
Yes, we know the theme of our content, our story, our message, and our goals, but until we actually begin trying different things, without fear of making mistakes, we will never know what makes our fans hearts sing.
We found this handy infographic with some tips for Facebook engagement. And while it may or may not be exactly how your community acts and reacts, its certainly worth a try.
Come on, go for it! What’s the worst thing that could happen? You make a mistake? We call that creativity.
“What you seek, exists within you. Every resource you need is available to you.”
Marcia Wieder
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)
“Social Media is about sociology and psychology more than technology.”
Brain Solis
When we talk about the social + digital revolution, many immediately think about the technology side of things. The screens, the platforms, and the “smart” people behind all of it. It can sometimes be very intimidating.
We propose we think about it in a different way. Instead of thinking about the medium or the technology, lets think about the power of the medium, and how it is engaging, empowering and connecting people both locally and globally. Now we’re talking, yes?
Most people need to be connected, to be engaged, to be recognized, to be listened to, to seek knowledge and information. And when we look at technology and platforms this way, it all becomes a bit more exciting and way less intimidating.
Beauty professionals are masters of sociology and psychology, you practice it every day in the salon, with your team and your clients. So guess what, you got this!
But can society be too connected? Check out this super funny clip from last weeks Parks & Recreation. Can you relate?
Is it really technology’s fault that we cannot put down our iPhone? The honest answer is its not about the technology, its about how we choose to use the technology. So no more hating on technology, instead, think about all the ways you can use these platforms to get closer to your dreams. And yes, we can be too connected, but remember, its a choice.
If you are serious about learning how to engage and connect on social + digital platforms, we offer one-on-one coaching and mentoring to help you grow and become more discoverable on the web. Click here to learn more about our program. We look forward to helping you live your dream.
(shared with LOVE from your passionistas Nina + Gordon)
“I am seeking. I am striving. I am in it with all my heart.”
Vincent van Gogh
Meet Jacqueline Scordato, hairdresser, color educator and owner of J. Scordato Salon in beautiful Tucson Arizona. Jacqueline has made a commitment to learning everything she can about how the social + digital space can help her grow her salon and more importantly, her team, to help them achieve their goals and dreams. That is what we call true leadership, and something all owners can strive for. Awesome.
Passion Squared: What are your current goals as a salon owner?
Jacqueline: As a new salon/salon owner I am constantly striving to create buzz and awareness that we are here and ready to serve our guests, while striving to build our salon culture. Through that it’s a goal to help each team member find their journey in this industry whether it be print work, getting involved in fashion shows, or whatever else motivates.
Passion Squared: Which social platform are you focusing on to reach that goal?
Jacqueline: Right now we are focusing on our Facebook page. Attending the social webinars have really opened us up to how important it is to focus and master a platform before moving on to adding another one to the mix.
Passion Squared: Why that one?
Jacqueline: We decided to start with and focus on Facebook. Most of the age group we are targeting is found on Facebook so it made sense to begin there. It also seemed to have the most information available on how to use it to build our business.
Passion Squared: What did you do?
Jacqueline: Webinars have definitely been key to understanding Facebook and exactly how it works. In addition to that we joined a local social media networking group to help create more buzz by cross promoting on our page and meet other businesses. We post daily with a picture, a caption, and an easy to answer question to try to engage people who’ve liked our page.
Passion Squared: What have the results been?
Jacqueline: We’ve been experiencing great results… It took about three months of daily posting on our page and commenting on others posts to start seeing a steady influx on our page. Our own guests have started looking forward to our posts and have been interacting as well. We’ve just hit four months of posting and are now experiencing at least one referral a week from our Facebook page! So excited to see where it takes us after a few more months!
Passion Squared: Any other thoughts or comments?
Jacqueline: When I first opened the salon I was excited and active on our Facebook page and then began entering as many social platforms as we could. With free time being a rarity I began to slow down on posting and became overwhelmed with so many different sites. After beginning the social webinars with Passion Squared I began to look into Facebook again and have made it part of my morning coffee/wake up routine. Now as I’m becoming more comfortable and efficient with Facebook, I can’t wait to branch into another platform!
To connect with Jacqueline and the J. Scordato Salon Team, you can find them engaging on their social pages…
A big shout out of love and thanks to Jacqueline and the J. Scordato Salon Team for sharing their story. We are so happy for your success and excited to watch you continue to grow.
(shared with LOVE from your passionistas Nina + Gordon)
