It's About People

It’s About People. It’s Always Been About People.

October 2, 2012Nina KovnerENGAGE, GROW, HEROES

“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)


 

What's Your Story?

What’s Your Story?

October 1, 2012Nina KovnerENGAGE, GROW

“Success means never letting the competition define you. Instead you have to define yourself based on a point of view you care deeply about.”

Tom Chappell, Tom’s Of Maine

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpc57XUzKzQ

Meet Woody Lovell Jr., owner of The Barbershop Club at Farmers Market in Los Angeles.  Woody clearly knows the why + what + who of The Barbershop Club brand, and in this video, communicates it brilliantly in 1 min. 9 sec.  WOW.  Can you clearly communicate your brand why + what + who in 1 min. 9 sec?

Once Upon A Time
Both offline and online, whether you are marketing your salon or yourself, it all begins with knowing why you are, what you are, who you are, who you are targeting and clearly communicating your “story”.

In the online world, we all have 24/7 access to decide which brands speak to our hearts and minds.  Does your online presence match your offline presence?  If I go to your website, Facebook page or Yelp page, will I want to pick up the phone or book an online reservation?  While it may seem a bit overwhelming, this is what it takes to engage with today’s connected consumer.

Ok, I know what you are saying, I get it, I get it, but where do I begin?

Start With Why
Simon Sinek, a great author and biz leader we love, has an awesome book called Start With Why.  Simon says (lol) “People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it.”

So lets begin building your story. Get out a piece of paper, or laptop or iPad, and answer the following questions. Be sure your mind is clear and rested before you start this very important process;

1. Why did you open a salon? Why did you become a hairdresser?

2. Why would a client want to come to your salon? To you?

3. What is your promise?

4. What do you want to be known for?

5. Who is your target market?

6. What do you want clients to say about your salon, both online and off?

By answering these 6 questions, you have begun to develop your brand story.  And people buy stories way more than products or services. Think about it, think about your favorite brands and how you have bought into their “why”, their “story”.

Check Out The Brands You Love
The next step is to find the brands you love, Google them, check out their websites, Facebook pages, Twitter feeds, Yelp page, Pinterest boards, etc.  How are they telling their story? Do you understand their “why”?  Now go back to the 6 questions, would you answer them differently after studying your favorite brands?

If you are serious about building your salon or personal brand both online and off, we offer one-on-one coaching to help you craft your story and bring your brand to life.  To learn more about Passion Squared Coaching, click here.  We look forward to helping you ignite your passion and live your dream.

(shared with LOVE from your passionista Nina)

 

Are you discoverable?

Claim Your Name, Claim Your Name

September 28, 2012Nina KovnerENGAGE, GROW

“The beginning of knowledge is the discovery of something we do not understand.”

Frank Herbert

Are you discoverable?

In the world of social + digital, one super important thing to remember is search + discovery.  This is when people looking for your salon can easily DISCOVER you on the web.  A big part of search + discovery on the web is the URL (uniform resource locator) or your personalized web address.

With social platforms, we have an opportunity to choose our username, if it’s not already taken.  We highly recommend for branding, marketing and easy discovery, that you stick with the name of your brand (salon, company, product).  By doing this, you can add your Facebook Page username to your marketing materials, business cards, etc.

Here is a simple step-by-step on how to claim your personalized Facebook username (URL).

Unclaimed Username URL
www.facebook.com/pages/passion-squared/1234567890

Claimed Username URL (this is what we want it to look like)
Facebook Pages

 

1. Go into your Admin Panel on Facebook, Click on Edit Page then Click on Update Info.

Facebook Page

 

2. You will now be in the Basic Information Section, and will see Username.  Click on Change Username.

Facebook Pages

 

3. Now you can type in your desired Page username.  We recommend you try first for the name of your actual Facebook Page. Click on Check Availability.  If your first choice is not available, you can try to add another word that still connects with your Facebook page name.

Example: Your Page name is Passion Squared.  You type that in and see that it is taken.  So try Passion Squared Salon, or Passion Squared Hair Salon, etc. (NOTE: Once you claim a username for your page, you can ONLY change it one more time)

Facebook Page

 

 

 

 

4. Time to celebrate. You did it!

To learn more about how to expand your social beauty intelligence and craft the ultimate social + digital plan to better engage and build word of mouth and referrals, click here.  We would love to hear from you.

(shared with LOVE from your passionistas Nina + Gordon)

 

Do You Like Me?

They Like Me, They Really Like Me

September 27, 2012Nina KovnerENGAGE, GROW

“Activate your fans, don’t just collect them like baseball cards.”

Jay Baer

Do You Like Me?

So Two Hairdressers Walk Into A Bar
In the social + digital world, one BIG thing many of us have forgotten is that the online world is no different than the offline world, it’s still all about the people.  It’s one big cocktail party, just instead of hanging at the bar, we are hanging at a new “virtual bar”.

Asking for likes over and over, spamming other peoples pages, collecting likes like baseball cards is kind of missing the point of community building.

To have an effective community online, you need your community engaged.  The real purpose of these platforms are to help us listen, engage authentically, build relationships, have meaningful two way conversations, deliver value, to become discoverable on the web and ultimately grow our businesses through word of mouth and referrals.

Give Them Something To Talk About
What you need is right likes which are the people you are targeting and marketing your services and products to.

The most important number to be mindful of is your engagement rate, on Facebook, that’s the “talking about this” number.  That is the number which represents your real community, meaning people are liking, commenting, sharing, checking-in at your salon or RSVP’ing to an event.  In order to increase engagement, you need to provide content worth sharing (posts, tweets, blogs, pins, etc.) A good “talking about this” percentage on Facebook is between 10-30%. Anything above that is awesome, anything below that just says you need to revise your content and posting plan.

Here is some simple math, we promise…
Talking About This Number (divided by) Total Page Likes = Real Engagement Percentage

So, instead of “collecting likes” like baseball cards, remember first that each like represents a REAL person who has chosen to engage your page and your business.  People want to be loved and recognized and have come to your page to see if there is something of value to them.  If you give them something compelling, relevant, interesting and cool to share, like or comment on, believe us, they will.

For more information on how to craft an authentic, engaging and effective social + digital plan to become more discoverable on the social web, give us a shout on Facebook, Twitter or click here.

PS: We like you, we really like you.  Thank you for being here with us.

(shared with LOVE from your passionistas Nina + Gordon)

 

 

Awesome Facebook Photo Cheat Sheet

September 22, 2012Nina KovnerENGAGE, GROW

“The simplest things are often the truest.”

 Richard Bach

Seriously one of the most awesome discoveries on the web recently.  And while Facebook likes to change things up on us often, this is a great foundation for us all to ensure our images look their best; a super important part of building our brand image on the social web. Yay!

Facebook Photo Size Dimensions Infographic by Louise Myers

Courtesy of: Louise Myers Graphic Design

Thank you Louise Myers for creating this simple, yet incredibly useful tool.

(discovered on Google and shared with LOVE from your passionistas Nina + Gordon)