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LinkedIn is the Rodney Dangerfield of social media: despite having 200 million highly influential subscribers, it gets no respect. Even though it is consistently ranked among the social giants Facebook and Twitter, it doesn’t seem to get as much hype from the mainstream media. But as a tool for marketing your beauty salon business, it provides a huge edge over its more popular peers. Because unlike Facebook and Twitter, which regularly exchange cat photos, inane one-liners and political rants from nutty uncles, LinkedIn is all business.

How companies are leveraging LinkedIn

You operate a beauty salon business. Your time and energy is scarce. So why should you worry about LinkedIn? Here are a few ways your peers (there are 1.3 million small-business owners on the network) are employing it to their advantage:

1. Sharing wins: As a beauty salon business owner, you're working hard. Why not share your success stories? Promoting your accomplishments is just good marketing. And with 2 million C-level executives using the site, you might suddenly find yourself with some deep-pocketed suitors.
2. Getting referrals: LinkedIn makes it easy to get peer and client endorsements for the work you do. Best part? When someone recommends you or writes a testimonial, everyone within your network sees it in his or her activity feed. This type of social proof is the BEST way of getting new customers.
   
3. Finding new talent: If your beauty salon business keeps growing, you'll undoubtedly need to hire new employees. LinkedIn is a great place—scratch that, it’s the BEST place—to find new players to include in your team.
   
4. Promoting events: LinkedIn’s event feature is a game changer! It has never been so easy to spread the news and drum up enthusiasm about upcoming events, sales and get togethers. You can even use their service directory to find professional event planners to help you.
   
5. Boosting website traffic: A little-known secret about LinkedIn is that it’s very influential with Google; if you have a presence on LinkedIn, you’re likely to see a jump in search engine visibility, too. More clicks = more customers!
   
6. Getting answers: LinkedIn is a goldmine for information on operating a successful beauty salon business. You can uncover great advice from some of the savviest business minds in the world in LinkedIn Answers and Groups. You will discover over 2000 groups devoted to small-business and beauty salon business related topics.
   
7. Finding investors, vendors and partners: It’s a networker’s paradise. Whether you require some capital, a new accounting firm, or even a beauty salon business partner, you’re not going to find a better resource than LinkedIn. Anywhere.
   

We’re just scratching the surface here, folks. The benefits don’t end there. Pay a visit to LinkedIn, set up a page for your business and see for yourself. I know your time is scarce, but trust me, it’s worth it.

About Author:
Charlotte Howard is a Radio Host and Beauty Salon Success Coach. She specializes in beauty salon business start-up and client attraction. Contact her today for all of your burning beauty salon business questions, visit www.CharlotteHowardInfo.com

I know, I know. You don’t have the time for an alternate social network. Nevertheless I wouldn’t be doing my job if I didn’t talk up Pinterest, as this image-centric social network has become an amazing spot for beauty salon businesses to:

• Meet new customers
• Boost website traffic
• Increase brand recognition
• Drive sales activity

So let’s run through why this visual social network so cool—and so effective as a marketing strategy.

Visually pleasing! Less whining!

Instead of being a platform for tedious updates of what people ate for breakfast or ALL CAPS rants from your weird uncle, Pinterest is all about bringing people together who have common interests, whether it’s fashion, beauty, art, food, crafts, architecture, photography, cocktail recipes, interior design..you name it. Copyblogger contributor Beth Hayden sums up Pinterest very well with this quote: “Pinterest is visually appealing, positive, and unlike Facebook, there isn’t any whining.” Can I get an amen?!

Why are marketers so energized about Pinterest?

For starters, the site is incredibly popular. Last year, in a five month span, Pinterest rocketed to a jaw-dropping 10 million users. No one was expecting it. Even social media watchers were caught off guard. Almost overnight Pinterest became a MAJOR driver of online traffic. Get this: Pinterest drives more traffic than YouTube, Google and LinkedIn—combined. Here’s another thing: users love Pinterest. They can’t get enough. It’s addictive. As per comScore data Pinterest users average 89 minutes monthly on the site and Google users average just 3 minutes per month.

So what?

Why should beauty salon businesses like yours care about Pinterest? It’s really quite simple. First of all, the site is a low-key, non-threatening method to meet consumers who are passionate about what you’re interested in! This built-in permission makes it possible to build new relationships with others in your target market. Secondly, Pinterest is a fantastic place showcase your products or services, stay top of mind and grow your “tribe” of like-minded people. Just create an account. You’ll see an array of businesses on the site, such as…

• Beauty Salon Businesses
• Hair Artists
• Makeup Artists
• Fitness Coaches
• Yoga Studios
• Non-profit Organizations
• Jewelry Makers

The list is endless.

No excuses; start pinning!

Most businesses tend to swiftly think of reasons why they shouldn’t use social media—nevertheless the truth is, many sell themselves short and don’t become involved because they don’t think they have a natural place in a certain network. Now, if you run a bookkeeping business, maybe Pinterest isn’t the best fit, but then again, it’s quite possible that you might be a trailblazer and use Pinterest to showcase your business and have great success. Hey, if a plumbing franchise in Waco, Texas can make Pinterest benefit their business, you can too! It’s just too easy to sell yourself short and come up with reasons to remain on the sidelines!

About Author:
Charlotte Howard is a Radio Host and Beauty Salon Success Coach. She specializes in beauty salon business start-up and client attraction. Contact her today for all of your burning beauty salon business questions, visit www.CharlotteHowardInfo.com

You have a Facebook page. You have some fans. Nicely done. Now, like the smart beauty salon business you are, you're looking for some proven ways to engage your followers so you can acquire more of them and make the most of your presence on Facebook.

Engaging your fans is a critical piece to building and maintaining a long-lasting relationships on Facebook—and offline! Here are a few timeless strategies that local beauty salon businesses are using with great results.

♦ Spread the Love

Tell your fans how much you appreciate them. Tell ‘em often!

Thanking your fans for their questions, complimenting them on their comments, highlighting their success stories—these things go a looong, long way in social media. Many smart beauty salon businesses on Facebook run a ‘Fan of the Month’ promotion to encourage and reward engagement.

This is really savvy way to make people feel good about themselves and your business while also capitalizing on the power of social proof.

♦ Offer Coupons and Run Promotions

Discounts, coupons, special offers … your followers will NEVER get tired of opportunities to save money and get more value from their purchases. Pro tip: If you want to run a promotion for a specific geographic location, use the Custom menu when you’re posting to target your followers in a certain area

♦ Share Your Knowledge

You run a beauty salon business. You have special knowledge and insight. You can help people. So share! People are always grateful for information that makes their lives easier or more fulfilling. Sharing helpful tips is some of the best engagement around.

It also helps you take advantage of the reciprocity principle: do something nice for someone, they’ll feel bound to return the favor.

♦ Issue a Challenge

We humans are deeply competitive by nature and simply cannot resist a challenge, an opportunity to show the world that we’re pretty darn smart. Test your fans’ knowledge using fun quizzes and polls. Trivia, brain teasers, riddles … you’ll have your followers eating out of your hand by day’s end, trust me.

♦ Take Photos of Your Happy Clients & Customers

Don’t hire a professional photographer. Just start snapping photos with your cellphone and post them to Facebook. You will be amazed—truly—at how people respond. Data collected by social media expert Dan Zarrella shows that photos get more shares and likes than text, video and link updates. This also a great social-proof strategy: other folks will see people enjoying your products/services and they’ll want to join the party, so to speak.

♦ Ask for Advice

The highest compliment a business can pay to its customers is to ask for their input. If you own a beauty parlour, ask your fans to come up with a new beauty salon giveaway! Or let them name your new product. Make it a contest! Solicit ideas and then let your fans vote for their favorite.

♦ Use Insights to See What’s Working

Here’s the beauty of Facebook: you can see what’s working and what’s not. Just export your Facebook Insights data to an Excel spreadsheet to a get quick, clear look at which status updates performed best, what kind of media your audience responds to and what's driving engagement.

Could your beauty salon business be generating more clients and customers online?

Contact me today for your free marketing assessment!