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Beauty - Salon&The Internet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .


From special offers to new product launches, the Internet has become the primary source of information for beauty addicts across the world.


A recent report by leading market research company Mintel showed that 37% of Internet users interact with beauty and personal care brands online. And with the same report highlighting that 59% of internet surfers log into their Facebook account and 13% sign into Twitter every single day, there really is no excuse for not bringing your salon or mobile business bang into the 21st Century by creating a website or setting up a social media account to ensure you and your brand can reach customers 24 hours a day, seven days a week at a place and time that is convenient to them.


“The power of the Internet should not be underestimated in any industry today,” says Harriet Warwick, Social Media Manager for The Spa PR Company. “The Spa and salon industry rely heavily on word of mouth and the biggest word of mouth tool currently is social media. Using social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter, you can actively build your client base and maintain relationships with your current clients and potential clients as well as learning more about your clientele.”


“People use social media to share what they think with many people - not just their friends and family. In fact, sharing their thoughts on beauty products with friends, family or colleagues is a key reason that people talk about beauty and personal care brands both online and offline, explains Alexandra Richmond, Senior Social Media and Lifestyles Analyst at Mintel. “This illustrates the strength of word of mouth, and the Internet plays a key role in enabling people to influence other people’s purchases whilst at the same time providing brands with valuable feedback.”


“A website is vital for showing your outward facing branding of the business, however more salons should be utilising Facebook and Twitter, to show the inside personality of the business,” says Jade Harris, Marketing Manager for Dermalogica. “It provides a forum for happy clients to sing their praise, allows the business to have regular contact with


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their clients keeping them top-of-mind and also allows an inexpensive way of showing what they have that is new or different promotions.


“Also important is to link each of these pieces together. It’s good to have a Facebook and a website, but with both pages providing different pieces of information, businesses need to link their pages to strengthen their communication eg: a Facebook post with a link when something new that has been added to the website, a Twitter post to link the client back to a Facebook page when new information is posted.”


“Social media will aid you greatly in your marketing strategy too,” adds Harriet. “Once you know your customer inside out through the medium of social media you can work out what deals would work best for them, what products and treatments to push, which will pick up the greatest interest and how to position yourselves in the market”.


Marie-Louise Coster from All About Mi Beauty Training agrees: “Social networking strengthens communications between you and both existing and potential clients. It allows you to learn more about your customers and can provide you with a platform to offer special offers and last minute promotions.”


“You can also use social networking to interact with people and start discussions and conversations to gain feedback and opinions,” Marie-Louise


adds. “You could ask what people are looking for from a salon, or if you are thinking of adding a new treatment or range, find out what people think of it first – it’s a way of interacting and researching and can be instant. Also, use your social media accounts to network with other related and local businesses as this is another good way of reaching more potential customers and building good relations with other businesses.”


“Incentivise clients to be a fan of your social media page. It’s the easiest database to manage – allowing you to interact with fans much easier than developing email or web campaigns,” suggests Jade. “You can message the group easily on promotions, offers and new products, invite them to in-store events and launches and also run competitions to increase activity. Fans will interact and expose your business to their friends which will help you grow your Facebook database, further promoting your business.”


Decisions, decisions


Once you’ve decided to enter the online world, it’s time to decide which platform will work best for you, your business and your clients.


At the very least, I would say it is essential for every salon or mobile business to set up a web page or site detailing basic information such as opening times, treatment menus, prices and contact details, as this will


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