You have so many options when it comes to talking to your clients: mail, email, SMS, Twitter, Facebook, advertising in the press and many more. As a salon owner you have to try, by any means possible, to use these tools to capture potential clients and keep that cash drawer from running dry.
 Have you asked yourself: have I joined the marketing dots? Or am I using these marketing tools in isolation, one-by-one? This is the first in a series of posts to show you how to combine some tools and tactics to get a greater return.
 Facebook. We’re all on it right? Your salon probably has a business page. You tell clients about it every time they’re in and that they should ‘like’ it. Most never do. Why? Because the call-to-action completely escapes their mind by the time they are halfway down the street.
Are you honestly expecting someone to get a treatment or cut, walk out the door and run other errands, pay for parking and drive home to walk in the door and think, ‘Right, I better like that Facebook page!’. That’s a BIG ask! So you end up posting some great offers, ideas and topics of discussion that simply float into space because there’s no one on your page to listen or engage with right? The answer? Using SMS and Facebook together. 89% of your clients have a smartphone so SMS is a great to capture Facebook fans.
HERE’S HOW TO DO IT:
1. Make sure your content on Facebook is up-to-date
Firstly, update your Facebook page. If you want people to like your page through a text message it has to be up-to-date. Post at least three (if not more) times a week and have a post up for the day on which you send the text out. Ideally it should be an offer or something that will generate business and encourage people to share it.
2. Set up a Bit.ly account
www.Bitly.com is a URL shortner. This site takes a URL and shortens it e.g. instead of putting https://www.facebook.com/phorestsalonsoftware and using up all you characters, bit.ly will shorten it so it looks like this: on.fb.me/ZzELlZ
Just copy and paste this link into the text message. Remove the ‘https://’ part at the start to make it even shorter. Here’s the clincher: once you have an account setup, Bit.ly will tell you how many people have clicked on that link so you now how succesful the text has been.
3. What to write
Your text needs to be punchy and to-the-point. SMS is a little bit unusual in that it almost has its own language. You can exploit this and should. NEVER sacrifice part of an offer or the ability to get more into a text because it’s not good grammer. Short and sweet and easy to understand is key.
The key is to give them enough info to ‘bite’ but not so much that they don’t have to go Facebook to find out more
Examples of Messages:
Just copy and paste the three templates below as your text: (don’t forget to put your own Bit.ly Facebook link in though, not ours!)
Here’s a sample of a generic type text with the stylist’s name:
<first name>, have you liked Hair Affair’s Facebook page? Offers, updates + hair tips are just a tap away – on.fb.me/ZzELlZ – Laura
Or even better, base it around an offer:
<first name>, heads up! Have you heard about our summer tan bonanza on Facebook? Just ‘like’ for info & other gr8 offers! on.fb.me/ZzELlZ – Mary, Tan Salon
Try to get them to refer other people to your salon and getting them liking your page
<first name> like our FB page & tag it plus a friend who wants to try us out. If they come in, you get a special treat. Info: on.fb.me/ZzELlZ – Jane, Beautify
In the last instance, you should have a post up about the offer and any terms and conditions that apply.
4. Who gets it?
If you’re lucky enough to have Phorest Software, you know the power filtering and targeting texts. It is worth sending out a text to all your clients but you can make it really appealing by tailoring it to suit different audiences. For example you could send a text to all the men who have bought a voucher in your salon with some ideas for the significant other:
Use Facebook
<first name> to get in the good books this summer & give a loved one a summer tan. More gr8 ideas here on our page: on.fb.me/ZzELlZ – Mary, Tan Salon
Have you any great ideas or examples of how to increase Facebook likes via SMS? Let me know or comment below!
