INBOUND ACCELERATOR

Facebook and other social media platforms are increasingly the first place consumers go to learn more about a business. Whether they are just quickly checking hours, reading reviews or just curious the services you offer, what potential customers find on your social media pages can make the difference between calling to make an appointment or deciding your spa isn’t for them.

One of the most important, but often overlooked, segments of your social media strategy is the “About” section for each platform. On Facebook, a preview of your “About” section appears directly below the profile picture, making it one of the first things visitors to your page see.

It can be easy, when focusing on social media marketing, to get caught up in the ongoing creation of posts, videos, infographics and links that show up in our followers’ feeds and overlook some of the most basic parts of the Facebook page — the cover photo and the profile image.

When was the last time you changed your Facebook cover photo? 

The best way to improve your business Facebook success — meaning increased visibility and business acquisition — is to create posts that readers engage with. After all, social media is meant to be social and interactive, not simply a bulletin board for reading.

So what kinds of posts generate more engagement?

Social media is a great way for medical spas and day spas to reach clients, promote services and educate their online audience. But doing so means creating a steady stream of content, and that isn’t always easy.

Trust me, I’ve been there—staring at the screen wondering what to post to a social media account that will generate engagement, teach social media followers something interesting, or even just make someone laugh. And when you need to think of something new every day, it can be overwhelming.

As businesses of all sizes, from major consumer brands to boutique retailers, salons and spas, take on the tasks of marketing and advertising in a fractured environment of online, social, mobile and traditional media, it is important to understand the costs involved in each potential channel in order to decide where to dedicate marketing dollars.

Facebook, as the most popular social media channel in the US today, seems an obvious place to start.

With Facebook’s algorithm regularly changing, typically with promises to show users more from their friends and less from brands, it can be challenging to get your content in front of audiences. But, there are ways of improving your success — create content that gets your followers to engage.

If your business isn’t on Facebook, does it really exist?

That may seem tongue-in-cheek, but in some ways, I really mean it. More than 2 billion searches are conducted on Facebook every day, many of them initiated by consumers looking for businesses. If your business isn’t there for those potential customers, it may seem to not exist.

Effective social media marketing takes time, but finding the time to create engaging content, respond to follower comments, and plan future campaigns pays off in increased awareness, satisfied customers and new prospects.

You may not be able to dedicate yourself to being a full-time social media marketer (no small business owner or even mid-sized marketing manager can!), but if you can find 30 minutes or 60 minutes to set aside at a time, you can chip away at the tasks that make a difference in your business’s overall marketing success.

Word of mouth has always held a powerful position of influence in consumer decisions. We listen to the people around us.

As this infographic from Talk Triggers shows, that importance has not changed. More than 4 in 5 Americans have made a word of mouth recommendation about a business, and 3 in 10 do so weekly.

Efficiency matters when you have a limited amount of time to dedicate to social media marketing tasks. While it may seem that writing a Facebook update, adding an image and clicking “Publish” doesn't take long at all, each time you have to shift gears from something else to complete this small task requires a transition of thought, time spent researching, and then time in the platform itself getting it all set up and ready for public viewing.

If you are expecting your front desk staff to handle social media while also answering phones and checking in clients for appointments, something is bound to get lost in the shuffle.