Should My Salon Have a Facebook Fan Page?
As mentioned before it is important for each company to decide what type of social media would work best for them. In a general sense though Facebook seems to be a social media tool most companies choose to implement, by creating a Facebook Fan Page. According to the Facebook statistics page “more than 1.5 million local businesses have active Pages on Facebook” and “more than 20 million people become fans of Pages each day.” One of the blogs I came across titled The Business Benefits of a Facebook Fan Page , breaks the benefits of having a Fan Page down into 5 categories and elaborates on each of them. I found the benefit of “insights” to be one of the most interesting advantages of having a fan page. The tools the page comes with such as, being able to track the number of interactions your page has with fans, allows you to get a better “insight” on how well your page is doing and who is looking at it.
Having a Fan Page allows you to utilize all the features of Facebook for your business, so in return … UTILIZE THEM! They are there for a reason. Callan Green in her blog titled, “Killer Facebook Fan Pages: 5 Inspiring Case Studies” , provides readers with 5 case studies of companies that are successfully using their fan pages to promote their businesses. This is a good reference to turn to before setting up a fan page of your own, because in her studies she explains why and how these companies are generating so many followers. She also provides links to the companies pages that she mentions so you can see for yourself why these pages are so successful.
Again, these social media tools are only as good as you make them. It is important to remember that the whole idea of new social media is the benefit of creating that “direct communication” between you and your clients. So, if you are not going to have an active Fan Page where you participate by updating your statuses and responding to your fans then there is really no point in making one, because no one enjoys having a conversation with themselves.
I think that it’s a great idea to start a Facebook fan page for a salon. Many retail brands are starting to create fan pages and its a great way to connect with the customer fan base. A first-hand user of Facebook, it is also easy to promote store events, photos of the store and possible before and after shots of styles created by stylists. It gives the customer a visual image to see if they will like your style of work before they even have to step into the salon, saving them time and aggravation researching all the information they are looking for before they make the decision to come in. By putting everything they need in one spot for them to access, you make their life easier and influence their possibility of coming into the salon to receive their business.
I think that one of the most important things to take away from this post is the necessity to have an ACTIVE fan page. Far too often to companies set up fan pages to increase their online presence, but after the initial invite updates tend not to be regular (much like the number of blogs that are started and abandoned). On the flip side of that coin if you have a fan page that is constantly updating and sending out messages about promotions it can get annoying.
Facebook fan pages are definitely popular ways for any business or organization to keep their followers updated and involved. The good think about this method of social media is that it works for big or small followings and is free. I just recently had a friend start one of these fan pages for a small gym class she holds. With a business as small as hers she didn’t have the funds to do any kind of expensive mass advertising. This proved to be a perfect way to attract people to her class. However, you said if you are not active and monitoring there is no point in getting involved. With the ease of a Facebook fan page though, no business should have any problem. I think this is a good tool for Salon users because you can also put promotions for products and specials on the page which may attract more clients.