WIN NEW SALON CLIENTS WITH FACEBOOK CONTESTS HOW TO RUN A SUCCESSFUL FACEBOOK CONTEST FOR FATHER S DAY. Alice Kirby: Lockhart Meyer Salon Marketing

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1 WIN NEW SALON CLIENTS WITH FACEBOOK CONTESTS HOW TO RUN A SUCCESSFUL FACEBOOK CONTEST FOR FATHER S DAY Alice Kirby: Lockhart Meyer Salon Marketing

2 THIS E-GUIDE Welcome to my step-by-step e-guide, especially for hair & beauty businesses, to running a successful Facebook contest for Father s Day. Don t stop at Father s Day. Use these proven marketing ideas to run Facebook contests throughout the year Mother s Day, your Anniversary, Christmas, Halloween and watch your salon or spa grow. Alice Kirby #GrowYourSalon Lockhart Meyer Salon Marketing

3 1. TARGET AUDIENCE As with any salon marketing campaign you need to identify the correct target audience. Women, not men, are your target audience when it comes to marketing your business for Father s Day. They are the ones doing the buying. Facebook is significantly more popular with women than men, which makes it the perfect social marketing channel to promote your salon Father s Day gifts and offers to a targeted local female audience. Action: Run a Father s Day Facebook contest throughout June targeting women, with a male-orientated prize. It ll work a treat.

4 FACEBOOK IS TOO BIG TO IGNORE BILLION MONTHLY ACTIVE FACEBOOK USERS WORLDWIDE. FACEBOOK 2016

5 2. SET A MARKETING GOAL A goal is a dream with a deadline. Napoleon Hill Decide on your business goal right at the start as this will determine the prize, the rules, the graphics and, most importantly, how and where you advertise and promote your contest. Is your objective, for example, to: ii ii ii increase retail sales? find new male clients for your business? reward existing clients or raise brand awareness? Goals, objectives, call them what you will. Just make sure they are S.M.A.R.T (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-limited). An example of a SMART goal for Father s Day would be: increase the number of male clients from X to Y by 31 July 2016 or sell x of Gift Cards during the month of June.

6 3. A JUICY PRIZE THAT DOESN T COST YOU A FORTUNE THE GOLDEN RULE Chose a prize which appeals to your ideal male client, not an expensive prize that s unrelated to your business. An ipad prize may get you lots of entries but they are useless to you if they live in Glasgow and your salon or spa is in Brighton. They won t be visiting you any time soon. MAKE YOUR CONTEST STAND OUT FROM YOUR COMPETITORS Don t just stick to a hair or beauty prize. The trick here is to home in on something you know men will love. And most men find gadgets, sport and cars irresistible. (Sorry guys, it s true.) With this in mind, approach local businesses and suggest a marketing partnership for a Father s Day online contest offering a juicy joint prize. You can then piggy-back on their marketing channels and customer base too. I love piggy-back marketing and you ll find more detailed ideas and tips on getting the best from it in my blog post How to Find New Clients for your Salon or Spa.

7 SO WHO CAN YOU TEAM UP WITH? AND WHAT CAN THEY DONATE AS A PRIZE FOR DAD? Some ideas to ponder... i i A lesson for dad with a golf pro at your nearest course. i i A series of personal training sessions at the local gym. i i The use of a flashy sports car for the weekend. i i Dinner and fizz for two at a swanky restaurant. i i A professional photo-shoot of dad with the kids. i i Freebie tickets for dad and a friend to a cracking sporting event. i i xxx to spend on clothes at the best men s boutique in town. The marketing ideas for your business are endless. You just need to get out and about, networking and drumming up business partnerships and promotional opportunities. Having teamed up with a local business, now add your hair or beauty element to the joint prize and bingo, you re onto a winner.

8 FACEBOOK POSTS WITH IMAGES SEE 2.3 TIMES MORE ENGAGEMENT THAN THOSE WITHOUT IMAGES BUZZSUMO.COM

9 4. THE CONTEST RULES Now let s look at setting up your Father s Day Facebook contest. The small print is important if you don t want to irritate people or have the wrong target audience enter. Think about: 1. A time limit for entries. I d plump for 1st-30th June for Father s Day. 2. How will the winner be selected? 3. When will the winner be announced? 4. What happens if the winner doesn t respond after say a month? Reserve the right to select a different winner. 5. When, where and how must the prize be taken? State any restrictions clearly to avoid disappointment. 6. I always confirm there isn t a cash alternate to the prize. 7. To comply with Facebook rules you must include a statement that the promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with, Facebook. Important: Facebook s rules change regularly so always check them each time you run a contest. Find them here.

10 You won t have space on your Facebook posts for all Ts and Cs, so the trick is to create a new page promoting your contest on your salon website and place them here. A neat See website for contest Ts and Cs on your Facebook post with a link to your website is then all that is needed. If your website isn t mobile friendly then this is difficult as the majority of Facebook activity is via a smartphone, tablet or ipad. If your website isn t mobile friendly then you re missing a marketing trick. Learn more about mobile friendly websites here. If you re looking for a new website we offer a complete salon, spa and aesthetic website service. We work only with the hair and beauty industry and understand the business inside out.

11 CONTENT WITH RELEVANT IMAGES GETS 94% MORE VIEWS THAN CONTENT WITHOUT RELEVANT IMAGES KISSMETRICS.COM

12 5. ENTERING THE CONTEST Remember: Businesses cannot administer promotions on personal Timelines so you must use your Business Page. Ideally, use your salon Facebook contest to collect addresses rather than just Likes. It takes more time and effort, but you are building your database one of your most valuable salon marketing tools. What could be better than collecting the s of your competitors clients then promoting yourself straight into their inbox? However, unless you re technically skilled you ll need to involve an agency to do this for you.

13 6. PROMOTING YOUR FATHER S DAY CONTEST Don t just keep it on social. Shout about your contest: i i In-salon with strut cards, posters and in your windows. i i Ensure your local business partners promote it to their customers. i i Design professional looking graphics to market Father s Day and the contest. i i Create a specific contest hashtag such as #WinForDad or include your salon name. i i Promote it across your other social channels. i i Advertise it on your website homepage. i i Create a video to kick-start your campaign.

14 ADVERTISE ON FACEBOOK And of course advertise it on Facebook using paid for adverts. You have two choices here: 1. Boost the post, but this isn t as targeted and is unlikely to get such a good response. 2. I always prefer to create a highly targeted Post Engagement campaign using their Adverts Manager. For Father s Day I d aim at women (remember our target audience) aged who live within an XX km radius of your hair or beauty business. If you re in a town centre this is likely to be a lower radius than if you re in a village location and need to reach out to a wider geographical area.

15 VIDEOS GET THE MOST INTERACTION ON FACEBOOK SO UPLOAD A SHORT VIDEO PROMOTING YOUR FATHER S DAY CONTEST

16 7. SQUEEZE THE MOST OUT OF YOUR CONTEST Select the winner promptly and inform them immediately. Once you hear back from them make a big splash across all your salon marketing channels. Always try and get photos of them accepting or enjoying their prize to boost the feel good factor and social engagement. Brands that post just once or twice a day get 73% more comments and 32% more Likes than those who post three or more times. Quality not quantity counts.

17 8. MEASURE YOUR SUCCESS It s easy to overlook this crucial step. These are the sort of questions to ask yourself: ii Did you achieve your marketing goal? i i How many people entered the contest? i i How many new clients have you had book? i i Did your website traffic increase over the period of the contest? i i How many new addresses have you added to your database? i i Are retail sales up? i i How much did the campaign cost you? Enough talking, time to start doing... A year from now, you ll wish you had started today. Karen Lamb

18 THE HAIR & BEAUTY INDUSTRY WEBSITE AND MARKETING SPECIALISTS facebook.com/lockhartmeyer twitter.com/growyoursalon 2016 Lockhart Meyer Limited t/a Lockhart Meyer Salon Marketing All rights reserved