Twitter Tips
by Valorie Reavis, founder of Linkup Marketing
Socialize and revitalize your salon with Twitter.
Welcome to the world of Twitter, no longer a social network according to its creators, but rather a social information network where you can tell everyone what you’re up to at any time of the day or night.
If people like what they read, they might pass it on to their followers and those people could start to follow you too.
But if the flow of information is strictly one way by only talking at your followers, rather than to and with them, you could be missing out on some of the most valuable opportunities the Twittosphere has to offer.
Lady Gaga doesn’t just blab about herself to her 150,000 loyal tweeters and neither should you. Savvy salon users engage with followers by offering comments about current events important to their audiences, details of recent team successes, links to artistic work done by team members, and celebrity hairstyle comments—peppered with the occasional marketing message like a new color campaign. Suddenly the whole Twitter network becomes a social information network—a true community of like-minded souls.
(Note: Linkup Marketing specializes in online marketing solutions for small business owners. LinkupMarketing.com)
Tweet Examples:
• Commune with your clients
Right: Don’t you just luv that new hue of red @ clientuseame is rocking?! (link to pic)
Wrong: Luv her hair, but we need to work on her freckles! Just sayin...
• Establish your expertise:
Right: Make sure your hair is surviving this extra harsh winter! (link to salon/product info)
Wrong: Don’t chance your dry, winter hair to anyone but us; we’re the best!
• Create tweets about your marketing programs:
Right: We can’t wait for our cut-a-thon on Saturday at 1pm. Please retweet and invite your friends!
Wrong: We’re slashing prices for a cause and hoping for lots of publicity.
More Twitter Tips!
Often it’s not how you tweet, but what you tweet that counts.
by Chris Brogan, social media consultant
When it comes to Twitter, Chris Brogan is a veritable well of expert advice. Here, he shares 12 tips to get you headed in the right direction when using Twitter for your career and your salon.
1. Follow anyone who follows you and un-follow spammers and jerks.
2. Promote other people 12 times to every 1 self-promotion tweet.
3. Build lists to watch people who matter to you most.
4. Retweet the good stuff from others; sharing is caring.
5. Retweeting someone’s nice words about you is lame.
6. A lot of @replies shows loads of humanity/engagement.
7. Robot tweets are less sexy than human tweets.
8. Twitter allows up to 140 characters per tweet. Leave 20 characters or more space at the end of each tweet to improve retweeting.
9. Use Twitter as a communication tool and not as another way to do online marketing blasts.
10. The best mobile app is the one that you’re most comfortable using.
11. Tweets that point people to photos, video or music will enhance your postings.
12. When using Twitter, set an egg timer; it’s addictive.
(Note: Chris Brogan consults and speaks professionally with Fortune 100 and 500 companies like PepsiCo, General Motors, Microsoft, and more, on the future of business communications and social software technologies. (ChrisBrogan.com)
Twitter Tools:
Use these marketing tools to easily facilitate and track your efforts on Twitter.
• HootSuite (HootSuite.com) allows you to use social web tools to schedule and publish messages to multiple social networks, monitor results and efficiently participate in conversations.
• Twhirl (Twhirl.org) and TweetDeck (TweetDeck. com) can separate direct messages; @Replies, allow you to view a string of tweets from individual users. You can also tweet within the application itself instead of using your browser.
• Seesmic (Seesmic.com) specializes in monitoring, updating and engaging users in real time.
• Tools like http://bit.ly let you see stats. Use them.
• TweetChat (TweetChat.com) makes following event chats easy—just put in a hashtag and go.
(Hashtags help you search for tweets within a specific topic. If you search on #americanidol, for instance, you’ll get a list of tweets related to the TV show and not American idols in general. A popular site for hashtag tweets: Hashtags.org)
How App-propos
Beauty aficionadas are becoming app-happy.
Whether you have a smart phone permanently attached to your hand, your BFF is your new iPad 2 or you can’t leave home without your iPad, your greatest love is staying connected with the world—your world. And, there’s no better way to do this than through apps. Originally developed as business tools for execs on the go, mobile apps have quickly morphed into entertainment and informational tools for every topic under the sun. They’ve also become a way of life for many digital divas that reach for their mobiles while shopping, to receive their daily doses of tips and tricks or are simply bored and want to be entertained by their favorite pastime—beauty.
MyMatrixFamily APP
Join the Matrix stylist community, find friends and connect with Matrix Design Team Members like Patrick McIvor, Nicholas French and Chrystofer Benson via the new MyMatrixFamily APP, a program that enhances your experience while visiting MyMatrixFamily.com via your mobile phone. Availability: Android, followed shortly by iPhone and Blackberry. (MyMatrixFamily.com)
Pravana ChromaSilk iPhone Color Formulator App
This handy color app allows you to access Chromasilk color swatches and automatically calculate suggested formulas based on application type, existing color, percentage of gray and targeted results. Availability: iPhone (Pravana.com/colorapp)
Style Station
Access “The Break Room” (think Facebook for salons) via Redken’s new Style Station mobile phone app. Additional features: haircolor swatches and level finder; news about the latest haircolor trends; featured formulas sorted by level and end result; and a custom timer system for chemical processes (multiple settings with individual ring-tones). Availability: Android and iPhone operating systems. (RedkenSalon.com/skills/stylestation)
Get App Savvy
For readers who’ve just entered the mobile app arena, here are a few things that you need to know.
Mobile apps (short for applications) are software programs designed for low-power devices such as smart phones, Android Tablets and iPads. Some mobile apps are only available for a particular operating system (e.g. Google Android or Mac), while others have software programs available for multiple systems. Many apps are free; feebased apps can cost as little as 49 cents.
Google Android Tablets and Mac iPads require different software programs than their mobile phone counterparts. However, for Mac, some apps contain both iPhone and iPad software, essentially giving you two apps for the price of one. (Intel: Later in 2011, Google will be releasing Alien Dalvik, a program that allows Android apps to run on several non-Android operating systems.)