The Road to Awareness, Engagement, and Advocacy
As we enter the 4th quarter for 2018 what can we say about the "Connected" program and the salons that participate in the program:
What Has Taken Place:
- There are 15 salons with content and review platforms built for them, 10 of which are live and generating traffic, reviews, and awareness. There are another 25 slated to be brought online as well
- so far tin 2018 alone we have seen over 10,000 visitors online and over 25,000 page views, and most of that by the original 1/2 dozen salons, with the new ones now developing their own audiences and coming along quite well.
- The salons as a group have over 250 reviews posted. What is interesting though is that even salons with only a handful of reviews are seeing daily traffic of 5 - 10 people seeing them. And a few salons have their reviews posted on their home page which also serves as a link to their Google reviews.
- The star salon is Tappa with 112 reviews and a major benefit has been that their staff when searched on Google turn up on Page 1 with the "Connected" program occupying the top 5 - 8 results plus images. An example:
What it all means:
- The "Connected" program has 3 phases to it; Awareness, Engagement, and Advocacy
- the traffic results clearly demonstrate that Awareness is continually being achieved on behalf of the salons and underscores unlimited potential.
- Engagement through newsletters and Reviews clearly underscore customers' interest and willingness to engage with their salon. Open rates for newsletters regularly exceed 20%, almost twice the industry average.
- The ongoing addition of content and reviews continually enlarges each salon's web presence online and in the eyes of Google and the other search engines.
What's Next:
- Very promising initiatives have been and are being tested all the time to see what client response potential looks like, how easy or difficult various promotions and features are to create and produce.
- A couple to note is a recent cross promotion done with a Leisure Wear Company called It Fitz Me and Tappa Hair Salon that in its first week generated hundreds of visitors and page views, and a special promotion going out shortly, also with Tappa., and with Courtney's support, aimed at the more than 6 dozen clients of Tappa registered in their referral Program.
- Most salons steadfastly believe that their Facebook and Instagram accounts generate salon traffic. We have seen in several cases where we add or link content from social media that there is incremental audience potential online as well. Therefore we look to increase our efforts in tandem with social media activity to drive traffic and generate awareness. For example, Salon Utopia has produced two videos they posted on Facebook as part of a series they created. We in turn have posted these videos and the story on their Connected pages and generating incremental traffic as a result.