Marketing Mistakes

As a Marketing Consultant, former salon owner and current, part-time Nail Professional, I cringe at some salons marketing strategies.  One of the biggest things that make me cringe is the misuse of Facebook.

If you are a salon owner and you have a salon profile for your salon, you make me cringe the most.  Profiles are for people, that’s why you add them as a friend.  Businesses are to have pages, and people click Like because they like the business.   If you do have a profile (where people add you as a friend and you approve them) you are in violation of Facebook’s Terms of Service.

First of all, if you are doing this, you are coming off as someone who has no clue how to run a business.  Second, your profile, which you have spent time approving people, promoting and marketing, uploading photos, etc., will eventually, be deleted by Facebook.  Sure, it may take awhile since there are so many uneducated business owners out there with profiles instead of pages, but trust me; it will catch up with you.

You will then cry and boo-hoo that Facebook deleted your account and all of your hard work is down the drain.  You were the one that was either too stupid to understand the TOS or you just flat out thumbed your nose at it.

I’ve heard the different reasons why salon owners choose a profile, the most common is that the salon owner wants to control who sees their salon information and photos.  Well I guess you don’t want new business because if you never approve anyone you don’t know, you will never get any new clients.  I mean the number one reason for marketing is to market yourself to your market.  Facebook is the perfect venue for this.

If you do want to keep things private then create a closed group, where you control who is allowed in.  You are then in compliance and will not run the risk of having all your hard work deleted some day.

So, if you have a Facebook profile for your business, get rid of it.  You look like a fool.  Get a page or if you don’t want new customers, form a group.  I would rather see you have NOTHING, than have a profile.

Signed – The Marketing Maven