Stylize Your Guests!

 
      With all the hype of last night's Grammys the nails did not disappoint. I believe they were front and center, as well they should be. You didn't hear Ryan Seacrest asking the celebs about their hair and what product they were wearing. Yes nails really rocked the Grammy's. I had a client text me to turn on E! during the Mani-off. Thanks to Lisa Marie Santos Facebook status update, I was already tuned in. She texted "This can not be bad for biz." With nails being front and center many have taken notice. Women's Wear Daily reports nail polish sales hit a record 768 million in the US in 2012 a 32% over 2011. And there is no sign of it slowing down. As more treatments emerge including pattern nail stickers and textured polishes, gel products continue to be on the rise. Nail polish is the new economic indicator replacing lipstick. The theory goes that as the economy struggles, sales of these small luxury items rise. You may not be able to get that new Mercedes this spring but wow look at all the cool polish you can buy. Social media has also driven the upsurge with sites like Instagram. E! online introduced a "Mani Cam" at the 2012 Emmy awards inviting celebs to walk their manicures down the red carpet and while the gimmick was panned at the time they had two Mani Cams at this years Grammys and a Mani off during the Red carpet countdown. I have to say I was a bit disappointed some of the celeb nail stylists used retail products as opposed to professional. I guess in the end it still is all about moving the industry forward. Don't hate the player hate the game?

      So how do we capitalize on this exposure? Ironically enough as it usually happens I got an email with Seth Godin's blog update. Seth Godin is a brilliant marketer and change alchemist having written 14 books The Purple Cow among his most popular. Godins blog talks about Humanizing our work. In the land of cookie cutter, imitator nail styles you must break free and create your own voice in your own unique work. Godin suggests "To create something that only you could have made, or said, or conceived of." To set yourself apart. With so many new companies emerging and offering so many new opportunities you must still put your creative trademark on your work. The Internet is crammed full of ideas, between Pinterest and YouTube. Let these sights be the spark for creativity and push out your own boundaries. Practice something new, fail if you can and start over creating smarter because of it. Then post, post and post some more. Create Pinterest boards showcasing your work with links back to your website. Tag photos on your Facebook wall so all your clients friends see your work. Send your work into Nailit Magazine, another industry game changer. The nail universe is doing all it can to get this industry exposure, Tap in and enjoy the ride.
The Grammys Beauty Breakdown: Nail Art Edition

Marketing and Avocados?

 

      What do Avocados have to do with marketing? Well while checking my Facebook feed I noticed that our own Braden Jahr, show producer, liked Avocados from Mexico. Really? A Facebook page for Avocados? Well I happen to love avocados, ok I am obsessed with avocados. So naturally I clicked on the page and the power of social marketing wrestled me to the ground once again. I scrolled through the posts, clicked on links that took me to amazing blogs and websites with recipes, how tos and fun facts about avocados. In the end, of course I liked the page. Mission accomplished. When you design your Facebook page and generate likes from your audience the same thing happens. Friends of friends see your activity and curiosity gets the better of us. No matter if we were just on line for a few seconds to update our status or see who liked what we get pulled into the world of social networking. Make sure your content is valuable enough to connect with your future clients. So what does this look like in action? I attended Doug Schoons Schoon Scientific webinar on UV light cured gels sponsored by the PBA on UV gels this afternoon.

       Not 5 minutes later Tina Ciesla Nail Artist Educator for Entity Beauty, owner of Blooming Nails Salon.in Birmingham Alabama posted this on her page.

" I just attended a wonderfully educational webinar featuring Doug Schoon, an internationally-recognized scientist, author and educator with over 30 years experience in the cosmetic, beauty and personal care industry. . The topic today was all about Gel Enamels; the latest findings and best practices. Gel Enamel is safe to wear long term, if it is properly applied, properly cured, and properly removed. As consumers, make sure you only visit reputable salons who continue their education. Please do not try the DIY approach by wasting your money on the products available to you. It's not just nail polish, ladies. They contain gel which can cause reactions if used improperly. The health of your nail and surrounding skin is important to us. ALSO, if you are currently wearing a gel enamel product, please do not try to peel or remove the product yourself. You could easily damage your nails. Put your trust in the professional nail artists at Blooming Nails Salon."
Awesome Tina, well done!!

      I also saw an interesting feed by Erin Does Nails.Erin Does Nails Blog Facebook has been toying with the algorithm of page views.

      "Due to the "advertising" mindset that Facebook has taken on lately to generate even more $$$ it is becoming much harder for good pages like EDN to be easily "seen" these days. I'm reposting this information from a friend who also runs a vibrant, but smaller Page. So if you like what you see here and would like to continue to easily see my feed from EDN every day , following these steps will make it easier for you to see the posts that I make."

     Then she reposted this instruction. You can add "interests List" for your favorite pages. To see all the updates from a page you have to "Open" the page, hover the mouse over the gear to the right of the like button and in the drop down menu click "Add to interests list".
You can also generate more traffic by encouraging viewers to "like" "Comment" or " Share". I'm sure you have seen posts that encourage readers to vote on a particular style or questions by their interaction with the page. As Facebook continues to change the way we do business it continues to create new learning curves. But if you aren't interacting you can't catch the wave.