Pulse Legacy Archive June 2012 | Page 67

SNAPSHOTSURVEY2012 REMEMBER: Visit the Snapshot Survey Portal at http://snapshot.experienceispa.com to access results reports for the surveys you participated in or to purchase reports for the months you missed. T his chart was taken from the March 2012 ISPA Snapshot Survey which focused on social media. During the survey period, 367 ISPA members responded. The chart illustrates the various social media platforms being utilized by ISPA spa members. As the chart shows, 95 percent of spa respondents use some kind of social media for their business. How it’s being utilized by each business may vary, but many of the takeaways provide overall guidance for any business. The following is a sampling of responses from spas about lessons they’ve learned from using social media. “Make sure you have sufficient time and human resources to keep it up.” “Pictures are typically more valuable than words.” “Short and sweet posts that promote easy interaction are key to engaging customers. If you’re too flagrant, wordy and sales-like, you’ll lose fans.” “Regular posts keep the followers interested. Varying the posts between questions and interesting facts also keeps them interested. Stop posting and they fall off easily.” “Have a social media policy for your staff.” “Sometimes, you can spend a lot of time on Facebook and Twitter and it can mean better communication but not always better dollars.” “Be clear on any restrictions or qualifiers for promo.” “There is a fine line between too many posts and not enough. Finding that place can be challenging. We have found that less coupons and educating people more is a good balance.” “Respond to negative comments immediately.” “Help others and they will help you in turn. Share another business’ event and they will help to share yours. Compliment another business’ staff or write a good review on Facebook for others. What goes around comes around in social media!” “Videos work but make them short in duration and fun regardless of how serious you think your business is.” “Don’t overdo it—keep Facebook posts minimal. Set up tracking source codes in your system to get the measurable results to justify doing it.” “Plan your tweets and posts out in advance, include quotes, highlights on treatments, and pose questions to your followers to help give you positive feedback on your spa.” “Invest early in hiring a staff person, once you have the fan base, they will contribute to your content. Don’t delete bad posts, it reduces your credibility.” “Don’t take it as an easy way out to cut PR and marketing costs. Social media is a top marketing tool; however, it needs to be managed by a person who does have the skills and knowledge to make it work and useful. If not, it is a waste of time and money.” June 2012 n PULSE 65