About Emerson Salon:
‘Emerson Salon’ a small hair dressers based in Washington. Matt Buchan and Alex Garcia decided to buy and make over a hair salon in Seattle in 2008. Started out with $10,000 and no hair salon experience as they are consultants earlier. After an added $40,000 spent on decoration, they could not afford to spend any more money. From the preliminary, they predetermined to use social media in their strategy so set up a whole social media strategy, from the website to Facebook page. Lets see in detail how Emerson Salon Generated Revenue via Social Media.
Decided that the Internet would be a main spotlight for their business. Little did they know that two years later, 75% of their business would be garnered from Facebook Twitter and their Blog. Probably they had created a whole new business model in the hair and beauty industry. Social media is so ubiquitous in their salon that “it’s rare for even a walk-in customer to come in and not have read our blog or seen their tweets.”
Business Objectives of Emerson Salon :
Clearing the $40,000 spent on decoration by generating more customer base and to build brand which leads to generate revenue.
Attracting more number of customers to visit their saloon serve them well and satisfy their needs.
Emerson Salon Generated Revenue via Social Media :
First of all they developed an integrated social media strategy, at the focal point of this strategy was their blog and website that was used to generate great content. Initially they concentrated Facebook fan page and Twitter account and then drove traffic to both the blog and the website. Looked a little a bit like this Social Media Case Studies Emerson used Facebook and Twitter to share articles from their blog which in turn drove traffic back to their website. Consequently they asked customers for feedback and offered discounts. Furthermore, they kept conversations interactive by replying with desperation to messages. Seems like, they have followed social media marketing best practice to a tee. Finally they were rewarded for their hard work!
American poet Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, “All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better.” With the Facebook page, there are 2 different elements. The Facebook fan page landing page is very well designed . A huge design directing to the like button with a simple comment Let’s be friends. Just by doing that, you increase the number of likes on Facebook page. The big button “book online” also on the 1st page to drive traffic and make online bookings easier.
Now if you go on the Facebook wall of Emerson Salon, we can see they use Facebook to share the articles of the blog ,ask customers for their feedback and comments , offer discounts as well.
They use Twitter in a similar way as Facebook but probably with slightly more conversations trying to keep the conversations alive with comments and reply. Driving the traffic to the blog and website by sharing articles. Sharing local news “tonight pub crawling at the …” to build a real relationship with locals. Asking for the feedback’s to the customers and trying to get more ratings on their Yelp pages as well. As a result of their Twitter activity, they have now 13,823 followers.
Results Achieved by Emerson Salon:
As a result, 13,818 Twitter followers with 1780 likes on Facebook. In addition 75% of clients come from the internet with 400% increase in revenue over 2 year period. Savvy used combination of blogs, Facebook and Twitter to reach 75% of their customers and drive positive reviews on Yelp. Finally they are successful with strategy because 90% of all purchase decision begin on the internet . Also 85% are looking for an independent review.
Learnings from Emerson Salon Social Media Strategy:
Lets see how they deliver a great service to their customers . Their business, Emerson Salon, has flourished since its originating year and its success is mainly as a result of effective internet marketing with social media and PR. That is one of the 1st reason – no special stuff at all, a plain design, a big button in the middle.Most of all they know their target, young urban and had clear goals by using social media – drive traffic towards the big “Online Booking” button.
Engaged with their customers by asking for feedback’s and simple questions. Just do it. Almost the only way of learning how to use Social Media is by doing it there are no other choice. Consequently you fail, you learn, you try differently. It can measure effortlessly the results with Social Media by the numbers, engagement conversations, likes or even by traffic. For a small business, it’s very important to be authentic when using social media, if you have conversations.I hope this real business case will give you more ideas on how to use social media especially as a lot of small businesses seem completely lost.
Photo Credits: Mashable.com, Emerson salon.com, Linkhumans.com
