I have been writing for SpaTrade, sharing amazing tips and secrets to help you grow your social media marketing strategy for your Spa. Our process is simple and logical. Develop a Strategy, Build a Community, Nourish your Community with Content. The tools we are most excited about are Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Blogging and Twitter (In order of importance and return on investment). Blogging should be first, except there are millions of blogs, many suck and Spas really struggle with the concept. I want to share a few tips with you designed to make you a GREAT Blogger.
- Passion. Pick a Theme that you can write about any time, stick with it. You must feel passionate about the theme of your Spa’s Blog. No, you may think you feel passionate about telling everyone about your 10% coupon on your blog, but it is part of the noise that overwhelms us and your blog post on the deal was as boring as the deal. Start with education. Theme your Spa’s blog around what you know the most about and share it.
- Make it a habit. The secret to creating a good habit is frequency, whether we are talking about making it to the gym, yoga class or massage. Start by blogging 3 times a week for 6 weeks. This will keep it fresh in your mind and you will get good enough at accessing the software and creating the content that you will feel comfortable blogging.
- Size matters. Go ahead and blush, but it is true. Vary the “length” of your Spa’s blog, being respectful of your audience’s time. This is the longest blog post you will read from me all year. Your average should be 250-300 words. Get comfortable posting a picture with a caption, we all grew up on the saying “a picture says a thousand words.” Take and share amazing pictures on your blog.
- Practice makes perfect (or at least better). If you take crap photos, google how to take photos and practice, you will get better. Have you always struggled to write, the more you do it the easier it will get. Maybe try dictating your blog posts to Siri in the sexy new iPhone 4s you got for Christmas. Learn how to use iMovie on your iPad and you will slowly become a director, editor and star of your own videos. The truth is you may never be able to sing, but you will be able tow rite and blog if you do it consistently!
- Share Your Knowledge Base. You have an intense amount of information in your head, get it out! If you share valuable information it will inspire people to Share the blog and specific Posts. Doing research is a GREAT way to create a great blog post. Need more, harnass the knowledge and power of your staff. You can have them email you posts and you can post for them.
- Create Engaging Titles. Think of these as headlines in a newspaper. Would the Paperboy be shouting out your headline to people walking by? Make sure you create great titles that are inspiring and shareable.
- Get the right tools. I am a big fan of WordPress as a backend Content Management System. It has consistently gotten better every year. You MUST get the iPhone (android) App for Wordpress. This will enable you to Blog anywhere you have an internet connection. With the right tools and knowledge how to use them, you can do anything.
- Promote Your Content. Follow the 1 to 10 rule. Every time you create a piece of content, promote it 10 different ways. Get your friend to Share it, post it on LinkedIn, Tweet it out, etc. If you track statistics on your Blog, you will see the traffic grow as you create better content and promote it more. The post you think is brilliant will fall flat, nobody will care. Look at the web statistics, see what people are reading and create more blog posts like that. You want people to enjoy your content and share your content. If your content is great, share it more than once!
Your Spa needs a Blog. It will drive traffic to your website, establish your expertise and sell your services. Make your blog interesting and educational and you will have a great blog that will be easy to share. If you learned anything in this blog post, or know anyone with a Spa that will benefit from a better blog, share this Blog Post!