Many spa business owners aren’t sure how to approach Facebook. It can be hard to break into Facebook marketing because it seems like there are a million different ways you can be using it to reach new customers or engage your existing customers. Most importantly, it can be intimidating to think about all of the things you could be doing wrong—especially knowing that they are now permanently a part of the online portal. To keep you on track, here are three common Facebook marketing mistakes that outline what spa businesses should never do.
1. Using Facebook Only to Sell
If you’re used to print advertisements, you may think that you’re supposed to use Facebook the same way you use a billboard: to sell offers, talk about the latest service you’re offering, or the latest product you just got in stock—anything that convinces your audience to give you money. In the world of social media, however, this is a big no-no. Many people are turned off when they see a business posting nothing but an ask for a purchase. The key to using Facebook is to remember that it is a social experience. Customers are eager to connect with spa business owners on a personal level and get to know you as a person, not just someone who owns a spa. In order to succeed you need to post information that is relevant to your customers’ needs, not just links to your business. Try to create a mix of posts, such as funny or beautiful photos, links to helpful articles about the latest spa treatments, statuses suggesting solutions to common problems, and links to your own website or articles. A good rule of thumb is to make no more than one out of every 10 posts self-promotional so that customers can see you’re focused on them, not just on your business.
2. Ignoring Your Customers
Social media is social, which means it’s a two-way conversation. If a customer posts on your page, make sure to respond to him or her within 24 to 48 hours. If the customer has a complaint or problem, be sure to respond quickly and appropriately. Failure to respond to customers at all sends the message that you don’t care about them, which can negatively impact your reputation. Everything you do online can easily be spread around the world, so protect your reputation by being proactive. You may also want to do the opposite of ignoring your customers: reward them for interacting with you. Giving customers rewards such as discounted treatments or first access to a new product is a great way to stand out online. You can even run a contest to reward your top contributors.
3. Buying Likes
Facebook Likes are important to your overall marketing campaign, especially if you intend to convert some of your Facebook followers to email subscribers. However, resist the temptation to pay money for Facebook likes. This practice does more harm than good and can seriously hurt your reputation. Here are some of the reasons you shouldn’t buy Facebook likes:
- The Likes you buy may not belong to real accounts. Facebook regularly cracks down on fake accounts and on real accounts that are associated with them, so you could get into trouble if you buy Likes. You also might lose credibility if your customers realize that some of your likes belong to fake accounts.
- Purchased Likes may not be members of your target audience. It doesn’t do your local business much good to have 10,000 likes from a foreign country where people are too far away to ever take advantage of your business.
- The Likes you buy generally don’t engage with you online. It’s better to have 200 engaged prospects than 2000 prospects who’ve never interact with you on your page. Unengaged prospects don’t convert to sales, so they won’t have a positive impact on your business.
- If your real prospects realize that some of your Likes are fake or paid for, then you run the risk of losing their trust, making it harder to make sales or attract new potential customers.
It can be really hard to figure out what to do on Facebook at first because so many people are using it. If you avoid careless behaviors that can put you on clients’ bad side and engage your customers with honest, value-based posts, you will attract a large following and convert prospective customers into paying customers.