For every one of those fabulous salon influencers whose every post garners thousands of likes, there are a thousand salons struggling to get any but the barest response to their online activity. Yet the pressure is on to perform digitally. It’s the window to your business, say the experts. And so, despite being hard work, time-consuming and often demoralizing, it is absolutely necessary.
For Daniel Di Iorio, owner of Diior10 in the Bossley Park suburb of Sydney, Australia, gaining traction online was an on-going struggle, so when Social Sorted burst on to the scene in late 2019, with its aim of providing ongoing, beautiful salon/spa/ barber-focused content to supplement any social channels, he jumped at it. But he was soon subverting the service to his own gain; he hasn’t just upped his game on social media, he has also created a situation where his team are more engaged online and with the salon.
“I couldn’t stay on top of social as well as build my business,” he explains. “And nor could my team. They were struggling to get noticed on the social channels as much as I was with the salon. It was knocking everyone’s confidence.”
Daniel’s approach until he joined Social Sorted had been to mandate as part of the teams’ KPIs, that everyone uploaded at least four images a month to the salon Dropbox. But salon shots were starting to look a bit similar and boring very quickly. He also couldn’t and wouldn’t dictate to his team what they posted on their own feeds.
“The team is an important link between the client and the salon; they need to impress and engage on social every bit as much as I do. But with clients often in just for a root touch-up and trim, their images rarely generated a major buzz on social,” he adds.
Daniel’s answer was to extend his Social Sorted subscription to his people so they could pick images and captions for their own channels. Laura Di Iorio, Daniel’s wife, who oversees salon marketing, then shares their posts on the salon feeds. It might not have been what Shortcuts Software, the ever-pioneering guys behind the service, planned, but it’s working for Daniel.
“We wanted to create a community where we all work together to create more excitement on the social channels, to drive up clientele,” says digital junkie Jo Burgess, Shortcuts co-founder and brains behind Social Sorted. “I’m impressed with the way Daniel has approached this so laterally.”
@diior10_salon Instagram feed injected with Social Sorted content.
Social Sorted was launched to a limited number of subscribers in October and then again in February. When COVID-19 started to affect salons globally, Social Sorted knew they could help. From now until 30 June 2020, Social Sorted are offering free access to their platform of social media content designed specifically for salons.
“As we navigated the COVID-19 pandemic, our team began looking for ways to better support and serve the hairdressing industry we love so much,” said Jo.
“In a matter of weeks, social media established itself as a powerful channel for salons to communicate and stay connected with their clients during such a critical time. After some deep thought, we’ve decided that one of the best ways we can contribute and help the global hairdressing community is by opening up the doors to the Social Sorted membership. This will allow us to welcome and support more salons with their social media, especially now.”
Social Sorted are offering free access to members from today until 30 June 2020. New members will be able to join the unique international service free of charge, and access content, webinars and strategy planning every month, building expertise and confidence to make it big on the social media circuit. It has had a huge impact on engagement for Diior10, within and without the salon.
“We have a monthly team breakfast meeting, and Social Sorted is always on the agenda. Over breakfast we work through that month’s strategy plan together and then they decide what they want to post and when. We open up the materials to everyone so they can jazz up their feeds,” reveals Daniel. “My wife, Laura, follows the teams’ channels and shares their posts.”
It guarantees variety across the team’s feeds, driving their personal business, which in turn benefits the salon. Engagement is up across the board and several team members have even got the attention of marketing companies, which have noticed their recent jump in engagement.
“Sharing Shortcuts’ Social Sorted has helped us glide our team into improved social networking without having to tell them what to do. It has also given them a sense of responsibility and ownership within the salon, reinforced the team spirit, as we are able to talk together about how to market ourselves and how their business impacts on the salon and how to boost it for everyone,” adds Daniel.
“The professionalism and variety of their posts have helped drive up our own profile. We might be a small suburban salon, but the online window on to our business resonates way beyond.”
Over the next 12 months, as Social Sorted is adopted by increasing numbers of struggling salon owners, the pattern of usage will evolve. Creatives will always find a way to subvert and progress and idea. But meanwhile, Daniel is quite satisfied with his own original approach and how it benefits everyone on the team.
From now until 30 June 2020, Social Sorted are offering free access to their platform of social media content designed specifically for salons.
After 30 June 2020, the service costs just $35USD a month with no lock-in contract, and provides 30 new and topical images and on-point captions each month, carefully curated to supplement every style of salon or shop in the hair industry.
To take advantage of this offer and sign up today, visit Social Sorted.
