Give your business a strong digital presence in 2018
Online Reviews – absolutely critical to EVERY service based business – whether you are a Hair Salon, Mechanic Shop or Business Coach. Online reviews are WORD OF MOUTH comments captured digitally to inspire someone new, outside the clique of existing clients you already have, to trust and confidently walk through your door.
Whilst all generations read reviews online, digitally savvy Generation Y make swift decisions about your business after reading reviews on multiple online platforms.
Whilst many salons have acquired great reviews on Facebook, this appears to be where the effort stops.
Facebook may be the primary source of where reviews are read, however there are several other platforms that require your attention to solidify your position as the “no brainer” “I must go here”, trustworthy salon in the area.
Below is a list of the 4 top review platforms every salon must acquire reviews on:
Google is king of the jungle when it comes to the online world, and reviews on Google are golden. Aim to acquire a minimum of 20 reviews on Google. To create a review on Google, existing clients must have a Gmail account. Tip: Ask your clients if they have a Gmail account prior to asking for a Google Review. Once a review has been made on Google, ensure to respond by thanking the reviewer for their positive review.
NOTE: Make sure you’ve “claimed” your business on Google. If you are not sure if you have access to your business listing on Google, go to www.google.com/business and follow the instructions. If you have problems attaining access to your Google Account, contact us at info@hairpindigital.com and we can help.
YELLOW PAGES
The Yellow Pages book may no longer be sitting in the cupboard or under the telephone, but it is certainly thriving online. Yellow Pages maintains a strong digital presence and is an active resource for reviews and are actively displayed by Google in Google Places (Google Business Listing). Aim to acquire a minimum of 10 reviews on this platform. Clients can sign up to Yellow Pages to make a review via Facebook making this platform very easy to work with.
www.yellowpages.com.au
TIP: Ensure your Business Name and Address on Yellow Pages is EXACTLY the same as what is shown in Google Places for Google to display it within Google Places.
TRUELOCAL
TrueLocal is one of Australia’s largest online directories and reviews are actively displayed by Google in Google Places. Aim to acquire a minimum of 10 reviews on this platform. Clients can sign up to TrueLocal to make a review via Facebook or with their Gmail account.
www.truelocal.com.au
TIP: Ensure your Business Name and Address on TrueLocal is EXACTLY the same as what is shown in Google Places for Google to display it within Google Places.
YELP
Whilst Yelp is not as popular as Yellow Pages and TrueLocal in Australia, Google displays Yelp Reviews for all businesses within Google Places. Aim to acquire a minimum of 10 reviews on this platform. Clients can sign up to Yelp to make a review via Facebook.
www.yelp.com.au
TIP: Ensure your Business Name and Address on YELP is EXACTLY the same as what is shown in Google Places for Google to display it within Google Places.
Squeezing reviews from your clients for your business can be difficult.
Here are some examples of what can be done to acquire the quantity of quality reviews online to build a strong digital presence.
- Ask your long-term VIP clients (your raving fans) to write a review at their visit to the salon. These are the individuals who will do anything to see you succeed in life. Don’t assume they will write a review without being prompted. You must ask – you will be surprised at how many people will say “Yes, of course” straight away.
- Send out a text message or email survey to clients 24hrs after their salon experience to see how they feel about their new hairstyle. If their experience and contentment points towards 5 stars, ask them to write a review on one of the platforms. Ensure a link to your business listing on the desired review platform is sent to them.
- Create an internal friendly competition amongst your staff members to see who can get the most reviews online.
- Create a competition with a beautiful prize for your clients to write a review online for your business.
Once you have acquired strong reviews on all platforms, you will notice a shift in the stream of new clients rolling through your door over the next 12 months. It’s advised to take note of how new clients find you digitally. Pay attention to which platforms are providing you with new clients. Once you know, you can confidently invest more time and resources into the platform with more reviews and information about your business.
As seen in Hair Biz Year 12 Issue 1
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