The battle for the hearts and minds of clients that rages between neighboring salons is nothing compared to the cut-throat world of social media, where recently Instagram introduced a copy of Snapchat Stories and Twitter revealed plans to push rollout of its own ‘me-too’ offering originally announced last year.
For salons active on Instagram and Twitter, these short bites of information promise similar instant communication while saving them the hassle of having to master yet another social platform.
“Everyone knows and acknowledges that Snapchat pioneered the Stories functionality, including Kevin Systrom, the CEO of Instagram,” said Valorie Reavis, founder of digital marketing company, Linkup Marketing. “The “now it’s here, now it’s gone” feature of Snapchat helped to grow its network to the 150 million daily users it has today. However, Instagram sits at 500 million so leadership at Instagram knows that there’s a time and place for originality and a time and place for riding coat tails to retain market and mind share.“
All three offer, or will offer, photo and video slideshows with embellishments and commentary that disappear after 24 hours, enabling users to share an unpolished window into their day.
Commentators might have been quick to point out that Instagram Stories isn’t as polished as Snapchat, missing the oh-so popular filters unique to Snapchat, but they are also predicting Instagram will clip Snapchat’s wings due to the size of its following and follow quickly with filters of their own. Avid fans can now offer up their snapshot slide shows without migrating to a new platform, with all the hassle that entails.
“Snapchat Stories is great for pushing actionable stories – whether it’s with a link to book now with a stylist to get 10% off or to buy that day’s featured product. Its grab-it-while-you-can approach allows greater opportunities to monetize social media activity than the more leisurely Facebook or original Instagram,” added Valorie. “Followers know they need to be quick or they’ll miss out. And with all your followers already on Instagram, and with its ability to link to Facebook, one should wonder if the release of copycat Instagram Stories wasn’t genius in its own right.”
About Valorie:
Valorie Reavis heads Linkup Marketing, a group of industry professionals that provides salons, stylists and businesses with creative, educational and strategic marketing services to help them reach their goals. Valorie also serves as the Executive Director for the multi-unit salon spa association International Salon Spa Business Network, contributing to multiple networks and companies and helping the industry progress and thrive. If you have any queries for the Linkup team check out the website linkupmarketing.com