If ‘pinning’ is now part of your vocabulary, it’s official – you’ve joined the Pinterest craze!

Pinterest, the scrapbooking site that’s suddenly everywhere you turn, is like a gift from social media heaven for the style-conscious, visually driven consumers. It’s a perfect medium for your salon because the average user is all about fashion, beauty, accessories, hair and all things chic. And, did I mention that over 68% of its users are women, ages 25-44?

Before taking a look at how you can put Pinterest to work for you, it’s worth looking at why your salon shouldn’t be ignoring the hottest new social platform.

First and foremost, the numbers speak louder than the buzz. In the past six months, SEOnix reports that visits to Pinterest grew by 4000%, receiving an amazing 11 million hits in just one week. Aside from the unbelievable traffic that Pinterest can generate for you salon, there’s no doubt its users are highly engaged and can easily contribute to helping your salon go viral. In fact, you’ve probably noticed your friends posting their pins directly to their Facebook page – imagine if they were posting looks recently created from your salon!

Now, let’s take a look at how you can get started…here are a few ideas:

 1.       Showcase your services by creating trend boards.Turn your Pinterest into an online portfolio of the services, styles and products you have to offer. Add in how-to’s and simple techniques fans can replicate at home. (Make sure to add descriptions to your pins, it allows consumers to categorize them when repining.)

 2. Create an idea board with styles, cuts, colors and inspiration you have found elsewhere.Because you’re in the business of offering a service, you can easily find interesting photos and ideas to share with your customers to enhance what you do. For example, check out pinterest.com/officialtoniguy – where they are posting their recent collections and trends.

 3.       Hold a contest for your clients to ‘pin their look’ to your boards. Encourage your clients to get involved and pin their recent hairstyle (created by your salon) to your board for a chance to win a free service.

 4.       Offer a weekly Pinterest-exclusive coupon.To keep your salon top of mind, let customers know you’ll be pinning a weekly coupon within one of your boards –consider it an online scavenger hunt. All they need to do is simply repin, print and redeem. The coupons can be created for products or services.

 5.       Get personal. Being involved with social media is all about showing the behind the scenes and there’s no better for that then Pinterest. Create boards that highlight each of your stylists. Pin their client looks to their boards, or encourage them to showcase their style and inspiration on their board.

Good luck and happy pinning! Once you’ve had the opportunity to test a few of these tips, I’d love to hear about your success and share it with the Modern Salon network. Please e-mail me at kehlers@evokebrands.com with your examples.

For more social media tips, go to my other blog stylesync.me or connect with us on Facebook at facebook.com/evokebrandstrategies.

As always, feel free to contact me at: kehlers@evokebrands.com with any questions or comments.

About www.StyleSync.me:

Style Sync is an on-line social media training, personal branding and business education platform designed specifically for salon owners and stylists to help them magnify their image and multiply their results.

Style Sync, a division of Evoke Brand Strategies, is an on-line, subscription based social media training, personal branding and business education platform designed to help individual stylists and salon owners turn social media prowess into more clients and more money for your salon.

About www.EvokeBrands.com:

At Evoke Brand Strategies we develop digital, social and mobile strategies for salon professional, beauty, hospitality and entertainment brands. As branding and public relations veterans, yet early adopters of all things digital, we understand the importance of creating measurable, buzz-worthy campaigns that generate bottom-line results.