If anyone asks me what is the NUMBER ONE thing for a salon to do for their business digitally, it is always to expand their GOOGLE REVIEWS and work with all the tools available to them within Google My Business.  Whilst I’m a huge advocate for Facebook and Instagram, the reality is Google is king.  It surprises me how many businesses focus on attaining “likes” and “followers” on Instagram and Facebook, when the golden ticket lies within Google.

If your business has been established for 1 year, then your business has no excuse to have an absolute minimum of 10 reviews on Google.   If your business has been established for more than 5 years, than you should have 50 reviews or more.

Most businesses I see, tend to have somewhere between 0-20 reviews on Google and more than 50 reviews on Facebook.  The focus on Google Reviews seems to be forgotten or ignored.  In this digital age, this is not good enough, and certainly not the benchmark businesses should adhere to.

Google reviews hold a lot of value to potential clients.  Why?  Because Google reviews are difficult to attain and reviewers tend to be more truthful on Google.   To write a Google review, existing clients must own a GMAIL account.  I hear a lot of salons tell me their clients don’t have GMAIL accounts.  However, most individuals have a free email account like HOTMAIL or GMAIL in addition to their work email.

At some point, every salon experiences a troll on Google who writes their business a bad review.  It’s funny how these individuals seem to always own a GMAIL account.  Which means your good clients have one as well.

ASK your clients for reviews on Google. 

If you don’t ask for a review on Google you only have a 50/50 chance of them providing you a review on their own accord.  The chances are these reviews will be negative, because people are more proactive on their own accord to write negative reviews.  However, if you ASK your client for a Google review, you have an 83% chance of them providing you a review – which will be about a positive experience.

Once you’ve received a review, good or bad it is critical to respond professionally.

There are many quirky ways to invite people to review your business on Google.  If you would like assistance with this reach out, Hairpin Digital was created to help businesses WIN.

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Estelle Oliveri is the director of Hairpin Digital.  Digital Marketing Agency for the Hair and Beauty Industry. Connect with her directly on Facebook Messenger here>> m.mehairpindigital

Keep up with the changes on Social Media by joining Hairpin Digital’s group on Facebook here>>

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Estelle Oliveri
Hairpin Digital
+61498043064
www.hairpindigital.com
info@hairpindigital.com