Mom Groups for Local Marketing
For service based businesses, like salons, MedSpas and estheticians, local marketing needs to play an important role in your strategy. Your website needs to be optimized so you're coming up under location based searches and you MUST have a Google Business Page. A solid social media strategy should also play a critical role in your local marketing plan. In today's post, I want to talk about a hidden gem on social media that many beauty business owners are under utilizing...your local mom group!
What are Mom Groups?
Many cities and towns have mom groups on Facebook. They are private and sometimes public, Facebook groups where local moms gather to create a community. I've seen them run by everyone from bloggers and influencers to local moms just looking to connect. Mom groups vary in size but no matter what the size, I've found them to be very active!
Why Beauty Business Owners Need to Know About Mom Groups
One word. Recommendations. I'm in a number of mom groups. At first, I joined because I was new mom looking for resources. Fast forward to today and I now own another business geared towards kids and families, plus I have clients that want to reach the mom market so I've made a point of staying in the groups and keeping a pulse on what's trending.Want to know what I see? EVERY. SINGLE. WEEK someone asks for a recommendation on beauty services. I see posts like:
- Where is the best place for lashes in the area?
- My skin is breaking out! Where do I go for a good facial?
- I'm way overdue for my Botox, who is your favorite injector?
- Who do you know that specializes in curly hair? I'm a mess and need someone who knows what they are doing!
From there, they'll get a bunch of answers from other moms sharing where they go and why, but do you know what's missing? YOU! This is the perfect opportunity for you as a beauty business owner to chime in, use social media for what it's meant for and connect with potential customers in real time.
The Benefits of Connecting on Social
There are so many reasons this type of interaction can be beneficial for your business.You're:
- Meeting potential clients where they are at, instead of spending money to get them to come to you.
- Able to showcase your knowledge and expertise in a non-salesy way.
- Getting your name and services in front of all the other moms on the post and in the group.
- Starting a relationship that you may have never found otherwise.
Connecting with moms in these groups is a great, organic way to bring in new business without advertising dollars. That said, time is a big factor. These types of interactions definitely require some time investment from monitoring the group to replying to comments and questions, so you have to be prepared to devote some time to this strategy if you want it to pay off.
How to Leverage the Mom Group
- Start by interacting and engaging whenever you can. If someone posts a question about hair, nails, skin care, anything that falls in to your area of expertise, chime in! Tell them what you do to establish credibility, then answer their question.
- Review the groups promotion policy and determine if there is an opportunity for you to offer the group a promotion of some kind.
- If you can't offer it at the group level, offer it individually as you're commenting on posts. Create a code for each group so you can track how much business each group is bringing in to help you determine if it's worth your time investment.
This strategy is by no means a get rich quick plan. This is an organic way to use social media to connect with potential clients and educate them on what your business offers without spending advertising dollars. Remember, this is all about meeting clients where they are at. You going to them, instead of trying to figure out how to bring them to you. It's not for everybody BUT if you have some down time or run in to a slow period, getting active in the Mom Groups could help fill some holes in your schedule!
