Well, I told you about the JCTA introducing a Social Media Campaign to drive traffic in to salons. WOW, has it gone better than we ever imagined. Instagram and Facebook ads for our Pre-tan campaign were seen and shared so much our relevance ratings from Facebook were eight and nine out of 10. The campaign ran from December to the 15^th of February. In two months, we had 566,000 impressions on Facebook and 317,000 impression on Google, which drove 150 people a day to the New TanResponsibly.ca website in December and double in January/February. With the new geo-targeted Salon Finder, the ads were pushing more clients to salon members.  You can’t get any better than that, or can you?

Well, the answer is yes. Just in the first two weeks of the Lifestyle campaign alone, which started in February, those number rose in ever higher; they actually almost doubled the traffic on the TanResponsibly website! The Lifestyle campaign is all about daily lives and integrating sunbathing into your lifestyle, just like going to the gym three times a week, or taking in a Friday/Saturday movie, or mothers needing some me time away from the kids.

This was our biggest shared video so far in the lifestyle campaign and got a relevance rating of 9.

There are other ads that relate to a mini vacation and making a tan, whether by spray or UV, a part of your style, and a little tongue in cheek ad about guys looking good titled “Girls like guys with a tan” video and still images.

The Lifestyle campaign is running sponsored posts on the Tan Naked Facebook page; 4 still image and 2 video. When you finish reading this article, please go onto Facebook and share those posts. It will generate even more impressions, and those impressions will be around your salon, especially if you’re a member, because if your followers click on the ad, they’ll be directed to your locations with the auto-salon finder on TanResponsible.ca. Ever if you’re not a member, share the ads; it may entice one of your followers to maybe book a session at your salon. If you’re not a member and want more information on what the JCTA is doing for the sunbathing community, check out this short video on “Why Join the JCTA?” The JCTA does more than just social media advertising. At least read Tom’s article in the newsletter. He lets you know why he became a member, right from the start of the association.

Some great news has been happening throughout Canada: It’s no news! The sunbathing community is not newsworthy anymore! This has been in part because of what the JCTA has been doing in educating governments/media about how our industry has taken control and protecting our client from overexposure and pushing government to make sure there’re no self-serve (client controlled) sunbeds in Canada. Even the latest research from the Canadian Community Health Survey, which included questions about indoor sunbathing, showed we were doing our jobs. The survey said 82% of adults who choose to tan indoors read and understood the warning signs, 85% of clients used protective eyewear, the majority of sunbed patrons were high income earners who had more than a high school diploma, 81% followed exposure schedule or the trained staff, and 90% of client reported no discomfort/injury to the skin in the last year. We still have some work to do, but it sure seems we’ve turned into a professional industry.

We continue to work with government and now government is wanting to work with us. To give you an example, the JCTA received an invite from the City of London to ask us our thoughts on upcoming discussions on a possible city bylaw for tanning salons. These bylaws were nothing like what we have seen in the past; they were a more a conservative approach and not punitive. The JCTA has spent hundreds of thousands of member’s dollars over the years to create relationships with governments, so we are ahead of the regulations/bylaws. We now have a seat at the discussion table before regulations are written. This is good news for the industry.

Please help continue this effort by becoming a member, or at least start following the JCTA’s Professional Standards and no longer allow a client to set or decide what time they should go in for. The sun is finally starting to shine on us again. We just need to protect our clients, which will make us prosper.