{"version":"1.0","provider_name":"Smart Tan News","provider_url":"https:\/\/news.smarttan.com","title":"Power of the People: Turn anybody into an influencer for your business - Smart Tan News","type":"rich","width":600,"height":338,"html":"<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"wK42mGXAaG\"><a href=\"https:\/\/news.smarttan.com\/index.php\/power-of-the-people\/\">Power of the People: Turn anybody into an influencer for your business<\/a><\/blockquote><iframe sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" src=\"https:\/\/news.smarttan.com\/index.php\/power-of-the-people\/embed\/#?secret=wK42mGXAaG\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" title=\"&#8220;Power of the People: Turn anybody into an influencer for your business&#8221; &#8212; Smart Tan News\" data-secret=\"wK42mGXAaG\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\"><\/iframe><script type=\"text\/javascript\">\n\/* <![CDATA[ *\/\n\/*! This file is auto-generated *\/\n!function(d,l){\"use strict\";l.querySelector&&d.addEventListener&&\"undefined\"!=typeof URL&&(d.wp=d.wp||{},d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage||(d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage=function(e){var t=e.data;if((t||t.secret||t.message||t.value)&&!\/[^a-zA-Z0-9]\/.test(t.secret)){for(var s,r,n,a=l.querySelectorAll('iframe[data-secret=\"'+t.secret+'\"]'),o=l.querySelectorAll('blockquote[data-secret=\"'+t.secret+'\"]'),c=new RegExp(\"^https?:$\",\"i\"),i=0;i<o.length;i++)o[i].style.display=\"none\";for(i=0;i<a.length;i++)s=a[i],e.source===s.contentWindow&&(s.removeAttribute(\"style\"),\"height\"===t.message?(1e3<(r=parseInt(t.value,10))?r=1e3:~~r<200&&(r=200),s.height=r):\"link\"===t.message&&(r=new URL(s.getAttribute(\"src\")),n=new URL(t.value),c.test(n.protocol))&&n.host===r.host&&l.activeElement===s&&(d.top.location.href=t.value))}},d.addEventListener(\"message\",d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage,!1),l.addEventListener(\"DOMContentLoaded\",function(){for(var e,t,s=l.querySelectorAll(\"iframe.wp-embedded-content\"),r=0;r<s.length;r++)(t=(e=s[r]).getAttribute(\"data-secret\"))||(t=Math.random().toString(36).substring(2,12),e.src+=\"#?secret=\"+t,e.setAttribute(\"data-secret\",t)),e.contentWindow.postMessage({message:\"ready\",secret:t},\"*\")},!1)))}(window,document);\n\/\/# sourceURL=https:\/\/news.smarttan.com\/wp-includes\/js\/wp-embed.min.js\n\/* ]]> *\/\n<\/script>\n","thumbnail_url":"https:\/\/news.smarttan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/Influencers-3-8-23.jpg","thumbnail_width":1360,"thumbnail_height":1000,"description":"Long before social media, tanning businesses relied heavily on \u201cword-of-mouth\u201d marketing to gain new customers. Even those that had the resources to invest in traditional advertising understood that more customers came to them organically via recommendations from friends and family. That\u2019s why many independent tanning businesses with limited budgets eschewed traditional advertising, and many continue to do so. But these days, digital platforms have made advertising more far affordable and efficient. It makes sense that many small businesses didn\u2019t want to invest in billboards, radio or newspaper ads, but anybody can and should be spending as little as $100 a month to garner hundreds of clicks and tens of thousands of impressions with local consumers. At the same time, social media has revolutionized word-of-mouth marketing. Instagram, and later TikTok, gave birth to the phenomenon of \u201cinfluencers,\u201d the impact of which goes much deeper than just business and marketing. It\u2019s a whole cultural shift. People who probably wouldn\u2019t be famous otherwise are now amassing millions of followers and making millions of dollars from brands that will pay for their influence. More importantly, everyday people take cues from celebrities and influencers in the way they portray themselves online. Understanding and playing into that mindset is the key to building an effective influencer program as a small business with limited resources. Even if it could be afforded, it wouldn\u2019t make sense for a tanning business with one or even 100 tanning businesses to pay Kim Kardashian for promotion. What small businesses need is local influence, and anybody can afford that on some level. On a small scale, literally everyone is an influencer, even if they don\u2019t have an Instagram account at all. Every one of your customers has influence. Your friends and family have influence. All your staff members have influence. You just need to give them the right tools and incentives to make them use it to benefit your business. All Hands on Deck Higher-profile influencers can certainly be a good investment, but you can probably still have a more significant overall impact by focusing on turning your entire customer base and staff into an army of influencers. You should already have some sort of referral program. You should have a commission program for your staff. For all intents and purposes, these already are influencer programs, and shifting your thinking to treating them as such can great enhance your promotional efforts. &nbsp; Gaining new customers is always tremendously valuable. You should always promote a referral offer that benefits current and new customers, but you can also take your referral efforts to social media to greatly expand your reach. Plenty of customers will be willing to \u201cwork\u201d for free tans or small perks. It\u2019s always worth a small reward if someone brings you a new customer. Along with providing referral cards to hand out, you can create a coupon code for highly motivated customers to take their referral efforts online. You might be surprised how much social media reach and influence some of your clients have in your community. Your staff are even more important advocates for your business. Tanning businesses tend to employ young, vibrant individuals \u2013 the same type of people who thrive on social media. While you shouldn\u2019t require staff to promote your business on their social media accounts, consider how you can make it worth their while. If you have a strong commission structure, that may be enough in itself. They can benefit personally by reminding their followers when they will be working and why they should stop in. You can also appeal to their vanity by organizing professional photoshoots and producing content that you can use on your business accounts and they will also be excited to share with their followers. Or, if you have staff members with more substantial followings, think about how you can motivate them more aggressively. Try to get your staff to look at referrals as one of the best ways to make more commission. Incentivize them to post content from work and include a direct plug. Set up an online store where people can sign up for a membership at an impulse when they see your employee\u2019s post and a deal associated with the employee\u2019s individual promo code. They can even promote a deal you\u2019d offer any new member, but you get the extra promotion for a small incentive to the employee \u2013 something like \u201cUse code Sally50 for 50 percent off the product of your choice when you sign up for a membership.\u201d Florida Tans in Texas provides a great example of these types of programs. By leveraging their online store and discount codes, they give employees a way to make money when they\u2019re off the clock through their influence. Each employee has a unique code that gives customers 10 percent off online purchases, and it also allows owner Tiffany Pflieger to attribute the sale to the appropriate staff member and reward them accordingly. That way, Florida Tans team members don\u2019t lose out on commission if their loyal customers choose to buy online, and they also have added motivation to promote the business via their own social media accounts. \u201cIt\u2019s a modern world, and if I said the girls couldn\u2019t have their phones, they\u2019d be sneaking in the bathroom. Be respectful and don\u2019t do it in front of customers but also get involved with the social media. We created the discount codes to give them something to share. Here's how you can win at this, and the more you share, the more money you can make,\u201d Tiffany says. \u201cOur girls all have their own personalities and different things they do. Some take product pictures. They share selfies. We have these big, beautiful mirrors they say are the best selfie mirrors in town. I appreciate everything they do, and I tell them to contribute what they want because the way they think about promoting might be different than what I think, so I\u2019m open to all formats.\u201d Florida Tans also has an \u201cInfluencer Application\u201d on their website, so anybody can reach out with hopes of developing a mutually beneficial business relationship. \u201cInfluencers are another way to reach more people. If I have somebody who tans and has a large following on social media, they can get membership discounts and products in return for the potential of reaching their following. I have some really great people helping with it. People get excited about it,\u201d Tiffany says. Worth the Effort Influencer marketing is based on the same premise that old-school word-of-mouth marketing always was: People are more likely to trust and do business with a company that has been recommended to them by someone they know and trust. So, influencer marketing on any scale can be a powerful way to build trust with potential customers. The truth is anyone can be an influencer for your business. When your efforts are focused on getting new customers, it\u2019s almost always worth it. Even if you only get one sale you wouldn\u2019t have otherwise, you\u2019ve likely covered your costs. But, if a referral leads to a customer that stays with you, it could legitimately lead to thousands of dollars you wouldn\u2019t have seen otherwise. Fierce Tanning in Ohio provides a priming example of turning everyone into influencers, even if they\u2019re not actually calling them that. Again, on a small scale, an influencer program is not so different than a referral program. Fierce Tan owner Claytin Williams believes so much in the value of referrals that Fierce Tan actually goes out of its way to give current customers referral bonuses when a new customer comes in. \u201cI\u2019ve gotten away from a lot of advertising over the last couple years. I don\u2019t want to say lessened our marketing, but I\u2019m doing a little less than I used to. We\u2019re focused on customer referrals and giving customers a larger bonus based on our acquisition cost versus marketing spend,\u201d Williams says. \u201cWhen a new customer comes in, we ask how they heard about us, and we actually push them to give us a name. We load our standard $10 on their account and let them use that on their first purchase or save it. We also load $10 on the account of the referrer saying thank you. \u201cOn occasion, more so in the slow season or just a couple days at a time, we\u2019ll up the referral bonus to $15 or $20 to say, \u2018Hey, it\u2019s really worth it to switch from your current store.\u2019 We don\u2019t limit how they spend that. Every year we have a handful of girls from a high school around us that tan completely free. They make it a point to send a minimum of seven new customers a month in to pay for their top-tier membership. Other owners say I\u2019m crazy to let them tan for free, but for me, the number of new customers they send into the store is more than worth it. Keeping it simple and not putting limitations has probably been the biggest factor behind the success of the referral. There are customers that send somebody in and don\u2019t know about the referral program, and they get $10 the next time they visit because their friend visited. Our current customers are so appreciative of that because it\u2019s not something we have to do.\u201d Even without a referral, Williams is also willing to give out as many free tans for first time customers as he possibly can. Fierce Tanning offers \u201cPlatinum Passes\u201d that give new clients a free tan in any sunbed or a free spray tan. The passes are offered both online and via cards they print and hand out. The Platinum Passes allow Williams and his staff to effectively promote the business to anyone, anytime. \u201cI can hand those out and my staff can hand those out. You have to be a new customer to use it. We track how many of those cards we hand out on a monthly or quarterly basis and how many are coming in each month as well,\u201d Williams says. \u201cI set goals for my staff; I want them to hand out at least 25 per month, and it can be to anybody. If you go to Applebee\u2019s and sign your check, drop a Platinum Pass in and give it to your server. The staff hands out 25 a month, which is about 300, and I try to hand out a minimum of 100 so that\u2019s 300 to 500 a month. I would say we get 20 to 30 of those coming back each month.\u201d According to Williams\u2019s numbers, this effort pays off directly, even before you consider the long-term value of the new customer. \u201cAt least 25 percent of them take advantage of the free offer and don\u2019t show back up. It\u2019s a bummer we lost that couple dollars of electric, but we\u2019re still building that reputation. Somebody comes in and it costs me $5 for that spray tan, but they can tell anybody else they know they got a spray tan here,\u201d he says. \u201cThe other 75 percent either come back or make a purchase right there. We capitalize on lotion samples. We really push or throw a discount to get them to buy something right then. With spray tans, we capitalize on upgrades. I can give away a \u2018free\u2019 spray tan, and it\u2019s still an $18 sale with the upgrades. I got a new customer and all their information. I was able to pay for that acquisition and I made a buck.\u201d Added Benefits Another benefit to having an army of influencers is they generate a constant stream of content for you own social media pages. Even if someone isn\u2019t going out of their way to generate referrals for you, you can try to recruit them to be a part of your marketing. Using photos from clients, rather than stock photos, in your social media posts shows people exactly what results they can expect and also builds on the community element. Especially in a small town, people will see that girl they know on your Facebook Page, or recognize her later, walking down the street on a shopping trip. \u201cWhen they see the real pictures, not only do they get a more confident idea of what to expect coming into my store, they see it\u2019s not just the a few people. Anybody can show their photos off; we want to brag about them,\u201d says Tara Sanders, owner of Touchable Tan in Louisiana. \u201cThey like the fact that we\u2019re so involved with each person, so they feel at home when they come visit.\u201d Appealing to your clients\u2019 vanity is another effective approach. One strategy Sanders has used is simply posting a photo and the text: \u201cTag us in your best photos for a chance to be featured in our next ad!\u201d For no cost, Sanders had clients tagging her salon\u2019s page in their photos, generating views from all their friends and associating their tans with the salon. Then, she can also use their photos in her ads, as promised, display a friendly face with a real tan from the salon, and make the client feel special at the same time. Even if you\u2019re skeptical about the practicality of getting your clients involved in your marketing, you should definitely do so with your staff. Your staff members are, in effect, the faces of your business, and you can easily brand them as local tanning celebrities of sorts with the right approach on social media. Next Level Not even the biggest tanning businesses in the world can afford Kim Kardashian, but if you do want to delve deeper into influencer marketing, you\u2019ll want to familiarize yourself with the term \u201cmicro-influencers.\u201d On the overall scale of influencers, micro-influencers are those with smaller audiences, but for small businesses, people that fit in this category will be your larger-scale influencers. As the world of influencer marketing continues to evolve, businesses are beginning to recognize the value of working with micro-influencers. Micro-influencers are individuals who have a smaller following on social media, usually between 1,000 and 100,000 followers. They may not have the same reach as larger influencers, but they can offer a number of benefits for businesses. You don\u2019t need \u201cinfluencers\u201d in the sense of when we hear about \u201csocial media influencers\u201d with millions of followers, but just normal people that will show and tell their friends about the results you provided them. Nonetheless, some people have more friends than others, and you can further refine your efforts by targeting a select few people that are more influential. If you\u2019re looking to work with individuals who have a greater influence than your average customer or staff member, here are some initial considerations:  Identify potential influencers: Authenticity is key. Your best prospects for larger-scale influencers will still already be customers. Virtually every tanning business out there probably has some clients with 10,000 to 100,000 followers. Most of these people aren\u2019t seeking a career or even a side-hustle as influencers; they just so happen to be popular and relatable. Nonetheless, they\u2019ll probably be willing to help promote you for some modest perks.  Provide training and resources: Provide your potential influencers with training and resources to help them create engaging content and effectively promote your business. Make sure they understand your business and what you\u2019re looking for with their content. Give them the opportunity to experience the best your business has to offer so they can speak about it genuinely.  Utilize influencer perks: Utilize influencer perks, such as discounts and exclusive offers, to incentivize your potential influencers to promote your business. Unless someone really has extraordinary reach, you\u2019ll never want to pay them in cash. If someone\u2019s influence is worth free access to everything in the salon plus additional credit for products, that\u2019s still going to cost you less.  Monitor and measure results: Monitor and measure the results of your influencer marketing efforts to understand the impact they are having on your business. This will help you determine which individuals are driving the most results and allow you to optimize your influencer marketing strategy.  Foster a positive company culture: A positive company culture will help your employees and fans feel proud of the business they support, which will translate into their influencer efforts. Encourage teamwork and create a supportive environment where individuals feel valued and appreciated. That last point could be easy to overlook, but it\u2019s actually one of the most important factor that will set the stage for all your efforts to gain new customers. Any business can benefit to some degree by incentivizing customers and staff for promotion, but you\u2019ll benefit more (and pay less) if you\u2019re the type of business that people want to be associated with. If you create a culture and salon atmosphere that makes your staff members proud to work for you and your customers proud to tan with you, most of the \u201cinfluencing\u201d will take care of itself. &nbsp;"}