I would like the works: haircut, color, keratin treatment. I’m living frugally (after all, it was just Christmas and I have recently started a new business) and looking for special offers from local salons. So where do I go? To the social web to find my friends’ favorite salons and stylists, online specials and social communities to get an idea of which salons have the best reputations.
My friend Jen swears by Moxie and her personal stylist Richard the Hair God. I sort-of feel like any salon that calls itself a hair and body lounge might be a tad pretentious. A review of the salon’s website led to a buried mention of its Facebook presence (which is a profile, not a page, one of my pet peeves). Even though the approach is all wrong, the salon seems to have a lot of “friends” and lists in a status update the specials for the month.
The next salon I found with a social presence is Salon Cielo and Spa. To my great relief, they have a Facebook page (not a profile) and even a Twitter account. Unfortunately the two cross post and are 100 percent redundant (a lazy approach to social web integration). The salon is part of a chain with multiple locations in four states so there’s really no reason to not have a more robust approach to web marketing.
Bristles is another popular local salon — many of my friends seem to like it, judging by their Facebook page. I can’t visit their website, however, since my virus protection software has flagged it as a risk (hey Bristles — something’s up with your site — you might want to check that out.) They have also been voted Favorite Hair Salon in Charlottesville for 13 years — that’s a good sign. I can’t tell what prices are, however, and no specials are evident on the Facebook page, so I’m less inclined to follow up with them.
What about you? How do you find a hair salon/stylist or another service in your community? Do you take your search to the social web?
With a wedding to plan, I’m definitely checking out vendors through their websites, blogs, Facebook pages, and Twitter. I hate to say it, but if someone doesn’t have a well designed website or any presence in social media, I’m apt to dismiss them as not being current or modern in their practice or knowledge.
Photographers and salons seem to be doing a pretty good job (one salon not mentioned in your piece that I’ve been impressed by is over in Old Trail…Face Value Studio).
The area floral designers need to step up their game, though. I can’t even wait for the 3rd picture in the painfully slow wedding slide show on Hedge’s site to load. Pat hasn’t had a blog post since June (there’s a post topic for you: if someone abandons a blog, should they take it down? ). I’ve read about one floral design team on a blog that doesn’t have any web presence at all! They just have an aol email address.
Maybe Jaggers Communications can get the floral design community up to speed. 🙂
I found Moxie after a friend gave me a gift certificate to go there. She’d been urging me to make an appointment for months, but I never got around to it, so she pretty much forced the issue. I am SO GLAD she did! The best haircuts in my lifetime have all been there and nowhere else. Yes, I suppose that one might think that, based on Moxie’s name, it’s a pretentious and snooty place, but I promise that it is not. I mean, honestly, can you imagine me in some pretentious and snooty place? I didn’t think so.
I would DEFINITELY recommend Rachel at Salon Cielo. I found out about her using the old-fashioned word-of-mouth way, a raving review and plug by a friend. Now, there are 8-10 of my group of girlfriends that go to her.