Ah, the trusty salon social media competitions… What a great way to get a surge of new followers for your business page! They can be fun, they can be quick and they can really help get your name out there.
However, the cons of salon social media competitions may just outweigh the pros. Don’t believe me? Allow me to explain… 😉
The Risky Business Of Salon Social Media Competitions
You may receive a large increase of followers… But for the wrong reason.
Say you organise a ‘Like & Share’ competition on Facebook. You get followers and fans to share your post and then the winner gets a prize. Pretty straightforward, right?
Well, the issue here lies with why they Liked your page. Usually you receive a fan because they are genuinely interested in your business. And while they follow you, soon enough they will book their next appointment with you.
When someone clicks the Like button because of a salon social media competition, then the incentive is for them to win a prize. It’s nothing to do with your business. They merely want to get something for free.
In fact, there are so many people who stalk through Facebook signing up to every competition they can find, regardless of whose page it is. This is definitely not the audience you are seeking. For more on problematic ways to lose clients, click here.
Also, realise, that when 100 people enter your competition, there are going to be 99 losers. 🙁
Facebook May Take Your Page Down
Did you know that Facebook frown upon Like & Share competitions. In fact, they seek out the words ‘Like & Share’ and penalise the people who are trying to game their system. The penalisation can come in the form of your page being deleted.
No warning, no second chance. They will flat out remove your page because of silly salon social media competitions.
Now, you can begin a new page again. But you will lose all of your fans and have to start from scratch. Is that really worth it?
You Could End Up With Negative Publicity
Simple salon social media competitions could start out harmless and fun. But let’s not forget what we’re dealing with here: The Internet.
It’s amazing how many peaceful quiet people turn into warriors and fanatics once they jump behind their keyboard. A seemingly innocent comment can be twisted and turned and all of a sudden your brand is receiving serious backlash.
The same thing can happen during your Facebook competition.
Recently, the camera company Nikon started a little social media competition, looking for people to send in photos. Nikon said that they will select a winner. And that person will receive a trolly bag. So far, so good.
In the end, they selected this photo here:
However, other contestants were quick to discover that the photo was actually digitally altered. The plane in the middle wasn’t actually there at all. The photographer placed it there using editing software.
Enraged, Nikon fans quickly turned on the camera company, shaming them for supporting fake photographers.
The camera company had to take the photo down and issue a strong apology.
But it got worse when contestants realised that the photo wasn’t just fake. It was actually stolen from Instagram. Here is the photo on an Instagrammer’s page from the year before:
Nikon had to issue a second apology for the calamity. Their social pages were receiving a battering of insults from people from around the world. And the incident ended up in the press.
All of this happened because of an accident in a harmless social media page. That’s pretty wild, right?
So there it is. Even though Facebook competitions can be a lot of fun. And there certainly are a lot of cases where they can provide benefit. It is useful to know that you should be cautious of some of the underlying risks involved. Think of it as food-for-thought, rather than ultimate truths 🙂
Thanks for reading!
And for more on mastering your salon social media, be sure to check out this article here: The Real Truth Behind Why Your Salon Facebook Posts Aren’t Working
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