iconic.23 Session: Organizing Your Digital Presence

This year’s second annual iconic conference was packed with enriching keynote presentations and engaging breakout sessions! Among the many talented presenters and industry-renowned guests who joined us was our very own Emannuel Nevarez, Vagaro’s Technical Training Manager, and Cassidee Banks, owner of Golden State Strands Salon, who explained the significance of organizing your digital presence. Take a quick look at the 1min teaser for Emannuel & Cassidee’s presentation below!

Building a Brand

Before you put yourself out there, it’s important to know what your business is all about. Nevarez explains that there’s five questions you should be asking yourself as a business owner:

• What do you stand for?
• What’s your story?
• What is your business trying to share with the world?
• What’s your message?
• How are you presenting yourself to your audience?

It’s important that when creating your brand, or your image, that you’re being consistent. That’s the throughline for all of the questions above. Banks & Nevarez further explain that your brand is created by the perception that clients have of your business. And how, more often than not, how you think clients perceive your brand is much different than reality. A brand is brought to life by the message, emotion, and story that you convey in your work. As they put it, “The brand is the promise, the big idea, and the reputation.”

Leveraging Social Media

How do you make your brand, an intangible idea, a living entity? Well, one of the easiest places to start is social media, says Emannuel. When thinking about your social media presence, there’s a few things to consider:

• Choose the right platforms for your target audience & therefore your business
• Consider different content strategies so you can see what works best
• Set your post frequency & timing because cadence matters
• Decide how you’ll interact with your audience because this will affect how they view your business

Banks, using her experience as a salon owner, furthers this by explaining the importance of making time for your social media posts, saying, “When I became a business owner, and even before, time management was always something that was important to me.” Your social media presence, Banks explains, needs to be treated with as much importance as your professional website. Which leads us to their next point...

Building a Professional Website

A visually stunning, but technologically robust website is a must for any successful business, regardless of where you are on your professional journey. Among other key elements, Nevarez explains how important it is that your website, at a minimum, include the following:

• Home page that gives a good first impression
• Services page listing & explaining each of your services
• Contact info like business phone, address & hours of operation
• Online booking capability so you don’t have to pick up the phone or answer DMs

By hosting a professional website that’s not only aesthetically pleasing, but functional too, you give clients the correct impression that you’re the real deal and that you genuinely care about the customer journey. Emannuel also gave iconic.23 attendees a special sneak-peek at Vagaro’s latest upcoming feature, Vagaro MySite.

Online Booking Systems

There’s an unending list of advantages to using an online booking system as opposed to pen/paper, telephone, etc. It saves time, automates mundane tasks, and provides you with in-depth business reporting so you know which way to grow. Though Nevarez says he may be “a bit biased” when it comes to which booking system to choose, he explains what the client booking process usually looks like:

1. Client finds business
2. Client selects service
3. Client selects add-on
4. Client fills out form
5. Client pays deposit
6. Client schedules appointment

By using an online booking system, you can automate most, if not all, of those steps. Not to mention, an online booking system often provides you with means of linking your social media accounts to your business, thus creating a cohesive and consistent business funnel.

Measuring Success

At the end of the day, it’s important that the effort you put into your business doesn’t go to waste. To wrap up their presentation, Nevarez and Banks touched on some of the ways you can measure success as a business owner, which include tracking:

• Website Traffic
• Social Media Engagement
• Conversion Rates

By keeping your finger on the pulse of your business, you’re able to identify areas that you’re performing exceptionally well in, as well as the areas where you might have room for improvement—before it’s too late. Banks explains how, as a salon owner, she frequently reads customer reviews, submitted forms, and internal reports to ensure that she knows exactly how her business is performing and that her clients are more than merely satisfied with their services.

Don't forget to watch Emannuel & Cassidee’s 1min teaser, and click HERE to see how you can get started with Vagaro for 30 days, entirely free.