A Social Networking Story: Adore de Salon

If you, as a small business owner or entrepreneur, question the value of using social networking to promote your business, Adore de Salon’s story is one to admire. I had the unique pleasure of meeting and interviewing Lisa Cordero and Michael Nunez. By the way, Lisa is fantastic! She has a client for life now.

At any rate, Adore de Salon caught my attention on Twitter. I was very impressed with their use of social networking for their business. After some investigation, I found their website and Facebook page. We started communicating back and forth and before I knew it, I was at the salon getting my hair done while interviewing Lisa and Michael. So on to the interview…

Q) Tell me a little about the salon. What made you decide to open your own business especially in such a rough economic environment?

A) I (Lisa) have always wanted to open my own salon. I love doing hair because it makes people happy. My goal is to get it right every time! This builds relationships, which are so important to me. Opening my own salon allows me the freedom to offer great services at a price that is fair. Regardless of the harsh economic times, I do not worry. Doing what I love and providing my clients with the ultimate customer service is what means the most.

Q) What made you use social networking to promote Adore de Salon?

A) As an Internet marketer (Michael) and truly understand the value of social networking. It is such an under utilized form of promotion that is utterly inexpensive to use. Instead of spending a large chunk of money on more traditional forms of marketing, like direct mail campaigns or magazine adds, online social networking provides an avenue to reach a vast audience while building relationships within the Central Florida community. I am surprised more businesses have not started using online social networks like Twitter and Facebook. Our website is even a Wordpress blog. I found a template that Lisa and I loved and the rest is history!

Q) How did you come up with the logo and branding?

A) There is a great site called 99 Designs. We simply signed up for $200 and got our logo. The whole premise of 99 Designs is to solicit input from thousands of designers, in the form of a contest, and people vote on the favorite design. It’s a great way to get your entire corporate branding very inexpensively.

Q) What are your plans in the future to use online social networking for the business?

A) The sky is the limit! To start, we are building Adore de Salon’s following on Twitter and Facebook. We encourage interaction from our online friends! LinkedIn might be our next target since we want to reach the professional women out there (talks of offering free WIFI ladies which is great for those of us who can’t stop). Lisa is very excited about the idea of getting a blog going with tips, photos and videos of hair how-tos. We, are also thinking about offering different types of classes, like proper blow drying techniques, taping them and putting it online for all to see.

My experience at Adore de Salon was a fantastic one. Lisa and Michael were so unbelievably cool, smart and easy to talk to, especially considering how long curly hair like mine can take to blow dry. Bottom line on this savvy business couple, they are unique! From the salon design to business philosophy to use of online social networking, I am completely satisfied and floored! Lisa has herself a client for life.