Week 2 Part B Business Research

Sweet Cheeks Beauty Bar

https://sweetcheeksbeautybar.com - Sweet Cheeks is a small local boutique spa that offers typical spa services and products. They have two owners who are the managing estheticians. They offer memberships, specials, and spa parties. Sweet Cheeks advertises on their website that they use Facebook, Twitter, and Yelp.  These three social media platforms are posted, and the links are clickable on their page.

• Facebook - last used on October 5, 2021. They have 1,256 likes. Their post from October received one like and one comment
• Twitter - last used on April 10, 2018. Following 14 with 23 Followers
• Yelp - has 314 reviews, and they have four and a half stars. They do not respond to all the reviews and their last interaction with a customer was six months ago.
• Instagram - not listed on the webpage. Their last post was 8 hours ago. They have 253 posts, 877 followers, and they are following 2,177. Their last post received nine likes.

Sweet Cheek's website has a clear oversite in their failure to link to Instagram, the social medial platform they interact with regularly. Their Facebook page promoted an autumn special, and the Twitter account was clearly outdated. Linking to Yelp rather than to their Instagram account is a missed opportunity to connect and communicate with customers.

M Jaeger Skincare

https://www.marilynjaegerskincare.com - The Marilyn Jaeger Skincare, website describes the day spa as an “esthetic solution.” She owns two bay area locations and has been in operation for 20 years. They offer typical spa services and products. They prominently display social medial links to Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and Yelp. All the links are clickable.

• Instagram - has 220 posts, 421 followers, and is following 335. Their last post was four days ago. It received 12 likes and one comment.
• Facebook - has 519 likes. Their last post was on November 14, 2021. It received two likes.
• YouTube channel - four videos posted and 12 subscribers. Their last video was posted a year ago, it has 17 views.
• Yelp – they have four and a half stars with 215 reviews. Their hours were last updated 2 weeks ago. They respond to every review whether it is positive or negative.

M Jaeger Skincare seems to be actively trying to connect with customers. I am impressed with their responses on Yelp and can see how the YouTube channel is trying. The YouTube channel is not as effective as it could be because the content is awkward. I can see how small business owners could struggle with all the social media options and become overwhelmed trying to keep up and stay relevant.

Beehive Waxing Salon

https://beehivewaxingsalon.com - The Beehive Waxing Salon is a small local specialty waxing salon in Carlsbad. Their website is currently under construction. They do not have any links posted on their “under construction” page.

• Facebook – 1,261 people like their page. Their last post was May 1, 2019. The post received seven likes.
• Instagram – 13 posts, 178 followers, following 65. Their last post was on October 22, 2014. The post received 23 likes.
• Yelp – They have four and a half stars, with 293 reviews. Their hours were last updated three weeks ago. They do not appear to respond to reviews

The Beehive Waxing Salon seems to be missing an opportunity to connect with customers online. Links to updated social media would be helpful for customers, especially while their website is under construction. Through their social media, they could post information like pricing, services, products available for purchase, and hours.

Omni La Costa Resort & Spa (Carlsbad)

https://www.omnihotels.com/hotels/san-diego-la-costa/spa - Omni La Costa Resort & Spa is a large international brand located locally inside the Omni La Costa Resort. They are run by a management team.  They offer typical spa services, packages and specials, spa vacations, and have a spa café. They have a link to a YouTube post promptly positioned on their home page and links to Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram at the bottom of their webpage. All links are clickable.

• Facebook – they have 128,262 likes and 128,981 followers. They post regularly with their last post on January 1, 2022, and many multiple-month posts in the previous year.
• YouTube – They have 1440 followers. The 1ast video was posted six months ago. It is a professional shoot using editing and drone footage. The post has 826 views
• Twitter – The last post was December 17, 2021.  The post has eight likes, one comment, and three shares. They have 54 thousand followers.
• Instagram – they have 1,584 posts, 14,000 followers, and are following 92. The spa and resort share the page. They last posted seven hours ago, and that post has received 19 likes.

The La Costa Spa clearly has a marketing team that maintains its social media outreach.  With a team of professional photographers and models, their posts are polished and attractive. However, the links on their page to their social media pages do not open in a new window. Their link is programmed to redirect customers from their webpage to the linked page. As a business owner, I would want the links to open in a new window separately so that my customers are not redirected.

Spa Samudra & Hair Lounge

https://www.spasamudra.net Spa Samudra & Hair Lounge is a locally owned spa and hair salon. They offer hair styling services in addition to typical spa services. They prominently display icons for Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus, and another icon “in” that I am not familiar with (there is no link associated with the icon).

• Instagram – (link is broken) They have 102 posts, 463 followers, and are following 492. Their last post was on October 12, 2018. The post had 43 likes.
• Facebook - (link is broken) They have 763 check-ins (I cannot see the likes). Their last post was on August 31, 2020, the post received one like.
• Twitter – Last post was on January 15, 2021, the post received one like. They have 49 followers and are following 40
• Google+ - is no longer available for consumer (personal) and brand accounts

Spa Samudra & Hair Lounge does not utilize its social media platforms effectively.  Their last Facebook posting in 2020 was about opening after being closed for COVID. There have been a lot of opportunities to update customers about their COVID protocols since the Facebook post last August. Surprisingly their Twitter account had the most recent post, which is unfortunate because they only have 49 followers on that account. With 463 followers on Instagram, their use of Twitter is perplexing.

Analysis of Social Media Use 

Researching multiple local, distant, and global day spas was an educational experience. Expectedly, the international upscale business with a management team and a full-time marketing staff had the most post. They were engaging artistic and informative. I was shocked to see how many businesses had broken links or outdated information.  There was a lack of consideration in how and where businesses chose to post and the information they shared. It seems obvious to post on the social platforms that have the most followers.

Owning a small business means wearing many hats. As I researched, it occurred to me that not all business owners enjoy or understand social media. After working a full day and managing a team, posting on social media would be a second job. It might be a wise idea to hire a social media support person. They could help with copyright images and push out a cohesive banded message.

Most of the businesses I researched were certainly impacted by COVID and were closed for a duration of time.  The pandemic climate was apparent in my research. The uncertainly of what was appropriate could have caused business owners apprehension. The politicization of the pandemic caused misinformation and confusion.  Business owners may be fear full of public backlash or government fines if they misspoke or errored in the eyes of one side or the other.