Guest Blog by Jann Davis
The Digital Dance Studio

What are you using to attract more customers for the fall of 2010? You have your email list, you have your website, your photos for the fall ad campaign are in place, so what’s next? Have you ever considered the power of Facebook to attract new customers to your facility? Facebook is growing every day, it isn’t just for the high school or college student anymore. Companies like Pepsi and Toyota send out daily updates to fans on their pages. Dance Vendors, Dance Teacher Magazine and Dance Distributors offer daily articles or discounts to their fans on both Facebook and Twitter. So how can you expand your student base and attract more customers in your doors for the summer and fall?

Join Facebook and set up your own studio fan page, if you haven’t already. Then decide how you would attract a new customer into your facility. In a newspaper ad you might offer a coupon, you can do that on Facebook, or you might announce your summer program through your email customer base, you can do that too, and you can do it quicker and more efficiently. Everyday dance studios post class cancellations due to weather conditions, upcoming workshops or community events, kudos to their students in weekend dance competitions, just about anything they are currently offering in their studio. You don’t have to wait for ad design or approval from your local newspaper or until the next edition comes out to get feedback from customers. Facebook seamlessly integrates events (which you can request your fans to post on their walls to friends who are potential sales leads for you), information about your studio which you can edit without waiting for your website manager to do, or ask customers to review your studio in the review tab. You can upload latest videos of your dance events including competitions or mid-year performances; create a photo album of your latest fund raising effort, or post notes about recital picture days and rehearsals. How you use it to advertise is as creative as you want to make it.

I am not suggesting that you abandon the traditional methods you currently use. I am suggesting that you research the new concept of social media marketing for your facility. Recent articles suggest that a fan base created on Facebook increased a return of sales for most companies by 36%. In these economic times that is an investment worth researching.