Featuring, Joe Atang *Podcast available below* Disposable video. Snapchat made it famous- and now it is being embraced by other social media platforms. We have Instagram stories and, newly introduced, Facebook stories. Long seen as something used more for showing off your dinner, Summit Salon Business Center wants to talk about how disposable video could help YOU increase your brand awareness, build more personal relationships with your followers and increase sales. Summit Salon Consultant and salon owner, Joe Atang, drops his knowledge today on disposable video and what it can do for YOU: The number one reason why Snapchat is important for business is the high consumption of content compared to other platforms!  For example, let’s say you have 1000 followers on Snapchat and 1000 followers on Facebook; and let’s say you were to produce content for both platforms; when it comes to Snapchat, 900 of the followers will consume the content; and with Facebook 90-100 will consume the content (unless you put some dollars towards the post to drive traffic). The SAME is true with “Stories.” Posts come with an expiration date. Facebook posts are available in followers feeds for a limited amount of scroll time—which is why good content marketers use insight data to pick the high traffic times to post. With a story- the content is there for a full 24 hours and is visible to everyone who is online at any time they are online. This is an advantage because while they may not type in @summitsalon to see your latest post- they might see you have a story and then start engaging with you in that manner. Again, this is a huge advantage. The first mistake is that not everyone is using it on a regular basis. It surprises me how many people actually look past disposable video and Snapchaat when it comes to business because of its reputation in the early days of skewing really young. The second mistake is that businesses are going directly for the SELL. Disposable video content and Snapchat is primarily for building your brand. I’m not saying you couldn’t sell on Snapchat, as I’ve heard of many successful conversation stories, but the primary focus should be on utilizing the platform to create content and add value to your audience. Before and after pictures are great, behind the scenes of service providers, support staff, influencer marketing etc.  TOP FIVE TIPS for DRIVING sales/referrals using this social media platform!! * Cross promote. * Use other platforms like Facebook twitter Instagram to drive followers back to your Snapchat and disposable video (this is actually very important when starting out in any platform). As long as there’s context and insight into why and where the content is coming from then its relevant. * Post as much original content as possible. * We as human beings are all interesting. Especially when it comes to our industry, there are so many unique, creative, artistic individuals. The beauty of Snapchat is that a person can take photos, create videos, draw, or even write. Depending on the strengths of each individual there are ways to communicate who you are and what you are about in a unique way. * For example, take a selfie and draw onto of the photo to make it stand out, you can record videos and use filters to make it stand out, etc. * Create contests/giveaways. * Create a video or photo and tell the followers if they screen shot the picture and bring it it they will receive x on their next visit. * Engage with followers. * People have to understand that you have to give to receive. If your followers are engaging, engage back with a “thank you”, “hello” – just show people that you care and that will pay off ten fold.