On My Mind: Milestone Makers

NAILS recently celebrated two significant milestones. The first was reaching the 200,000 mark on Instagram. When we started the account four years ago, there wasn’t a particular goal in mind. Like many nail professionals, we were just trying to share the things we were excited about with as many followers as possible. Just last week, NAILS celebrated another milestone — our first focus group in our new offices. Local nail technicians came together with the NAILS staff to discuss real issues in the industry. The topic of social media quickly became a hot button issue. I heard from most of our attendees that they weren’t meeting the goals they set for themselves when it came to keeping up with social networking. I worry sometimes that the nail community and those outside of it put too much of a premium on the numbers on a profile.

My advice: Celebrate every milestone. Start out with a small, attainable goal. Maybe it’s to increase your profile by 100 new followers; maybe it’s to set up a Yelp page; or maybe it’s simply to upload one image from your camera roll per night. Whatever it is you do, make a big deal about it. Buy a bottle of champagne for the staff to celebrate an uptick in numbers. Tell your clients about your Yelp page. Reaching these mini milestones will only push you to go further. Looping in your clients and colleagues will hold you accountable.
For NAILS, our social media accounts aren’t all about the numbers. They’re about celebrating memorable moments in this industry, and NAILS Next Top Nail Artist is one of them. Our Top 3 for this season come from different countries, have diverse backgrounds, and have varying technical and digital strengths. You can read about them on page 96 and if you feel so inclined, can join in celebrating their momentous finish at America’s Beauty Show in Chicago, March 25-27. Whether you go or not, you can definitely follow along on NAILS social media accounts for up-to-date coverage.

I don’t think of the staff at NAILS as just magazine makers. Nor do I think of nail techs as just people who make sets of nails. We are all milestone makers. For NAILS, it’s all about connecting — one nail professional at a time. We’re happy to focus on each and every one of you and share in your achievements. That’s how milestones (and magazines) get made.