Arleen Curran is Hand & Stone’s Content and Influencer Marketing Manager, and our Employee Spotlight this month! In her interview, Arleen discusses the journey to her current role at Hand & Stone, what she loves about her job, and how she has helped strengthen the company’s social media presence.
How long have you been with Hand & Stone?
I’ve been at Hand & Stone for four years, and my position has evolved from where I started to where I am now. I started as a part-time social media associate and quickly found my niche, as I took on more of the content creation for the Facebook program. Now I manage our consumer content and influencer marketing.
How have you helped to grow Hand & Stone’s social media presence?
When I started, we were just beginning to build our Instagram presence, and we’ve grown from around 2,000 followers to 18,000. It’s been a very organic process, and we gain our followers through influencers and by generating consistent content.
Our influencer program is designed mostly around Instagram, and lately, we’ve been trying to generate influencer content on TikTok as well.
We also really increased the number of deliverables we can give to our spas. I work directly with Natalie and the graphics team to create the monthly content. We started the Facebook program with just 13-15 posts per month and now have a robust 38-40 posts for Facebook and Instagram.
Do you create content for individual spas as well, or just for the corporate Hand & Stone social media accounts?
Each of us on the team is aligned with HSM Account Executives. We manage individual budgets for our designated spas and any special requests that come directly from the franchisee. I create and upload all content into our new platform Eulerity and create the quarterly ad campaigns.
What industry were you in prior to joining Hand & Stone?
I had my own business before joining this company. I was a health and wellness coach for eight years, and I would help people lose weight and maintain healthy lifestyles. I worked with a lot of moms because at the time I was a stay-at-home mom looking to build something for myself. I worked with about 30 people and had about 250 pounds in combined weight loss with my clients. As my kids got older, I realized I needed something more stable, financially. I still love the health and wellness space, so I do still help some people on the side, from time to time.
Why did you decide to move into the social media space after having more of a background in wellness?
I love social media and needed to use it a lot when I was building my business. I realized early on the importance of it, and I don’t think any business can have a successful presence without social media. I’ve always been a very social person, and I found through the years that I’m more creative than I thought. I’ve really been able to express myself through my work, which I love about this job.
Is your favorite thing about your role here that you can be creative?
I love being able to express myself creatively, and I love that this company really encourages its employees to forge their own way and make and path for themselves if they have the initiative. I love the people I work with, it’s fun coming in each day, and there’s a great balance of work and play. I’m also finding a lot of enjoyment in my position working with influencers lately, especially getting to talk to people and getting to see the whole process, from me reaching out to influencers to seeing the completed campaign.
I also like to make a difference, and I’m a highly competitive person, so every day feels like a chance to see where I can push myself and how I can impact my own growth while helping others. I love helping people out and I love that that has become such a big part of my job here at Hand & Stone.
Last question! What’s your favorite service to get at Hand & Stone?
Oh, there are so many! I think my favorite has to be Cryoskin, especially the facial. It feels great while you’re getting the facial and makes you look fantastic afterward.
