The days of listing your business in the yellow pages or running a newspaper ad are gone! Being active on social media is a must for anyone working in the beauty industry (and really any industry). Social media platforms like Instagram and Facebook will help connect you with thousands of potential clients in your area. Follow these tips to learn how to advertise your business better with social media marketing:
Use Hashtags to Help Potential Clients Discover Your Account
A hashtag is a word or phrase preceded by a (#), used on social media websites and applications. It is especially useful on platforms such as Instagram and Twitter. Think of hashtags as a way to connect social media content to a specific topic, event, theme or conversation. They also make it easier to discover posts around those specific topics, because hashtags aggregate all social media content with that same hashtag. Here are some examples of popular hashtags for hair stylists:
#balayagespecialist
#behindthechair
#hairgoals
#hairinspiration
#hairstylist
#hairtransformation
#hairstyle
#haircut
Be sure to also add hashtags relevant to your location (city and state). This will help you gain local followers who are more likely to convert into clients. Here are some examples of location based hashtags
#plymouthmichigan
#michiganstylist
#plymouthmi
#michigansalon
2. Stay Active & Engage with your potential clients
Like and comment on your potential client’s posts and on other posts of pages they may follow. Encouraging potential followers to interact with you and interacting with their stories is also a great way to help clients discover you and your business. It is also important to stay active on your social media pages make sure you are posting at least every other day but don’t post too much or that may come off as annoying to some people. There are 6 key factors that whose posts show up first in the social media news feeds: Interest, Relationship, Timeliness, Frequency, Following and Usage. Learn more about the Instagram algorithm here.
3. Make it Easy for Clients to Book an Appointment
Facebook and Instagram both have great tools to make booking easy. You can easily connect your booking site to each platform to make it simple for your clients to book an appointment. It’s also a good idea to list your booking URL within your profile as well. Having a user friendly booking site doesn’t hurt either. We recommend using GlossGenius because its easy to use and has great built-in tools such as credit card processing.
4. Giveaways and Contests
Consider doing a giveaway or contest to help build your social media following. The classic “like and/or comment to win” is a tried and true way to increase your following. You can also require users to follow your page, tag a friend or share your post to increase their chances of winning whatever prize you’re giving away. Be careful not to require them to take too many steps to win or you may see a decrease in engagement.
Remember, engaging with your current and potential customers on social media helps you build stronger relationships and that is what this business is all about! Having strong relationships with your clients will keep them coming back to you and encourage them to refer their friends and family to you as well!