In this day and age, there is absolutely no reason as to why every business shouldn’t have an online presence, particularly on social media. By creating an online presence, you are using social media to show a little bit of yourself as an individual, not just your business.
Facebook algorithms mean simply talking about your treatments and upselling your services will see your posts sliding into obscurity (and it’s boring). Instead, it’s more engaging to let your clients see a little bit of you. Consider sharing achievements and qualifications of you and your staff or get creative; share your beauty tips with them, useful skincare advice or a funny meme and get people engaging with your posts.
Appeal to Your Audience
People are naturally inquisitive and love to know more about people, so as a beauty professional, your followers will want to hear about the products you use and things you do to look and feel great.
First and foremost, you need to identify who your target audience is on each platform. Customer profiling provides you with the in-depth knowledge you need in order to attract a large following.
Make the Most out of Social Media
– you don’t have to use images all the time on Facebook but do make them a regular part of your content strategy. Particularly due to the industry you work in, visual representation can be incredibly effective and pull your audience in. Upload photos from live events and even do live videos when relevant. These give clients a little insight and show them a bit more about the real you.
Facebook groups are a great way to reach prospective customers. Create or join an industry-related group that your target market may be looking for and use it to build relationships and trust. If you aren’t already part of ours, it’s time to join!
– you should connect with local businesses, news sources and personal accounts in order to get the most from this platform. Look for your local twitter hour to help build your presence locally, there is one for most areas. Ours is ‘#staffordshirehour’ for example. Engaging with chats and conversations on Twitter is a great way to get more followers and build on your presence. This also provides you with the opportunity to engage with other users in your industry which works almost like an online networking platform.
–hashtags are best used on Instagram, especially when related to your industry and the treatments you offer. Using a selection of hashtags in your posts allows you to reach people who aren’t already following you but are looking for photos related to your brand or industry.
Although Instagram is a highly visual platform, captions play a big role in increasing engagement. Instagram Stories are relatively new but very effective. Nearly one in five stories result in a direct message and a third of the most-viewed stories are from businesses.
Managing Social Media
Yes, it may not be the first task on your list but being active on social media is pivotal. Managing your social media channels is difficult and it can be hard to compete with larger salons who have a team of people supporting them and a big budget to play with. But by staying committed to uploading frequently, you’ll be pleasantly surprised as to how social media can help boost your business.
image:istock.com/SonerCdem
