In today's digital age, social media has become an essential marketing tool for businesses across all industries. It's not just about having an online presence; it's about engaging with your audience, showcasing your brand, and building relationships. Social media allows you to reach a global audience instantly, making it a powerful platform to promote your services, share your expertise, and attract new clients. For hairdressers, barbers, beauticians, and nail techs, it's a dynamic way to stay connected with current trends, showcase your work, and grow your business in an increasingly competitive market.
Social Media:
How It Can Positively Impact Your Business & How To Use It
How Social Media Can Positively Impact Your Business:
Attract New Clients
Social Media can help attract new clients to your business. Social media posts can be targeted and pushed to people in your area, therefore giving your business more exposure to potential clients. There is also potential with social media to reach a world wide audience which can bring in a wealth of other new opportunities.
Engage & Build Loyalty
Regularly engaging with clients on social media helps build strong relationships, making them feel valued and appreciated. This connection, in turn, builds client loyalty, which is essential, as loyal clients returning to your business are just as important as attracting new ones.
Showcase Your Expertise
Social media provides a platform to showcase your skills and establish yourself as an authority in your field. When clients see your work online, they’re more likely to trust you when they come in for a service. Additionally, displaying your expertise on social media can lead to opportunities like collaborations with brands and other industry partnerships.
Stay Competitive
In today’s digital world, a strong social media presence is crucial for staying relevant and competitive. Without it, you risk becoming invisible to potential clients, especially the younger generation who may view your business as outdated or non-existent. An inconsistent social media presence can also damage your reputation, making your business seem unreliable. To remain competitive, it's important to post regular, engaging, and relevant content that keeps your audience connected and interested.
Cost Effective
How To Use Social Media Effectively
Show The Process
Post before-and-after photos or videos to highlight your skills and attract new clients. These type of videos and photos allow clients to fully understand the process, therefore allowing them to feel more involved and connected to you. For nervous clients, these videos or photos can help to reasure them before coming and allow them to prepare any questions before coming in for a service.
The process could be a video of you consulting with the client at the start, video snippets of each part of the process edited together with a voiceover or an image carousel of the process with an explanation in the caption.
Engage With Your Audience
When your audience engages with your social media, it's important to reciprocate. While staying on top of interactions can be challenging, consistently ignoring supporters may result in losing their loyalty.
A great way to engage with your audience is by asking questions in response to their comments. For example, if someone comments, "Wow, what a gorgeous balayage," you could reply with, "Thinking about it for your next appointment?"
Another easy way to connect with your followers is through Instagram Stories, particularly by using the poll feature. A daily poll takes just a few minutes but keeps your page active and at the top of people's feeds, making sure your brand stays on their minds. For instance, you could ask, "How do you prefer your hair: curly or straight?"
Share Client Testimonials
Showcasing your work is an excellent way to attract new clients, but many potential clients also want to hear about others' experiences with you. That's why having a client testimonial section on your social media is a smart idea.
One approach is to post images of your work with the client's testimonial written in the caption. Alternatively, you can share testimonials on your Story and create a highlight so visitors can easily view them when they visit your page.
Use High Quality Images
High-quality images and videos are crucial for your business's social media presence because they create a strong first impression, reflect professionalism, and attract more attention from potential clients. In a visually-driven platform, clear, well-lit, and aesthetically pleasing content stands out, helping your business appear more credible and trustworthy. Additionally, high-quality visuals are more likely to be shared, increasing your reach and engagement, and ultimately driving more traffic to your business.
Investing in affordable but high quality equipment for taking your images and videos is very important. The essentials would include: ring light, tripod, mini microphone and a good quality phone or camera. Additional extras could include backdrops, branding around the salon (e.g your brand name on the mirrors, chairs etc) and editing software.
Use Hashtags
Leverage popular and industry-specific hashtags to increase the visibility of your posts. For example, using the #hairdresser on your post will help push your post out into the hairdressing industry on social media. It's also important to use trending hashtags to ensure you are staying relevant, for instance in Autumn using #autumnalhairinspo etc. You can easily look up current popular hashtags on Instagram or Google.
Exclusivity
Offering a form of exclusivity to your followers will encourage them to follow and engage with you.
This could be in monetary form, for example giveaways or discount codes. Or it could be early access to when your bookings get released: for instance you release your December Diary dates with a link on your social media 24 hours before they go live in the Salon or on the website.
Consistency Is Key
Consistency in posting and interaction builds trust with your audience. It shows that your business is active and reliable, which can enhance your credibility and reputation.
Ensuring consistency on social media can be achieved through several effective strategies. One approach is to plan your content for the entire month in advance. This not only helps you avoid last-minute content scrambles but also ensures a steady stream of posts. Utilising a social media scheduling tool can further streamline your efforts by allowing you to schedule all your posts for the week on a single day—such as Monday—so you don’t have to remember to post daily. Additionally, creating recurring series can provide a steady flow of ideas and enhance consistency. For example, you might implement a "Friday Favourites" series where you share highlights or notable moments from your business each week. This approach not only keeps your content organised but also engages your audience with regular, themed updates.