10 Top Social Media Tips for Successful Salon Owners
If you’re a savvy salon owner, you’ll know that social media marketing should be pretty high on your priority list.
When done consistently and effectively, your social media marketing efforts can entice new and old clients to book that appointment, encourage continued customer loyalty and enhance relationships to keep your salon diary full weeks in advance.
So how can you make the most of your salon’s social media pages? What kind of posts, content and ideas are your fans going to stop scrolling by for? Check out these 10 Top Tips and see just how quickly and simply you can implement them into your salon’s social media strategy.
Top Tip #1 – Sprinkle your posts with plenty of visuals
You probably know that visuals have a much bigger impact than written content and when you’re in the hair/beauty trade, you’ll know that nothing stops us in our tracks quicker than a good, old before and after shot. So the next time you have a client booked in for a drastic change, ask their permission for a photo. And don’t just stop there… add a picture of your latest stock delivery, the new colour selections, your new product range or even the latest staff night out (perhaps early in the night if possible!). Imagery rules, particularly in this industry.
Top Tip #2: Focus on the latest trends
Show your fans and followers that you’re on point and bang on trend. This doesn’t just show your competition that you’re a salon to be reckoned with, it also shows that you’re a forward-thinking kind of business that’s not going to be left behind in a hurry.
Top Tip #3: Share plenty of ‘how to’ videos and ‘lives’
Demonstrating your expertise on your Facebook page is a great way to get in front of people who might not otherwise notice you. So if you’ve just come back from some training on the latest balayage techniques or you’re trialling the latest uber-effective anti-ageing facemasks, then share some hints and tips in a video. It’s a great way to build up the know, like and trust factors, too.
Top Tip #4: Keep building those relationships
As any successful salon owner knows, building, nurturing and growing relationships is a constant crucial. So use your social media pages to keep those relationships warm in between salon visits. Keep them smiling with your snippets of salon gossip so that even if they only visit once a quarter, they’ll never feel left out. Introduce your new recruits online and offline with a photograph and a quirky little bio. Add a fact file or a ‘Team Mate of The Week’ and keep the fun filtering through your salon so your clients are always in the know.
Top Tip #5: Share client testimonials
Regularly share any new client testimonials/reviews/feedback on your social media pages, and actively encourage your customers to share their salon experience with you, so that you can transform it into powerful social media content. We all love recommendations, now, don’t we, and we know that we’re much more likely to choose a salon that’s been recommended by a friend/family member? So don’t forget to ask your clients for yours regularly and flaunt them all over your social media pages to get in front of as many new eyes as possible.
Top Tip #6: Use calendar dates & events to your advantage
Planning your calendar/social media strategy in advance will help you stay ahead of the competition, take advantage of any seasonal commercial opportunities and get organised. Think about creating special social media/online events around Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day (or Father’s Day), Prom Season, Wedding Season, Christmas, and Summer Holiday Specials.
Top Tip #7: Encourage conversation
Your Facebook page isn’t just a soapbox. Encourage conversations by posing questions, creating polls, and asking for advice/thoughts/opinions from your fans and followers. And always respond to their replies in a timely manner.
Top Tip #8: Use your social media stats
Facebook and Twitter offer some fab stats for you to use to your advantage. For example, take a look at your Facebook Insights to discover what your ideal follower looks like, their age, gender, and at what time they’re most likely to be reading your content. Then use this secret sauce to speak directly to your followers, at a time when you know they’ll be watching, and see your reach increase.
Top Tip #9: Don’t be so serious
Just because you’re running a social media business page doesn’t mean you need to be oh-so-serious ALL the time. Lighten up… pull a funny face and take a photo… add a crazy hair-do to your page… share a funny story about something that happened in the salon. Who doesn’t love a good giggle?
Top Tip #10: Always be a true pro
Yes, the world is unfortunately full of whinge bags and opportunists but even if you are all too aware that someone is trying to pull a fast one on Facebook, always be the responsible business owner. It is easy to tit for tat but let’s face it, any professional salon owner will always thank the follower for their thoughts and opinions and encourage their conversation to be taken to more private surroundings, won’t they?
Hopefully, that’s given you plenty of ideas and snippets to embark on your salon’s own social media strategy. If you have any other thoughts to share with other salon owners who are wondering how they can keep up a colourful mix of content, then please feel free to leave a comment. We’d love to know what works for you.