Tips and Strategies:
A Facebook business page for your salon is a must. It should be your key communication tool, allowing you to showcase your daily achievements and to show professionalism. You should aim to post regular updates at least once every couple of days. This will show that your salon is busy and responsive.
- Ask customers if you can take before and after shots and post them on social media – you can always crop or make sure you’re not including their face if they don’t want it shown…
- Post about products that you are using and why – this is a great opportunity to show that you know your stuff!
- Create Facebook contests, raffles or giveaways, especially around events like Mother’s Day, Christmas etc
- Use your page to give exclusive deals and discounts
With over 200 million users in just 4 years, Instagram is the newest member of the core social media family. Pictures are a great way to market your salon and show a wide variety of your work as well as fun, quirky photos that follow your brand’s theme. 1. Stay on trend - Use trending hashtags to draw more users to your Instagram profile and to find out about your salon. An example would be to use #happyeaster as one hashtag to gain more views while showing a picture of a holiday themed manicure and showcasing the salon’s services. 2. Use geography to your advantage - Use hashtags to point out your location. That way future customers looking for a salon nearby may stumble upon your photo and your salon. For example if you own a hair salon in the Yorkville district of Toronto you may follow your other hashtags and caption with #Yorkville and #Toronto, so that those looking for a haircut that day can locate your business quickly. 3. Use before and after pictures to showcase your stylists’ talent - Reviews and testimonials don’t need to just be a text post when it comes to social media. Use Instagram to show results in your salon. Before and after pictures show transformation and can grab users’ attention. 4. Be fun and quirky - Instagram users tend to be young and on trend, and enjoy fun, quirky posts in addition to just product or service-related posts. Once in a while a feel good post can engage your customers and you can use specific quotes or pictures that you feel defines your brand. 5. Do exclusive Instagram contests - One great aspect of Instagram is that you can have contests that involve user-generated content. Hold photo contests among your Followers, such as “Post a picture of your new summer manicure with the hashtag #Ontrendnailsalon and be entered to win your next manicure for free!” These engage customers and are easy for customers to participate in by simply uploading a picture and including the proper hashtag. If you have always wondered how to get more followers on Instagram, you will find out that a contest is one of the best solutions. 6. Post promotions on Instagram - Post promotional photos on Instagram so that customers are always aware of new things going on at your salon. An example would be to post a picture of a child with writing saying “Back to School Special: 30% off all kids haircuts from now until September 5th.” This informs customers about the promotion or acts as a reminder to those who may have heard about it in the past. You can also make the promotion Instagram-exclusive by telling customers that they have to show that picture in the salon to receive the promotion discount.
Twitter is a great way for your salon business to provide information, share interesting related articles or hold contests. Here are 7 simple tips to ensure you’re Tweeting to your Followers in the most effective way possible: 1. Use Twitter as an information source about your services - Post information about a specific service with a link to your website where customers can get more information. 2. Exclusive Twitter offers - Have exclusive offers through your Twitter account, just for Twitter Followers. This will provide incentives for people to follow your business on Twitter, build your following or create more loyalty among customers. 3. Offers for Retweets - Twitter is a great platform for sharing as a simple Retweet from one of your Followers can generate you plenty of referrals. Offer incentives for Retweets such as “Chopped Hair Lounge is Vancouver’s newest trendy hair salon. Receive (x) amount off your next cut, style or colour by retweeting this post” 4. Use Twitter hashtags - Twitter is where hashtags were originally created, so use them on Twitter as well as Instagram. Insert hashtags at the end of updates, as a way to make contest posts unique or to tag a specific geographic location such as #Pretoria, #CapeTown, or #Durban. 6. Be a timely Tweeter - Think about when customers check their Twitter feeds and tweet accordingly. Most of the time posting about hair promotions in the middle of a weekday day won’t be as effective as posting in the evenings, early morning, or weekend when customers will have time to see the post and call and make an appointment. 7. Share Articles on Twitter Related to your Salon - Use Twitter to share articles or interesting facts or stories in relation to your hair, nail or beauty salon. Customers who are following you on Twitter are interested in what you have to say and likely want your advice when it comes to their beauty.
Conclusion
These tips and strategies will allow your salon to gain new customers, retain those customers through brand loyalty, and create an interactive relationship with Followers. Hopefully this post has introduced you to some new tactics and will help you utilize social media to its fullest ability for marketing your salon.