Marketing is an extremely important aspect of your business. It helps you attract new clients, retain existing ones and create a brand identity for yourself. When used to its full potential, marketing can seriously expand your digital reach and audience base. However, a lot of salon owners tend to make certain mistakes when it comes to social media marketing. In this post, we’ve listed out a few dos and don’ts which you should keep in mind while curating your marketing strategy.
Do’s
Get creative with your social media content
To promote your business online, content marketing is key. The best way to save marketing costs and expand your organic reach is by posting informative content on social media. Some ideas that can make your beauty brand the best in the business include: makeup and skincare video tutorials, going live to engage in real-time, creating interactive content to keep your customers in the loop and interacting with other businesses online to stay relevant.
Also Read: 6 Best Hair Salon Marketing Ideas to Get More Clients
Tailor your content
A common mistake most salons make is that they post the same content on Instagram and Facebook. Don’t do this. Instead, understand your audience on both platforms and tailor your content for them. Your audience on Facebook may be completely different from your audience on Instagram. Tailoring your content will expand your reach and grow your followers.
Share the behind-the-scenes of your business
Don’t just view social media as a promotional tool. Instead, think of it as a great storytelling tool. When you humanise your brand, people will really want to visit your outlet. Let your followers and clients see the people behind the brand. You can even start a post series and call it “People of <salon name>”. Use it as a hashtag with your posts. Behind-the-scenes content makes your salon or spa more relatable. Post informal and fun content on your stories. This will make your brand more transparent.
Post consistently
If you want your salon social media account to be appreciated by your followers, you should post consistently. Don’t spam the users. Instead, post at least three times a week. Follow the same colour palette or filter to make your feed look impressive. It should be something that reflects your brand identity. A cluttered feed will only want to make your followers unfollow your account. The look and feel of your handle enhances brand recognition.
Engage with your audience
One of the many benefits of posting on social media is that it’s not a one-way communication channel. As a salon owner, you should always make an effort to engage with your audience. Make it a habit to respond to comments, even if they’re negative. You can even comment on posts of other local businesses. Remember, the goal is to gain visibility. If you don’t respond to your users, they might even unfollow you.
While these were the salon social media dos, let’s look at the don’ts.
Don’ts
Give up your organic reach
While you can put your money in sponsored posts, don’t give up on organic reach. In today’s world, mentions and hashtags can still help you gain the traffic you desire. You can even generate reports on your beauty salon software to examine what kind of content performs best on each of your social media platforms. Make it a point to evaluate the performance of your marketing campaigns and advertisements often. With free salon software like MioSalon Lite generating reports is a breeze. The software has all advanced features that can take your business to the next level.
Post Just to Post
Don’t post on social media just for the heck of it. Your followers might just sense that. If you want to be a successful brand, take time to plan your content. Your posts should be a mix of self-promotion, inspiration, tutorials and daily happenings that bring out the essence of your business. Sadly, posting without a strategy only makes noise and nothing else. On social media, there are way too many brands fighting to be recognised. Make it a point to stand out rather than getting lost in the crowd. Studies reveal that 30% followers on social media unfollow a brand that uses too much jargon in their posts. Keep it simple to thrive.
Underestimate Micro-influencers
Salons often collaborate with celebrities and influencers to expand the reach of their brand. Well, we’re not saying it’s a bad thing. You may do that if you have a big budget. However, don’t ignore or overlook micro influencers. We’ve noticed that when you collaborate with a macro influencer, your post tends to get lost on their feed because they’re so much in demand. On the other hand, when you collaborate with a micro influencer, the relevance of your post increases. Since they specialise in specific niches and have direct communication with their follower base, your post may be viewed more. Also, collaborating with micro-influencers results in a win-win for both of you.
Remove Posts if They Get Negative Reviews
Social media is a place where people say all kinds of things. If a particular post of yours garners immense negative attention, don’t get rid of it. If you really want to grow your brand identity, focus on responding to negative comments. The way you do so and handle criticism strengthens your relationship with your existing clients. Instead of spending time focusing on a negative review, focus on how you can correct the situation and turn it into a positive experience for the customer.
Creating a strong brand on social media is crucial to business success. Don’t wait for your social media game to click immediately. Stay patient and watch your marketing strategy pay off in a few months. On a side note, I also wanted to call out an interesting software to manage Salon. Found MioSalon Lite – A fully FREE salon management software with a full list of features that you cannot find in any other software. Explore the features if you are interested.
