Building a strong social media presence for your salon isn’t always easy – but it’s really worth it. Once your followers are engaged and happy seeing your name pop up in their feed, the benefits to your business can be huge.
Whether you’re brand new to social media or just looking for tips to improve, here are 7 things you can do to keep people coming back again and again.
1. Show your personality
Building an online profile really doesn’t have to be all business. People use social media to connect with each other – there’s no reason that wouldn’t include your salon.
Show off your uniqueness! Do something fun with your staff? Share the snaps! Got thoughts about a new trend in your beauty space? Let the people know. You’re the expert - they love hearing what you think. Features like Instagram Stories are a really great way to show off some creativity too (and plus, as a Treatwell Partner you’ve got access to loads of cool gifs and icons that you can use to get your followers excited).
2. Share your expertise
Educational posts are a great way to engage your audience in a really natural way. Make some step-by-step guides about the latest trends, or teach them how to pull off new beauty techniques, and you’ll have people lining up for your content. (For bonus points, use video to your advantage. More on that below.)
3. Keep the conversation going
Clients love seeing an active profile that lets them know you’re more than just a business. Talk publicly to your clients. Got a lovely review from a regular? Share it with your followers and thank them. Like and reply to comments that come in.
Keeping that interactive, two-way communication going strong is something social media has going for it over any other channel, so it’s well worth investing the time.
4. Promotions & giveaways
This one isn’t going to come as a shock – your clients absolutely love a deal. Eagle-eyed clients are always on the lookout for great value, so make sure you’re shouting about yours.
Use Treatwell Connect to see your most popular treatment types and organise last-minute deals to make sure you get those slots filled. Plus, you can use Treatwell social media assets to let them know they’ll be saving money with you. Sorted.
5. Easy bookings
In the digital world, your online profile is the quickest way to the heart of your business, and that should go for booking you online, too.
Add Book Now buttons to your Facebook and Instagram through Connect (it's really easy!), and they can book you straight from your page – any time, any place. Even when you’re closed. It’s easier for you and a better experience for them.
6. Build a community
As we mentioned earlier, it’s all about keeping that communication open, and not just between you and your clients. By promoting conversation between your clients (when you talk about a new trend, for example) you end up with a loyal base of interested users who come back time and again to take part in group discussion – it really puts the ‘social’ in social media.
7. Share videos
Maybe not for the faint of heart, but video content is always a strong performer when it comes to getting your followers invested in your salon.
It’s up to you what you want to share: those classic how-to guides, tours of your workspace, time-lapses of treatments – it all looks good when recorded. You don’t need to be an editing whiz either – both Facebook and Instagram have some basic tools for making nice videos. Then, when you feel like you’re ready, you can take the biggest leap – live video.