Let’s face it, Instagram is everywhere. Every industry, business, and topic has an Instagram account, so no wonder it’s a bit overwhelming. As a salon owner, you may be feeling the never-ending pressure to not only create a hair instagram profile, but capitalize on all the benefits you’ve heard that instagram can do for your business.
The caveat though? You’re already busy enough, the thought of adding social media to your plate stresses you out. You decided to make the plunge, but can’t seem to give your account the proper attention, find any success, and you get stressed out when you think about it! It’s a vicious cycle.
Many salon owners like yourself were raised in the pre-Instagram era. It isn’t second nature like some of our younger colleagues. I’m here to alleviate that and give you some quick tips to make your IG game that much stronger. Here is my quick guide to Hair Instagram for Salons:
First things first, make sure you turn your account into a business profile. This allows you to see analytics, reach, and data on your followers as well as put your address, hours, and phone number in. Go to Settings > Account > Switch to Professional Account > Business.
HAIR INSTAGRAM FOR SALONS:
THE BIO:
- Keep it short and sweet. A wordy bio is easy to skip over. Limit your bio to the name of your salon, salons specialty, and maybe a quote or a few words that align with your company and vision.
- Be sure to include your website, address, and hours in the appropriate places.
- If you have several different websites or links you want to include, consider making a Linktree account so all of your resources are in the same place.
- You can include “Action Buttons” as well under your highlights for easy access to third party links for your customers.
THE FEED:
- IG is all about the aesthetic, and the feed is the forefront of this. A common misconception is that you need to be a model or photographer to create an amazing feed. This is not true; your main goal should be to keep your feed consistent and valuable, while still prioritizing well-lit quality images even taken with an iPhone.
- Consistency: its as easy as using the same filters or Adobe Lightroom Presets to make all of your photos look like one big photo shoot. My favorite Lightroom Presets are here. If you’re posting branded content, use an app like Canva to build consistent graphics.
- Valuable: You want your posts to create some sort of reaction in the viewer whether its emotional, excited, or educational. Provide knowledge and information that is useful to them.
- The most effective content is share-able and save-able. Meaning someone sees your story and sends it directly to another account. This is the virtual version of powerful “word-of-mouth” recommendations. And when someone saves it to their own collection, they will be able to look at it again in the future, reminding them of your salon.
- Your feed is what someone looks at to make the decision to follow you or not.
- Ideas for posts:
- Hair! This is what people want to see when they look at your profile and decide to follow you or not. They are wondering what would benefit them by following you and in this case its amazing, show-stopping hair.
- Employees! The faces behind the amazing hair.
- The salon! The place where the magic happens, of course!
- Get your team involved and be creative!
- Increase engagement with call to actions in your captions. Ask questions, do contests, and provide special offers.
THE IG STORY:
- You want to be posting as much as possible onto your story. These are how you continue the relationship with your followers and keep them engaged, interested, and excited.
- Stories should be exactly that: a story. Make sure the graphics and photos have a beginning for context so followers know whats going on, valuable content in the middle, and a concise ending.
- Example: With a clients permission, post their hair journey from the consultation, before photo, a technique used that followers can learn from, and the finished product.
- TIP: so you never lose valuable content after 24 hours on your story, auto-archive your stories to your account by going to Settings > Privacy > Story > Save to Archive.
THE HIGHLIGHTS:
- Highlights are clips that were once on your story, but are now saved to your profile instead of disappearing after 24 hours. To save these to highlight reels, you have to manually add them when they are on your story using the little button on the bottom of the story.
- Your highlights are directly under your bio, so your most important photos, information, and products should go here. Your ‘crowning jewels,’ if you will.
- Instagram research has shown that users respond and relate very well to people and faces. Consider making your first highlight reel a selfie video of the salon owner giving a quick, inviting run-down of the salon. Label the reel “START HERE” or “START.”
- Make one of your highlight reels all the best and brightest photos of your clients hairstyles. Your salon is known for its specialty, and your highlights should reflect that. People come from near and far for your expertise, so you bet they’re hopping on IG to check out your work!
- A highlight reel for testimonials. People who come to your page should see nonstop examples of the end result– beautiful hair, nails, makeup, etc. But pictures don’t brag about your employees positive attitudes, willingness to listen and adjust, and all the wonderful non-visual aspects of your salon. Include testimonials that attest to these unphotographable redeeming qualities of your salon.
- A highlight reel for employees. Again, instagram users respond best to other humans. Highlight videos for your employees show their personality, bio, best work, and specialties. Meeting your hairstylist before the actual appointment gives a sense of security and comfort– especially for new clients!
THE FOLLOWERS:
The days of following mass amounts of nondescript accounts and hoping for follow backs are over. The new way to build your business is through strategically engaging with accounts/people that you know would be interested in your salon. As Tyler J. McCall explained on the Social Media Marketing Podcast with Michael Stelzner, there are several ways to find these people:
- Locations: Find a location on IG where you know your ideal client would hangout. (For example: other salons, beauty shops, makeup stores, nail studios, health stores, etc.)
- Hashtags: Search for hashtags that your ideal client would use. It would be helpful to find a hashtag stay local to your area (Ex: #PhillyHairSalon) instead of a broader topic (Ex: #balayage)
- Target accounts: These are other accounts that are already created that you know your clients are engaging with. These could be any of your competitors, brands that complement your salon (like local hair care or beauty shops), and client favorites. Look to see who is following them, liking, and commenting on their posts. These are the people you are looking for.
- Now once you’ve used these tactics and found your potential clients, you engage with them personally back on their own account. Go to their profile and leave an actual meaningful comment or 2, and like a couple photos. Their curiosity leads them back to your profile where they see what you are all about and decide if they are interested and want to follow.
THE HASHTAGS:
- Hashtags have taken a bit of a backseat, but are still relevant. Hashtags on your post are a way for people to find relevant accounts, like yours. Contrary, you can find potential clients by engaging with the specific hashtags. Say your salon is in Philadelphia, search and follow the #PhillyHairSalon or #PhillyHairStylist. The accounts that are using these hashtags are some of your potential clients, and you should engage with them.
- Research has shown that the ideal hashtag max is 13 hashtags.
- Create a signature hashtag for your salon; 2-3 words, easily rememberable, short and sweet, and have your clients tag it when they post their new hairstyle on IG!
Wow, what a rundown! This is only a quick gloss-over of some of the intricacies and idiosyncrasies of the Instagram world, especially Instagram for Salons. If you’re feeling overwhelmed by all this information, thats totally normal. Consider hiring someone to do this for you, or even paying someone in your salon a couple hours a week to do so. It makes for a great resume builder, will get your staff involved, and they know the salon best. Make sure the time invested in this is properly scheduled according to what you can commit to.
Pro-Tip: Consider using Later to auto-publish your posts, see which hashtags perform best, and create a LinkInBio (similar to Linktree).
If you have any questions about Instagram for salons, please reach out to us! We love hearing from you and more importantly, helping you succeed. Follow us on IG @RonitsCoaching.
For more ways to brand your salon, check out our article on Salon Websites and attracting more clientele.