Are you looking for ways to promote your beauty business through Instagram? Wondering how to get your audience more involved with your content?
Instagram is a really popular social media network that offers your business a trendy and hip platform to communicate with prospective customers and increase brand awareness.
Simply throwing out a picture snapped on your smartphone and posting it isn’t always going to get you very far. You need to work to stand out!
This blog post will give you ELLEEBANA’S top 10 tips to promote your salon business and convert your followers into clients and your clients into income.
- Be Interactive in your Stories
Instagram Stories can skyrocket your engagement. Though, for that to happen you must observe how different features affect your audience’s engagement.
For example, Instagram Stories allow you to ask questions, host Q&A and even create quizzes. You can use all of them to create authentic content that brings you closer to your followers.
- Foster personal connection
Commenting, direct messaging and sharing others’ stories or posts are a great way to foster community, but don’t be afraid to take it another level. Compare your engagement online like building a relationship… if you want a commitment, you must be willing to get personal.
- Strive to create quality followers over quantity of followers
The quality of your followers is going to move the needle in your business, not the quantity. You can have a ton of followers but that does not mean that they are necessarily going to convert.
- Partner with Influencers
If you’re just getting started on Instagram, make the most of partnerships and influencer’s marketing to increase your audience. Partnering with influencers can not only help you expand your reach but also your engagement. You don’t need to bring onboard a big celebrity to boost your engagement. Look at your expanded network, find the accounts that have an influence on your followers. Reach micro-influencers who would like to partner with you.
- Have a content strategy plan
Many people just get up and “wing” Instagram and yes that can work for some, but if you really want to gain followers and have a strategy, then having a strategy plan can help you align your goals and “content” plan so that it has a journey and objective.
Having a plan on keeping your social media time productive is really important, don’t spend hours scrolling in the feed aimlessly, jump on social media to specifically research, get inspired, but keep productive, time is a precious commodity so try to limit the amount of time you spend “not being productive” on socials and keep being productive, this will only benefit you.
For example, by creating one reels per week, before and after twice a week and educational posts every second day that help educate your clients on all sorts of topics, you already have a week worth of content. With this plan in place, you will ultimately become a source of news and education for your clients and followers. People love to stay “in the know” about things that might interest or benefit them.
Importantly socials should not become a stressful chore, with careful planning and a proactive strategy you can stay focused and not get caught up in the small stuff…
- Take amazing photos
To make Instagram work for your business, you’ve simply got to have great photos, but you don’t need to be a professional photographer to take great photos. Your mobile phone is your best friend when it comes to Instagram photography. Here are some tips to get the best photos when using your phone:
Use natural light. No one looks great with a flash lighting up the oiliest parts of their face and casting weird shadows on their nose and chin. The same is true for product shots. Natural light just makes shadows softer, colours richer, and photos nicer to look at.
Avoid harsh light. Late afternoon is an unbeatable time to take photos. Cloudy days are better than sunny ones for mid-day shooting.
Use the rule of thirds. Your phone camera has a grid built in to help you follow this rule. According to Apple, you should always have the focal point within the centre square of the grid.
Try different angles. Crouch down, stand on a chair–do whatever it takes to get the most interesting version of your shot (as long as it’s safe to do so, of course).
- Edit your photos like a Pro
No matter how great your photos are, you’ll likely want to edit them before posting to Instagram. Consistent editing is one way to maintain your brand aesthetic and make your images recognizable.
Mobile photo editing apps like Lightroom and VSCOcam, Snapseed provide additional filters or editing options to help you find your unique style. You can import photos that you edit or filter elsewhere into Instagram to post them on your feed.
- Take advantage of before and after shots
Before and after photos of treatments will go a long way in establishing truth and credibility. We share and repost before and after photos daily and that is a hit at @elleebana. Lash artists love being acknowledged for being good at what they do. It’s a win-win situation, we praise beauticians by reposting their work and please our followers by posting what they want to see.
- Show behind the scenes
People love seeing behind the scenes of a business!
Show yourself and your team in action, doing treatments and give people a sneak peek inside your work space. This is a great way to build connection, make your content memorable and stand out from the crowd.
10. Aim for content that can be easily saved
Speaking of content, a post that is ‘save-able’ is of high quality and relevance to your followers. There is a strategy behind content that is easily saved.
The content that you create should make the saving effortless. A good tactic is to make your ‘ask’ very clear. If you want your followers to save your post, say it. Many posts are now encouraging their followers to save the content for later. You can even mention it directly as part of your image.
If your post is actually interesting for your followers then they certainly won’t mind the reminder of saving it for later. Quite the opposite!
Takeaway
By following the tips we’ve mentioned above, you are working towards building a relationship with your followers. Consistency is the key to your success.
Don’t be afraid to try out new ideas. The more creative you are, the easier it becomes to create engaging content. Keep an eye on the latest Instagram trends. Stay ahead of the curve to stand out with your posts. Test and learn. Experimentation will help you find the best strategy for your business.
Remember, the more time you spend on understanding your followers and their interests, the easier it will become to create content that they’ll want to engage with.
Are you ready to improve your beauty business Instagram and reach new heights?
This blog post has been written by Elleebana Marketing Manager, Sol Menezes.