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.
- 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.
- 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 district of Burlington, you may follow your other hashtags and caption with #Burlington and #Fairview, so that those looking for a haircut that day can locate your business quickly.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Provide incentives for Instagram word-of-mouth – Provide incentives for customers to upload a picture of what they had done at your salon such as “Have a new hairstyle or cut from Dropdead beauty salon that you just love? Upload it to Instagram with the hashtag #dropdeadnyc and receive 10% off your next visit.” Word-of-mouth is crucial in the salon business as trust is such a key factor when it comes to hair and beauty, therefore having friends share pictures with their own Instagram network is a great way to stretch your brand awareness. You can do this really easily using Wishpond’s Instagram Photo Contest App.