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.

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
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  3. 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.
  4. 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.
  5. 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.
  6. 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.
  7. 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.