Social media and marketing help

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EmmaCampbell

Active Member
Joined
Mar 17, 2014
Messages
35
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Location
Hemel Hempstead
Hi everyone I have had a salon for 3 years now and really struggle with advertising and social media posts . I just woundered if anyone can give me some ideas for advertising that doesn't cost the earth aswel as ideas for posts on fb and Instagram (also what the best # to use are) that will attract more people to the salon as this is a quiet time and i don't want to do to many offers as we don't want to look to desperate we have also hired a nail technician so help on how to promote her would also be fab thank you in advance x
 
Social media marketing is a hard, constant slog. It's all about user engagement and it's cheap to pay for ads or boosting to increase your reach.

Realistically there are better ways to get clients. If you have a very nice website, PPC Marketing (Google Adwords) will provide a better return although a higher cost.

People aren't looking for your services on social media. You MAY pick up a few people but it's 'right place, right time'. No one searches for a service on facebook etc. Your best bet is tagging people in pictures (with their permission) and trying to get traction off their audiences.

The difference is, on Google, people are looking for exactly what you are offering, you just have to convert them but that's when a good website comes into pay. If yours is average or not set up for success, then you're just going to burn through money in any marketing.
 
I have set up and run my business using only social media .
It's free!
It can be time consuming but once you get the hang of it , it is definitely worth it.
Join all of the local fb groups, village groups , buying and selling groups, advertising groups and share your page/posts weekly .
Ask all your friends to share your page.
I have attached an image of a post used to get people to share and like your page easily!

On Instagram follow everyone!
Take screenshots of other peoples pages and add them to your story tagging them and they will do the same for you!

Hope this helps. It's all a bit overwhelming at first but worth it ,in my opinion.
20200112_084836.jpg
 
Fab thank you both for your help
 
I have a website that gets me most of my clients, but I am aware that younger people do go in search of services via social media.

I only have 300 Facebook followers but I'm always busy and booked up, so whilst I don't rely on social media to get my clients, its still important to use and for it to look good.

Personally whenever I'm in search of a local service, first I do a Google search, find a good website, I then ALWAYS check their Facebook or Instagram - especially if its a service like ours which is so visual. I want to see their work, their facilities, their salon etc and read their reviews! So I try and offer the same for others.

I'm not amazing at social media, but my best posts are images of my workplace, examples of work (before and afters) and posts about myself! For some reason people like to see what I'm up to, they like to see me doing treatments on myself. I'm not confident enough to do chatty videos, but I know this is popular too. Hashtag your local area and then wider area location.
 
Hi Emma,
I am a working at home nail technician. I have been using instagram as my only means of real advertisement. Most of my clients know about me either from my page which I pay to promote on instagram for a very reasonable amount or by other happy clients whom I would constantly "bug" about how sharing is caring and if they wanted to help promote their local nail tech they can carry a card of mine or two and hand them out when someone asked them where they get their nails done.

Regardless I wanted to bring to your attention that before joining the beauty industry I would book my nail, lash, wax, hair e.t.c. appointments via a site that is quite known in Greece called "Funkmartini" which has many businesses in it. Maybe you can look for an equivalent site in your country.

I wish that helps!
 
Hi everyone I have had a salon for 3 years now and really struggle with advertising and social media posts . I just woundered if anyone can give me some ideas for advertising that doesn't cost the earth aswel as ideas for posts on fb and Instagram (also what the best # to use are) that will attract more people to the salon as this is a quiet time and i don't want to do to many offers as we don't want to look to desperate we have also hired a nail technician so help on how to promote her would also be fab thank you in advance x

Hi Emma,

A long, but hopefully useful reply:

Posting on your Facebook page is a great way to market to your existing customers that follow your page. It allows you to build your relationship with them and keep them coming back.

Of course, this means that you need to encourage your customers to follow your page.

In terms of how often you should post to your Facebook page, the key is consistency. For example, it could be once a week on a Tuesday, or 3 times a week on Monday, Wednesday and Friday (whatever is manageable for you) but keep to it. This helps you because you know 'I've got to do one post each Tuesday' and it's good for your followers because they know what to expect from you.

Start off by committing to post once a week on a specific day.

In terms of what you post, there are a few categories of posts, and you could aim to do one of each, every week or every month. The key here is understanding your audience and what they value.

  • Informational or 'Value' posts - this is where you provide value to your page followers. You should do more of these than anything else - your followers don't want to be 'sold to' all the time! It might be a quick guide to nail care for example, or other 'how to' guides.
Don't know what information to post? Ask your customers what they want to know! Like most salon owners, you'll be asked questions by your clients all day long, so always make a note of the questions you get asked, and then write a quick post about it.​

See which of these posts gets the most engagement (likes, comments, shares) and then 'boost' that post (i.e. pay £10 to Facebook so that more people in your local area see it!)​

  • Showcase posts - this is where you get to show off your work. Choose one client per week (with their permission of course) and take a photo of the results (you don't need to show their face necessarily, so it's great for nails, brows for example). The posts should also aim to provide inspiration and ideas to your followers, so they might see a nail design they love and ask you to do it!

  • Business updates - these should be fewer in number than 1) or 2) but still important! This is where you get to share the ongoing story of you, your team and the business, with your customers. For example, new hires, someone on the team gets a new qualification or the team Christmas night out! 'People do business with people' so sharing your story of the people in your business is a great way to build that relationship and grow loyal fans.

  • Seasonal posts - Christmas, Easter, Valentine's day, Mother's day, Father's day etc! Fairly straightforward but always worth doing...wishing everyone well, no need to sell!

  • Contests & giveaways - contests and giveaways are a great way to keep your fans engaged, but also to get more page followers and hopefully new customers! Choose a prize, and make it good, a free treatment for example, then create a post asking people to enter for a chance to win it. Don't forget to tell people when the winner will be announced.

Be aware though, Facebook doesn't like it when you ask people to like your page, share the post, tag a friend or even ask people to comment, in order to enter a competition. Facebook will actually restrict the reach of your post if they see that, so fewer people will see it, so it's best to say something like 'For your chance to win, tell us what your favourite XYZ is!' People will know they need to write their answer in the comments.​

If the giveaway is good enough, you'll find that people will always share the post and tag friends, so your post will get in front of a lot more people, particularly those that don't already follow your page (i.e. potential new customers!)​
Once you've picked a winner, ask them if they are ok with being named and, if they are, tag them in a post announcing it! If they don't want to be named, that's ok, but post anyway without naming them.​
Then, and this is really important, go through all the comments, likes and shares on the original giveaway post and 'invite' all those that commented, liked or shared to like your page. You'll find that most of them will do it.​
You might choose to do a giveaway once a month, or once every 3 months, but be consistent.​
So..for example, you might decide that you will: Post 1 'informational' or 'value' post per week on a Monday, and post one 'Showcase' post on a Thursday, and run one giveaway every two months, and a 'Business update' post as and when they happen, and 'seasonal posts'...as and when they happen.

One thing to note, however, when you post on your page only 10% - 20% of your page followers will actually see the post because Facebook wants you to pay....so to reach all your page followers it's worth spending a few pounds (start off with a couple of £) to boost each post.

The best way to get new customers on social media is to run Facebook ads but takes a lot of expertise to be effective. Start with building your FB page followers by posting as above.

Instagram hashtagging etc would be a whole other post in itself...But remember, anything you post on Facebook, particularly showcase posts, can also be posted on Instagram. There are some tools out there that will publish your posts for you on multiple social media sites and accounts.

Hope that helps! Let me know if you have any questions.

Henry
 
There is really good advice in these posts. Thank you very much I have obviously chosen a great forum to join. I am starting out in business for the first time so you have definitely help me. :)
 
Hi Emma,

A long, but hopefully useful reply:

Posting on your Facebook page is a great way to market to your existing customers that follow your page. It allows you to build your relationship with them and keep them coming back.

Of course, this means that you need to encourage your customers to follow your page.

In terms of how often you should post to your Facebook page, the key is consistency. For example, it could be once a week on a Tuesday, or 3 times a week on Monday, Wednesday and Friday (whatever is manageable for you) but keep to it. This helps you because you know 'I've got to do one post each Tuesday' and it's good for your followers because they know what to expect from you.

Start off by committing to post once a week on a specific day.

In terms of what you post, there are a few categories of posts, and you could aim to do one of each, every week or every month. The key here is understanding your audience and what they value.

  • Informational or 'Value' posts - this is where you provide value to your page followers. You should do more of these than anything else - your followers don't want to be 'sold to' all the time! It might be a quick guide to nail care for example, or other 'how to' guides.
Don't know what information to post? Ask your customers what they want to know! Like most salon owners, you'll be asked questions by your clients all day long, so always make a note of the questions you get asked, and then write a quick post about it.​

See which of these posts gets the most engagement (likes, comments, shares) and then 'boost' that post (i.e. pay £10 to Facebook so that more people in your local area see it!)​

  • Showcase posts - this is where you get to show off your work. Choose one client per week (with their permission of course) and take a photo of the results (you don't need to show their face necessarily, so it's great for nails, brows for example). The posts should also aim to provide inspiration and ideas to your followers, so they might see a nail design they love and ask you to do it!

  • Business updates - these should be fewer in number than 1) or 2) but still important! This is where you get to share the ongoing story of you, your team and the business, with your customers. For example, new hires, someone on the team gets a new qualification or the team Christmas night out! 'People do business with people' so sharing your story of the people in your business is a great way to build that relationship and grow loyal fans.

  • Seasonal posts - Christmas, Easter, Valentine's day, Mother's day, Father's day etc! Fairly straightforward but always worth doing...wishing everyone well, no need to sell!

  • Contests & giveaways - contests and giveaways are a great way to keep your fans engaged, but also to get more page followers and hopefully new customers! Choose a prize, and make it good, a free treatment for example, then create a post asking people to enter for a chance to win it. Don't forget to tell people when the winner will be announced.

Be aware though, Facebook doesn't like it when you ask people to like your page, share the post, tag a friend or even ask people to comment, in order to enter a competition. Facebook will actually restrict the reach of your post if they see that, so fewer people will see it, so it's best to say something like 'For your chance to win, tell us what your favourite XYZ is!' People will know they need to write their answer in the comments.​

If the giveaway is good enough, you'll find that people will always share the post and tag friends, so your post will get in front of a lot more people, particularly those that don't already follow your page (i.e. potential new customers!)​
Once you've picked a winner, ask them if they are ok with being named and, if they are, tag them in a post announcing it! If they don't want to be named, that's ok, but post anyway without naming them.​
Then, and this is really important, go through all the comments, likes and shares on the original giveaway post and 'invite' all those that commented, liked or shared to like your page. You'll find that most of them will do it.​
You might choose to do a giveaway once a month, or once every 3 months, but be consistent.​
So..for example, you might decide that you will: Post 1 'informational' or 'value' post per week on a Monday, and post one 'Showcase' post on a Thursday, and run one giveaway every two months, and a 'Business update' post as and when they happen, and 'seasonal posts'...as and when they happen.

One thing to note, however, when you post on your page only 10% - 20% of your page followers will actually see the post because Facebook wants you to pay....so to reach all your page followers it's worth spending a few pounds (start off with a couple of £) to boost each post.

The best way to get new customers on social media is to run Facebook ads but takes a lot of expertise to be effective. Start with building your FB page followers by posting as above.

Instagram hashtagging etc would be a whole other post in itself...But remember, anything you post on Facebook, particularly showcase posts, can also be posted on Instagram. There are some tools out there that will publish your posts for you on multiple social media sites and accounts.

Hope that helps! Let me know if you have any questions.

Henry
I’ve been working from home using Facebook for the last 3 years and it works really well. I didnt realise only a certain percentage can see the posts though!
 
I have set up and run my business using only social media .
It's free!
It can be time consuming but once you get the hang of it , it is definitely worth it.
Join all of the local fb groups, village groups , buying and selling groups, advertising groups and share your page/posts weekly .
Ask all your friends to share your page.
I have attached an image of a post used to get people to share and like your page easily!

On Instagram follow everyone!
Take screenshots of other peoples pages and add them to your story tagging them and they will do the same for you!

Hope this helps. It's all a bit overwhelming at first but worth it ,in my opinion. View attachment 209770
Love your logo!!!
 
So, I've been running a creative marketing agency for about 8 years now and have been lucky to work with some pretty large brands. I thought I'll share my thoughts.

From my experience, you need to really shift focus from "social media marketing" to "digital marketing".
Which basically means, you need to start concentrating more on how you can engage with your customers through digital platforms, apart from just social.

The hard truth is, any organic growth is slow growth. Meta and Instagram really promote paid ads, and what you'll find yourself doing is crafting ad campaigns, figuring copy, figuring if it should be a video or a static creative, working on targeting, setting budgets and then tracking how that particular campaign is doing. It's a lot of work!

So, a few simple things that I would recommend is to really take stock of your salon's overall digital presence. And luckily, these things aren't hard since I'm not asking you to get "creative" here and these are hygiene things.
  1. Google Business Listing
    1. Make sure your listing is completely updated. Name, location, numbers, photos, logo, salon space etc.
    2. Start pushing for reviews here. These go an extremely long way! If you start racking up 100+ review, Google is automatically going to start listing you. And people searching on Google have the highest intent vs someone just scrolling through social.
    3. Start asking your clients to leave you a review after a service. If you find it hard or awkward, see if you can incentivise them with a small discount or something. But review go a long long way!
  2. Website
    1. You don't have to do anything fancy here. Look at using solutions like Squarespace (has a monthly cost, nominal though).
    2. They have super easy to use and beautifully designed themes that make it easier than ever to go online.
    3. Why should you do this? From where a client finds you - Google, Insta etc, ideally they'll land on your website and it helps build credibility.
  3. Instagram
    1. Finally, your Instagram! A few things Instagram rewards
      1. Post consistency
        1. Insta rewards and promotes accounts that post frequently and consistently. This doesn't have to be everyday. It can be 4 times a week, even.
      2. Engaging with your users via comments
      3. Replying to DMs fast enough
      4. Using reels!
        1. I can't stress this enough. Insta is really promoting short form video to compete with TikTok etc. So reels are a must. And again, this doesn't have to be complicated! It can just be a video of clients hair for 15 seconds with some music track which Insta will give you options for.
    2. Also, be mindful about the type of content here. What I mean is, if you want to really be known for balayage or specific cuts, just post that kind of things. You don't need to be too worried about having very varied content on Insta.
So again, I'm trying to highlight the fact that you don't even need to think about designing posts, adding copy on it, running offers etc. The whole point of your digital presence is to build brand equity vs a marketing funnel.

While it's a grind, the good thing is, all of this is within your wheelhouse in terms of what your content is. You don't have to expel effort in coming up with a marketing plan and running ads. And while ad spends definitely works, it's usually not a sustainable option for businesses who don't have that ad capital or the expertise.

I hope this helps in some sort of way :)
 
Amazing!!! thank you so much 👍🏼
 
Brilliant information, thank you so much. It has really helped me to understand the digital side of business
 

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