While channels like business websites, Google Business Profiles, and traditional media like radio and television are still seen largely as optional investments by many beauty businesses, we can all agree that none can afford to exclude social media from their marketing strategy. That’s why it’s critical to master how to use social media to promote your salon and spa.
Many salon and spa owners complain about investing significant time and effort into social media marketing without conversion into new clients and business growth. I wrote this article so that doesn’t have to be you.
In this guide, I’ll show you six practical ways to use social media to market your beauty business to attract potential customers. But first, let’s answer a few important questions.
What do you need to do before launching social media?
If you already have a goal for being on social media, are on one or two platforms, and know your primary focus is your potential customers, you can skip to the next session.
Otherwise, here’s how you can ensure you’re on the right track with your social media marketing:
1. Set social media objective(s)
Your objectives must answer the question: Why should your salon or spa be on Social Media?
Do you want to get validation for your work, increase brand awareness, attract new clients, become a beauty influencer, or update loyal customers on offers?
Maybe it’s one, some, or all of the above. It could be something else for you. Whatever you decide, ensure it’s clear to you and your team before you start posting.
2. Start small
There are several social media platforms to promote your salon or spa, including Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Facebook, and X (formerly Twitter). Being active on multiple platforms at once can be overwhelming, especially in the beginning.
While the goal should be to get on multiple platforms, focus on starting with one. Master it to market your business, then add another one. You can even leverage the considerable traffic from the first platform to grow the others.
Which platform does the highest number of your target audience frequent?
Start with that one!!
3. Prioritise potential and existing customers
You may be on social media to promote your business, but you can’t make it about you if you hope to achieve any success. Instead, focus on your followers who you hope become customers.
Here’s the thing:
People will stick with your business if you give them a reason to. To do that on social media, find their relevant problems and solve them using your content. Every content you put out should benefit your followers.
Take this blog post for example, you’re only reading it because you find it valuable. Your followers feel the same way. Aim to educate, entertain, or inspire them with every post.
Now, I’m sure you have your social media goal(s), know how to approach social media, and who to focus on, let’s see how you can use all that new knowledge to market your salon or spa on any social media platform.
6 ways to market your salon & spa on social media
Follow these six practical tips to promote your beauty business on social media:
Tip 1: Share high-quality images & videos
High-quality visuals form the basis of a successful social media marketing strategy, especially for beauty businesses that are all about looks. It’s not enough for your content to be relevant, engaging, and useful to your audience, its presentation must also be appealing to grab their attention.
Your content must be as good as the delivery is brilliant.
You don’t want to fall behind your competitors because you don’t think good visuals matter. Snap pictures and record videos using aesthetically pleasing backgrounds. Pay attention to the lighting. Use relaxing and trending music in the background of videos.
Check out our Instagram Reels for an example of high-quality visuals.
Take followers behind the scenes
Post the behind-the-scenes (BTS) videos and pictures frequently to show your brand’s personality. Introduce your team to your audience through lighthearted visuals and walk them through your daily routine. It’s a quick way to build trust.
Tip 2: Tell your followers what to do
As a business owner or manager seeking to use social media to promote your salon or spa, every content you put out must have a purpose — something you want the reader or viewer to do after consuming the content.
The desired action might be them booking a service, referring a loved one, or purchasing a discounted product. While you may know this, there’s no guarantee that your followers do, no matter how obvious you think it is. That’s why you must tell them, always.
The process of telling them is known as a call to action (CTA).
It entails directing your followers to take a desired action or the next steps. Always close your posts and captions with CTAs like, “Book an appointment now” and “Refer 1 person now and get 20% off your next session.”
For example, don’t just write, “Get 20% off when you book a massage session through the Splice booking link.”
Instead, write, “Get 20% off when you book a massage session through the Splice booking link. Book now using the link in our bio.”
Tip 3: Put appointment booking links in your profile
This is arguably the most important action in your salon or spa’s social media profile.
Provide an easy, quick, and convenient way for potential and existing customers to book your beauty services anytime, anywhere through social media. A salon and spa booking tool like Splice can help you do this seamlessly.
When potential customers come to your page or you ask followers — especially on Instagram and TikTok — to visit your profile to engage with your brand, your booking link, among others, should be available.
Attach booking links to offers in your Stories
In addition to posting new offers on your timeline, take it further by uploading it to your Story on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok. Don’t forget to attach a booking link to every Story.
Tip 4: Share customer reviews
Posting client testimonials across your social media channels is one effective way to turn casual followers into loyal customers. A study by Phorest showed that one in every four potential beauty customers search on social media when looking for a new hair salon to visit.
Share reviews often to attract new clients and showcase the quality of your work. Pin the latest review to the top of your feed and strategically place the old ones throughout your social media.
Additionally, you can create a dedicated highlight on Instagram to showcase your salon or spa’s reviews from past customers.
Note: Ensure your customers approve before posting their photos or videos on social media.
Tip 5: Run social media ads
There are two types of social media posts: organic and paid.
While organic posts are the regular content targeted at existing followers with no money spent to push it, paid posts require funding to reach a wider audience and improve conversion.
Organic posts are great, but they might be insufficient to give your brand that initial boost. So, you’d need to support it with sponsored social media posts.
How to do it is simple:
Pay social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, or YouTube, to promote your posts to target audiences based on age, gender, location, interests, and other demographics.
Do influencer marketing
Also known as branded content, influencer marketing entails hiring influencers (preferably those in the beauty niche) with a significant following to use their social media platform to promote your salon or spa. With many consumers looking to influencers for recommendations before engaging brands, partnering with them presents a unique opportunity to reach more people.
Tip 6: Launch promotions on social media
Turning social media followers into loyal customers is a common challenge beauty businesses face. Running targeted promotion campaigns can be an effective way to get those followers to your salon or spa.
Launch limited package deals, offer time-bound discounts, and share first-time promo codes. Your potential customers love the feeling of getting more for less. The strategy will also help you land customers still deciding between your business and others. You can use Splice to set up and automate your promotions.
Conclusion
In recent times, social media platforms have become effective marketing vehicles for salons and spas. However, you need to be very clear on what you want to achieve with it to succeed at using it to market your business. This guide explains exactly how you can do that. Check out our article on improving your salon or spa’s social media presence.
Let Splice help you automate your business operations as you embark on your makeup business journey.
