Social Media Marketing for Hairstylists: 12 Actionable Ideas

To improve your business, you always have to apply different marketing ideas and strategies for hair salons and hairdressers. One of the most used marketing strategies out there is being active on social media. You can use plenty of actionable ideas to make your hair salon work better and attract more clients. 

Most people don’t even realize what a huge potential social media channels have. And that’s because we use platforms like Facebook or Instagram every single day of our lives, and they’ve become a usual thing. 

The truth is that these channels could make a significant impact on our businesses if we know how to use them properly. Plus, social media is probably the only free way to promote your business.

In this article, you’ll find out what you should post on your social media channels and how you should communicate with your existing or potential clients to grow your business.

Why does your hair salon need social media marketing? 

Social media gives you the very precious opportunity of learning about your clients. In addition, the social channels provide insight into who your customers are. 

By being active on Facebook or Instagram, you can find out precious information about your clientele. Their posts can show you what their hobbies are, how they use their free time, what social and professional values are essential for them, and also what products they like.

Interacting with potential clients is not to be taken for granted. No matter how many clients you currently have and how booked you are, being recognized as a great professional and an authority in your field is always soul rewarding—more times than not, also quite rewarding financially. 

1. Focus on your target audience

Before starting with your social media strategy, you have to know exactly who’s your audience and where those people spend their virtual time.

Shortly, you have to create your ideal buyer persona: what age segment your audience is, what gender, in which region, what social media platforms do they use, and what information they are looking for on the internet. 

After you know all these things, you are ready to go to the next step.

2. Choose your social media platforms

Knowing where your audience spends most of the time will help you target them by creating an account exactly on those platforms. Maybe while talking to your clients, you discover that they spend a lot of time on Pinterest, looking for inspiration before going to the salon. Well, that’s a great opportunity for you to create a Pinterest business page and share hair trends, hair inspiration, hair tutorials, and many more. 

Pinterest allows you to link every image to your website, blog, or social page, so this is one of the best opportunities to practice a social media strategy for salons. 

Keep in mind to focus on publishing only on the most important platforms. Be it Pinterest, Facebook, or Instagram, make yourself visible for your specific audience and not for everyone out there. Implementing a social media marketing strategy for hairstylists requires creativity and professionalism to achieve the best results.

3. Create a business page

You’ll probably say now: oh, that’s ok, I’ve been already using Facebook since a long time ago and I have plenty of friends, I’ll be visible. But, no, you’re not visible, and that’s not ok. Of course, you can repost everything on your personal Facebook page too. Still, it’s essential to have a business page linked to your profile, specially created for your salon or hair business. 

This is applicable for all your social media platforms: you must have a business page and not a personal one.

Terms and conditions are different for business and personal pages. You might encounter restrictions (not having analytics and statistics, not being allowed to promote posts or advertise) on a personal profile. 

4. Add a “Book Now” button to your social media pages

An essential part of a social media marketing strategy for hairstylists is having a booking button attached to your social media profile.

Nowadays, you have to offer your clients the fastest and the easiest booking methods.

With an online booking system for hair salons, you can generate a booking link and share it on social media so that your customers can book from there.

You could start using an app such as Goldie to easily set up an online booking system for free. With this salon scheduling app, you allow clients to book an appointment right through your Facebook or Instagram profiles. In addition, the app has many other features like client management, financial reports, or deposit and payment processing, so you can give it a try and download it from the App Store or Google Play.

You can create your “Book Now” button on Facebook and Instagram and link them to your free online booking page in Goldie. Here’s a guide on how to do it.

5. Educate your audience

Promoting your salon business on social media is not about you. Yes, your main goal is to have people coming to your salon in the end, but there’s much to do until there. 

People will never follow you if you don’t give them exactly what they want to see. Everything you say on your social media channels has to benefit your existing or potential clients. Make all of it about the people you’re talking to, and make it personal.

The moment you get to have valuable followers on your pages, meaning that you provide them entertaining and inspiring content, you’ll be able to educate them and create the ideal clientele in your salon. 

What do I want to say by educating your audience? It’s a win-win. When you give them what they want to see (tips, valuable information about hair, products to use, etc.), your followers will also be more receptive to your requirements (to wear a mask when they come to the salon, not to be sick when attending their appointment, not to burn their hair with a hair straightener, etc.). 

6. Post your work

Part of the inspiration I was talking about is posting about your work. For example, you share before and after photos of your clients or tutorials on how to clean and disinfect your hair tools. These kinds of posts will not only inspire your clients but will build trust in your brand and in the quality of service you provide.

Make sure that when you take before and after photos of your clients, you inform them about what utility the photos will have and ask for permission before publishing them. 

If you want to know more about the psychology behind the before and after photos, watch the video below: 

7. Organize giveaways

Whether you are a hired hairdresser or think about opening or running a hair salon, giveaways are a great solution for attracting clients.

It’s a universal truth that all people love free stuff. When you offer a freebie on your social media pages, you can have different intentions, like growing your page, attracting clients to your salon, or creating engagement. Starting from your purpose, you will create the contest rules for your audience. 

For example, suppose you want to attract more people to your salon. In that case, you can ask the participants to share your post (to increase your visibility), to tag a girlfriend (if your target audience is women), and you can offer as a prize a free service in your salon. 

These kinds of giveaways are the fastest and the funniest way to attract clients to your salon, and they are also one of the best tactics to include in your social media marketing strategy for hairstylists.

8. Stay local

Do not forget that even if you promote your salon business virtually, those people exist in real life too, and it’s useless to have a huge audience in another country or at a long distance away from your location because they will never convert into clients.

You can get involved in local events or participate in hair workshops in your city. This way, you can create a call to action on your Facebook or Instagram pages and meet people in real life too, attracting them to your salon.

9. Share user-generated content

Generally, user-generated content (UGC) creates more engagement than self-created content, simply because people trust people, not brands. 

A great way for generating content from clients is by encouraging them to use your hashtag (#) or to ask them to leave a review about your services or your business in general.

Now I’m telling you again: don’t forget to ask for permission before using this kind of content. You never want to upset someone. 🙂

Last but not least, it’d be nice of you to reward that user-generated content. You can simply offer a little discount for the next appointment, like a “thank you” gift.

10. Present your team

As a hairstylist, you work very close to your co-workers, and sometimes you may find yourself in an awkward situation because your client doesn’t know who you are working with, and they may be reserved in communicating with you. 

A great social media marketing idea for hairstylists would be sharing photos with a short description of your salon mates. For example, you can write about their favorite hairstyle to do, about their specializations, or about their favorite products. This way, you will create a friendlier atmosphere for your upcoming clients.

11. Have a good communication strategy

In any business, it is essential to have a good communication strategy with people online to avoid misunderstandings or to avoid getting your clients angry. 

The easiest way to do it is by creating an Instagram highlight with a booking information pack. In that highlight, you can write about your salon’s policy, your hygiene policy, your price list, opening hours, address, and appointment scheduling information.

12. Answer the questions and comments

When you’re active on social media, you are perceived as an open and communicative professional. That is a plus when it comes to working as a hairstylist, and that is the kind of treatment that clients love. 

Giving your clientele and online followers individual attention by responding to their questions, concerns, and feedback helps you build a stronger brand, one to which clients like to be loyal to. 

That is why it is refreshing to see professionals on Facebook who have thousands of followers: they have been working slowly but surely towards building a strong brand for themselves. 

Conclusion

Whatever channels you choose to use for your social media marketing strategy for hairstylists, remember that their efficiency depends on the time you dedicate to them and the quality of the strategy you implement. 

Social media marketing gives you your voice. You can make it professional and loud by being consistent and posting quality content, so that your existing and potential clients will find there engaging, inspirational, and helpful information. 

Also, don’t forget to focus on these hairstylist mistakes to avoid in your business if you want your first-time clients to become loyal.

And you, what social media marketing strategy for salons do you use in your business? Let us know in the comments section what works best for you.