Your brand is what sets you apart from all the other businesses in your industry offering similar products and services. If you want to beat out the competition, you’ll need to have a strong brand, both in your salon, spa or clinic, and online. Social media allows us to connect with clients on a more personal level, so it’s important not only to have a great visual style to your brand but also to understand the voice and personality behind it.
A study by Facebook found 80% of people use Instagram to find new products and services. Users also perceived brands on Instagram as being more popular, creative, relevant and entertaining. So it’s no surprise that Instagram is one of the most popular platforms for hair and beauty businesses to share their work and connect with clients. If your Instagram needs some work, try these tips to start building your brand on Instagram.
Think about your brand’s voice
Consumers relate to the personality behind a brand, so think about the way your brand would speak if it were a person. Your brand’s voice should be a true reflection of you and your staff, so try to incorporate your unique personality into your Instagram posts, stories and videos. To ensure every post is on brand, it can help to write down three words that best capture your brand’s personality and then run through them in your mind before posting.
Show off your expertise
It’s easy for someone to see your talent when they’re in the salon, spa or clinic with you, but to show a potential client that, you’ll need to be a little more creative. Before and after photos are a great way to show your skill and inspire people to want to look and feel great too. If you’re not too camera shy, educational videos and tutorials on IGTV or Instagram live are really easy ways to show your expertise while showcasing the products and services you offer. Tutorials showing clients how to maintain their look between visits gives extra value to clients which in turn strengthens your brand.
Use your biggest asset: Your staff
Encourage your staff to create their own Instagram pages to display their work. It gives them a channel to show off their talent and further extends the reach of your brand, giving both your business and your staff greater exposure to potential clients. It also gives clients the chance to see the quality work your amazing staff produce.
Communicate directly with your clients
Use Instagram as a way to communicate with your current and potential future clients. Reply to messages as quickly as you can, and keep your replies on brand by remembering your brand’s voice. Instagram features such as question boxes and polls are fantastic ways to create two way communication between your brand and your clients. Engage your clients with fun quizzes, or use these options to find out more about what your clients want, for example if you’re wondering about opening late or introducing a new product or service.
Using Instagram allows you to showcase your brand’s personality and character as well as your expertise when you combine both beautiful images with a strong brand voice. Give a few of these ideas a go, and see the positive effects on your engagement and new client numbers.
This is a great article. What would be even more fantastic is if kitomba let’s us put on a book now button like other booking companies do. Is this an option in the near future?
Thanks for your comment, we’re so glad you found this blog helpful!
We’ve actually been working with Facebook for a while now to try to get the “book now” button for our customers. But they’ve told us that as it is still in the trial phase they’re not offering it to any additional brands at the moment. We’ll continue to work as hard as we can because we know this feature would be really useful for our customers.
I agree – other companies can put a book now on FB and on Instragram – its such a shame we pay so much money for Kitomba and don’t get half the features
We’re disappointed about the “book now” button too Franca, Facebook/Instagram only selected a small number of software providers across a wide range of industries to test the button, and it still has not been released to everyone yet. We’ve been actively campaigning to get access to the feature, as we know how great it would be for our customers, and we’ll continue to do so.