In the hair and beauty industry, Instagram is undeniably the most popular platform for sharing content. It’s a fantastic opportunity to market your business, build your brand and engage with your clients. We want to make sure you have all the tools to make it as easy as possible, so here are our top 10 tips and tricks to help you make the most of Instagram!
1. Optimise your bio
In the 150 character space, you need to include as much valuable information as possible. A short description of your business and what it’s all about fits well here, but to add more information, you may want to use a “link in bio” tool. What these essentially do is bring up a page where you can include more content like links, photos and contact details. There are a couple of different free options, but our favourites are Later.com, Linktree or Lnk.Bio. VEED Link in Bio allows you to record a short video about yourself and your brand and add links to your website or online booking.
Check them out to see which ones would suit your needs most!
2. Plan and schedule with software
Instagram’s algorithm favours consistent and frequent posting, and following this will mean it’s more likely your posts appear higher in people’s feeds. It’s recommended that you post 1 – 3 times a day, but if this is something you can’t do consistently, aim for 4 – 5 times a week. Sitting down and planning your posts ahead of time will make doing this easier, and a free scheduling software like Later.com or Buffer will mean you don’t have to manually post everyday.
3. Grow your community
Use your Instagram to be social and create a community with other businesses in your area, industry partners and clients. This is just another form of networking, as well as an easy way to increase your reach and visibility. Comment, like, message, and follow people you know, and go find others in your community that you don’t. Check out the hashtags commonly used by people and businesses you want to be connected with, and you should be able to find more like-minded people. Remember to encourage your current clients to interact with you too, by following you and sharing photos of the work you’ve done for them if they really liked it!
4. Commit to using hashtags
Using hashtags makes your content more discoverable. Check out the hashtags your competitors or similar businesses are using, and take note of the ones that are most relevant. Relevance is important, as although it can be tempting to use the hashtags that are most popular like #hair, #beauty or #barbering, this will bring you likes and followers but not necessarily from those who you’re wanting to reach and engage with. Come up with anywhere between 1 and 20 hashtags that are appealing to a more targeted and relevant audience, and add them at the bottom of every post.
5. Take advantage of Instagram stories
Currently, Instagram stories are the first thing people see at the top of their Instagram feed, so engagement with them is high. With stories you have the ability to provide your audience with constant, quick updates and can use Instagram’s range of stickers and GIFs to make your stories stand out. You can also try tools such as Canva or Mojo if you’re wanting to edit fun images and short videos to take your Instagram stories to the next level. You can also ask your followers questions by using the “poll” or “question” stickers, making them a great way to encourage customer feedback and engagement!
6. Highlight your stories and videos
Instagram stories are fantastic, but it’s important to bear in mind that they disappear after 24 hours. Once your followers can no longer view them, they get saved to your archive. So if you’re wanting to allow people to view them anytime, you can add them to your highlights! You can create a range of different highlights with a customised name and cover image, then categorise stories into them.
7. Increase your reach by promoting your posts
Promoting your Instagram posts increases your visibility on the platform. All you need to do is too choose who sees it with Instagram’s targeting options, specify your budget and the length of time you want to promote it for. If you try this option, it’s a good idea to spend a little time reviewing how many people your post reached and the engagement you received. This means you can test the effectiveness of promoting your posts, ensuring you’re effectively spending your marketing dollars.
8. Make your Instagram name findable
Keep the name of your social media platforms similar so it’s easier to find your pages! Simply use the name of your business, and if you can’t use that, make it as similar as you can. For example, if you’re called “The Best Salon” your Facebook and Instagram handles should be @thebestsalon.
9. Up your game with images and videos
Because of the nature of the app, visually appealing imagery will stand out, and boring imagery will be ignored. This makes it super important to use eye-catching images! Using similar filters for all of your images will make your Instagram page more visually appealing, and in turn, improve the impression people get of your brand. Free apps like Afterlight or Snapseed make it easy to use filters or adjust the photos to ensure they’re on brand.
While photos do get more likes than videos, video content promotes a conversation and gets more comments. The same rules apply: make sure your video is good quality and stands out! Consider adding captions to your videos as it allows users to get your message when it’s suitable for them, even with sounds off. You can try using free video caption generator tools like Veed that generates and adds closed captions to your videos.
10. Keep an eye out for changes
Instagram changes all the time to better serve its users. New features, layouts and algorithms will change the way your followers see you and potential followers find you. This makes it super important to check for changes in Instagram regularly and respond appropriately!
Over a billion people use Instagram, making it an essential platform to promote your business, especially in the hair and beauty industry. It helps increase your reach, build your brand, and encourage engagement with your business. There are lots of things you can do make the most of Instagram, so take the time to experiment and see the results it can produce.
For more social media tips, check out our blog on how to increase brand awareness and grow your customer base!
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