When utilized properly, social media can help your beauty location to expand its digital reach and audience base. Below, we will break down some of the cardinal rules for creating successful social media posts so that you can grow your book of business and increase your bottom line.
Determine Who Your Target Audience Is & Choose Your Social Platforms Accordingly
Do’s: You can’t be everything to everyone. So, you will want to narrow down how many platforms you want to create posts on. To determine this, you will want to start by determining who your target audience is, which you can do by categorizing them by age, gender, aesthetic concerns, lifestyle, etc. This information will help you to create customer personas so that you know which demographics you are targeting. Once you know who you are targeting, you can look at each platform to see if its users match the personas you are trying to connect with. With that said, when it comes to aesthetic businesses, Instagram, Youtube, Facebook (although younger generations don’t use this one often), and TikTok seem to get the most traction.
Don’ts: Don’t try to post content on every social media platform. It will exhaust you (and your resources) and your content will most likely suffer. Also, don’t fall prey to automating your content across all of the platforms. While this may sound great from your end, social media users spot this and it appears lazy and can even be annoying if the users follow you on multiple channels. Since each platform has its own specialty, take the time to share one piece of content that is catered to the audience on each of the platforms. Thoughtful posts with engaging content will always beat out some automated program.
Keep The Posts Professional
Do’s: Focus your posts on your areas of expertise and don’t get too personal with them. Every post should be a healthy mix of educational content, inspirational or entertaining content, or a way to share the daily behind-the-scenes happenings at your beauty location. Some social media followers may unfollow brands that use language that doesn’t fit the brand, so stay true to your business and what you know.
Don’ts: Shy away from hot-button topics (unless that is your brand) and leave politics out of it. Consumers get inundated with these kinds of topics from so many aspects of life. The last place they want to hear about these things is when they are taking time off for self-care. Keep your professional social media feeds professional.
It’s Not Called Social Media For No Reason, So Be Human
Do’s: Engage with your audience and take advantage of the two-way street of communication. Not only will your existing and potential new customers appreciate the engagement, but you also stand to gain a lot of useful information from the communication—like which products and services people like (and don’t) and even what kind of future products and services you should offer. You have direct access to your tribe. Don’t let it go to waste.
Don’ts: Don’t remove negative posts. You may be inclined to do so. But this act can cause problems. Instead address issues head-on in a professional, non-defensive way. How you handle yourself digitally, especially when things don’t go as hoped, can make or break you. Approach these perceived challenges with grace and look at them as an opportunity to focus on providing a positive solution.
Timing Is Everything
Do’s: Do post regularly. Some of the most successful social media accounts post three times a week–if not more. When you post with some consistency, your followers will instantly pick out your posts in their feed and it will help with brand recognition.
Don’ts: Don’t post too often or too little. Finding the perfect cadence to post your beauty location’s content may take a little time to master. But, posting too much may overwhelm your followers’ feeds while many social media users unfollow brands that are too quiet. With that said, if you have valuable content that your followers want, one post daily may be your sweet spot.
Followers Take Time—Sometimes A Lot
Do’s: Creating an organic following can take a lot of time and effort to get it going. But, if you want to expand your reach in a targeted manner, you can put a little marketing spend behind it with paid ads. Facebook and Instagram allow you to really target your audience down to very specific details. This type of market segmentation increases your brand awareness and the likelihood of conversion.
Don’ts: Don’t give up on creating an organic following—regardless of how frustrating it may feel, especially as a newer account. We assure you that in the long run organic followers are typically in it for the long game. When you buy followers, savvy social media users (including ones looking at beauty services) will definitely spot the lack of engagement and know that you tried to buy your way to the top, which usually doesn’t go over well. If your engagement is low, try creating Instagram Reels or using TikTok for making short videos to help increase it, especially since a lot of consumers are turning to video rather than scrolling through static posts.
