THOUGHT PROCESS
One of the biggest challenges of social media salon marketing is finding a formula that will engage your target audience and keep your posts “alive” in the newsfeed – often in 280 characters or less.
ACTION STEPS
Find out how to use Hashtags to make it easier for people to find and engage with your Salon Suite’s social media content.
Some Background on Hashtags
If you use social media on a regular basis you probably already know what hashtags are. Simply, it’s any word or phrase placed behind a pound (#) sign, with no spaces or special characters. Here are a couple examples:
#salons
#SalonSuites
#SalonSuiteMarketing
#SeattleSalons
#BestSeattleSalons
#SalonSuites
#SalonSuiteMarketing
#SeattleSalons
#BestSeattleSalons
From simple words to even long phrases – such as #TheBestSalonsinSeattle – you can literally create any hashtag you want. Some people even use them for fun and therapy, throwing whatever emotion or situation happens to be impacting them into a hashtag, such as: #BestDayEver or #ILoveMyClients.
What you might now know is that hashtags are a digital filing system. In fact, that’s the origin of the hashtag. By placing the # sign in front of a word or phrase, without spaces, it turns the hashtag into an internet link that works much like any other type of link.
For instance, if you’re using a social media profile and you click on a #hashtag, the platforms search engine will show you a feed with all of the posts that contain that hashtag, usually in descending order either based on most recent posts and often based on most recent posts + accounts you follow + post engagement. Meaning that someone you follow whose post has a lot of likes/comments/shares will be placed higher up in your results than other people you follow, even if their posts are most recent.
Something else you might not know is that you should be using hashtags differently on different social media platforms. On Twitter, best practice is to use only one or two hashtags per post. On Instagram, it’s common for people to use 10 or even 20 hashtags in a post. So you have to be aware of what works best on each platform. You also have to take into account readability. Putting hashtags directly into a phrase such as:
What you might now know is that hashtags are a digital filing system. In fact, that’s the origin of the hashtag. By placing the # sign in front of a word or phrase, without spaces, it turns the hashtag into an internet link that works much like any other type of link.
For instance, if you’re using a social media profile and you click on a #hashtag, the platforms search engine will show you a feed with all of the posts that contain that hashtag, usually in descending order either based on most recent posts and often based on most recent posts + accounts you follow + post engagement. Meaning that someone you follow whose post has a lot of likes/comments/shares will be placed higher up in your results than other people you follow, even if their posts are most recent.
Something else you might not know is that you should be using hashtags differently on different social media platforms. On Twitter, best practice is to use only one or two hashtags per post. On Instagram, it’s common for people to use 10 or even 20 hashtags in a post. So you have to be aware of what works best on each platform. You also have to take into account readability. Putting hashtags directly into a phrase such as:
If you’re looking for the #BestSaloninSeattle, look no further!
We offer a #SeattleSalon experience that is unparalleled.
Book a color appointment at our #SalonSuite by midnight
tonight for a free gift with your first #salonappointment.
We offer a #SeattleSalon experience that is unparalleled.
Book a color appointment at our #SalonSuite by midnight
tonight for a free gift with your first #salonappointment.
Can make the phrase really hard to read. So instead of putting the hashtags into the sentence, you might decide to write the sentence and place the hashtags afterward to increase readability (important for engagement with “real people!”)
If you’re looking for one of the best salons in Seattle, look no further
– our client experience is unparalleled!
Book a color appointment at (your Salon Suite’s name) by
midnight tonight and receive a free gift at your first appointment.
#BestSaloninSeattle #SeattleSalon #SalonSuite #salonappointment
– our client experience is unparalleled!
Book a color appointment at (your Salon Suite’s name) by
midnight tonight and receive a free gift at your first appointment.
#BestSaloninSeattle #SeattleSalon #SalonSuite #salonappointment
In doing it this way, you have a more readable post without losing the value that the hashtags can provide both in sentiment and search.
The Power of Hashtags
Besides giving your updates the ability to be found when someone clicks on a specific hashtag or even searches on a social media platform or search engine (such as Google), hashtags also provide other salon marketing benefits:
The Power of Hashtags
Besides giving your updates the ability to be found when someone clicks on a specific hashtag or even searches on a social media platform or search engine (such as Google), hashtags also provide other salon marketing benefits:
- Tweets with hashtags get twice as much engagement and 55 percent more retweets than those without (SproutSocial.com)
- Tweets with only 1 or 2 hashtags have 21% higher engagement than tweets with 3 or more hashtags (ditto for Facebook)
- Interactions are highest on Instagram posts with 11+ hashtags
- Google started including tweets in search results in 2015 – so Tweets with hashtags are find-able in online search
Hashtags are used on all social media platforms, and almost 75 percent of people use them on social media (RadiumOne). Hashtags make the content of a post accessible to all people with similar interests – even people who don’t follow your social media accounts.
Hallmarks of a Great Hashtag
Though you can make long hashtags, the best hashtags are brief; although brief hashtags also tend to be more general in nature. So having some specific hashtags (such as your Salon Suite’s name or a specialty you offer) can help your content get found by more of your ideal client types – it’s a trade off! The characteristics of a great hashtag are:
- #Brief
- #Unique – Will it get someone’s attention?
- #BrandConsistent – Does it align with your Salon Suite’s brand?
- #MultiWordReadable – Capitalizing the first letter of a new word can help
- #Evokative – Does it bring something to mind or evoke emotion?
- #Topical – Is it interesting to your target audience AND does it relate to the content of the post?
- #WellTimed – Does it have to do with something in the news, current trends, holiday or celebration, etc.?
- #EventPromoting – Use hashtags to promote and to curate content and photos taken at an event
- #Witty – Clever – funny – appealing to the common struggle?
- #GoofProof – Spelled correctly!
Common Hashtags You Can Use in Salon Suite Marketing
As you’ve seen in some of the earlier examples, you can specify hashtags that will help people find your business by specifying not just the type of business (salon, hairdresser, stylist, etc.) but also the area where you are (e.g., #SeattleHairdresser, #SeattleSalon, etc.)
There are other more general hashtags that apply to every day of the week that you can also use as part of a salon social media marketing strategy to promote your Salon Suite. These are hashtags that get the attention of your target audience in ways that engage because they are interesting, relevant, educational, fun or inspirational; such as:
- #MotivationalMonday – inspiring quote
- #MemeMonday – fun meme
- #MondayMemories – share a favorite before-and-after or tag one of your most loyal clients in a post with an appreciative memory
- #ManicureMonday
- #MondayOutfit – emphasis on look and style
- #TransformationTuesday – client before and after transformation
- #TrendyTuesday – current trends relative to one of your services or overall client looks
- #TuesdayTrivia – trivia about your Salon Suite, industry, city, etc.
- #TuesdayTunes – what kind of music are you playing today?
- #WellnessWednesday – beauty-related wellness tip
- #WayBackWednesday
- #WisdomWednesday – beauty related tip or how-to
- #ThrowbackThursday
- #ThankfulThursday – express appreciation for your job, clients, a specific client or colleague
- #ThursdayThoughts – share expert advice
- #FearlessFriday – share an image showing fearless style and relate it to your services
- #FeelGoodFriday
- #FashionFriday – relate to your beauty services
- #FridayFunday – selfie having fun in your Salon Suite
- #FollowFriday – shout out to new social media followers
- #ShoutoutSaturday – shout out to a client, colleague, mentor, etc.
- #SmallBusinessSaturday – appeal to public awareness to ‘shop local’
- #SaleSaturday – reference a flash-sale or current promotion
- #SaturdayStyle
- #SelfieSaturday or #SelfieSunday
- #SpotlightSunday – spotlight a product or service for the coming week
Just using hashtags ALONE you can see that you should never be without fresh social media content each and every day. We incorporate many of these into the marketing guide’s that are exclusively available to MY SALON Suite and Salon Plaza salon suite owners, as part of a guide that has marketing ideas for every day of the month.
If you would like to know more about the marketing guides our Salon Suite owners use as well as the other exclusive business building tools they have access to, we invite you to check out one of the MY SALON Suite or Salon Plaza locations near you. Or reach out to us online for more information.