3 Ways to Use Client Selfies to Build Salon Suite Business
THOUGHT PROCESS
Selfies are a part of everyday life for today’s Salon Suite clients, and they can be used to help attract new clients, promote specific services and even boost sales of retail products.
ACTION STEPS
Use client selfies more strategically and systematically and master relevant social media tactics in order to attract and engage online.
Client Selfies: Not Just for Millennials Any More
While younger clients might be those that come to mind when talking about the Selfie Generation, it’s worth noting that Millennials aren’t the only ones taking and posting self-portraits online. 55 percent of Millennials post selfies, as do 24 percent of Generation X and 9 percent of Baby Boomers. Leading them all, however, are today’s teens; more than 90 percent of Gen Z have posted pictures of themselves on social media.
Even camera-shy Salon Suite clients might be persuaded to take selfies during appointments. Ensuring proper backgrounds, lighting, angles, and editing can all make people more comfortable with imagery, knowing that they will be looking their best when these photos are shared online.
1. Before and After Style and Cocktail Selfies
Taking and sharing before and after client selfies can help demonstrate your skills behind the chair and boost sales of retail products in the process. Few before and after client selfies occur without services, styling, cleansing, conditioning and styling products being used between the before and the after photo. Create a collage that includes before and after client selfies as well as product shots and photos of key points during the service appointment.
Not only do before and after style and cocktail selfies help with marketing your skill as a hairdresser and your Salon Suite’s services and retail products, it also creates a visual documentation of what occurred during the service appointment you can refer to in the future for this client, or new clients who are requesting similar results.
2. Multi-Process Story Telling with Selfies
Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither are dramatic hair color changes for clients. Take before and after selfies to document the progress for clients who are undertaking significant changes over the course of multiple service appointments.
Not only does this show your skill and client care, it also helps set expectations for others who are looking for a good stylist that can take their look from where it is now to where they want it to be.
3. Get Max Engagement by Graduating from Photo to Video Client Selfies
The more senses engaged, the more people remember your Salon Suite’s marketing. According to brainrules.net, when people merely hear information, they are likely to remember only about 10 percent of what they heard 3 days later. However, when relevant imagery is paired with the same information, people retain 65 percent of the content shared three days later. By taking your Salon Suite’s client selfies to the next level with video, you create more entertaining content that engages more senses (audio and visual) than a post that only contains photos and text.
Today, video rules the social marketing world. Smallbiztrends.com notes that Facebook Videos get twice as many views and 7x more engagement than YouTube videos embedded in posts. It’s also the leading social network with more than 500 million active users and you can even tag your clients in videos, extending the reach of your video posts even farther.
The great thing about using video to document your Salon Suite’s client selfies is that it can tell a story that images alone cannot. You can add step-by-step instructions, talk about what the client asked for, and even ask clients to say how happy they are with the results, creating an instant video testimonial for your Salon Suite.
4 Key Social Marketing Tactics for Client Selfies
When sharing any of these types of client selfies on social media:
- Tag the client’s social profile(s) in the photos (and ask for their permission to do so) with the @ symbol
- Tag your Salon Suite’s business page with the @ symbol
- Use popular hashtags (#) including your Salon Suite name, city name, service titles (e.g., #haircolor, #hairrepair, etc.) and product brand names
- Encourage your client to reshare their selfies with their own networks or use contests or loyalty rewards to incentivize sharing
Tagging and hashtagging social posts appropriately increases their search-ability, making it more likely for your posts to be seen in search engine results online. Using the @ symbol to tag your clients and your business pages increases post reach by placing your content into their profiles’ feeds (depending on how they have set permissions for their pages).
Everyone loves a good success story. Using client selfies to show off your work and promote your Salon Suite’s services and products can quickly become an organic and effective part of your marketing plan, all it takes is a smartphone and a satisfied client.
