“SOCIAL MEDIA” ISN’T A DIRTY WORD

How to create a healthy relationship with social media.

By Kayla Zigic, Socials for Salons

Does the thought of posting of social media make your stomach turn or give you excited butterflies? For so many, social media can feel like an overwhelming task.

Knowing it’s something you need to do to keep your business at the forefront of your target clients, but also knowing that every other week there seems to be a new update or feature that you need to navigate.

Not only that, but many salon owners dislike social media because they feel like they are doing all the things such as posting daily but unfortunately are not getting any results.

Many of my clients have even described it the same as a health kick gone wrong. They feel like they are exercising daily and eating healthy, and yet nothing seems to be changing. What usually happens when we do this? Things become all too hard, and we end up frustrated and ready to give up (sounds just like social media, right?)

The truth is we now need social media to connect with our target clients. And our business cannot live without it which most consumers now researching a business online prior to booking an appointment or purchasing a product. And, if we are not posting regularly on social media, and a potential client visits our social media profile and we haven’t posted in a month or two, what will that potential client think? “Oh, maybe they have closed down”.

This is why we not only need to be consistent with social media, but we need to form healthy relationships around social media to help make it more enjoyable.

Having a healthy relationship means focusing on the things you can control e.g., building relationships with your audience, building your brand awareness and brand authority through your content, and focusing less on the things we can control, like updates, follower counts and how many “likes” we get.

Here are some tips to help you have a healthier relationship with social media:

1. Set realistic expectations. Remember. Everyone on social media starts their profiles at 0. Not only that, but you don’t (I repeat, you don’t) need 10k followers to have a successful business. I’ve worked on many social pages, and I can promise you, more often than not, salons with 1000 followers are busier than businesses with 10,000 followers. Nothing is ever as it seems.

2. Set realistic posting expectations. There is no magic number of posts you need to post a week. Set yourself a goal and stick to it. If you can only post three days a week, post three days; if you can commit to six, post six. Don’t over-commit yourself. Like a health kick, if you set a goal too high and don’t stick to it or achieve it, you become frustrated with the process and give up altogether. Choose an amount you can post and stick to that amount.

3. Quality over quantity. Did you know, you can receive more engagement by posting 3/4 times a week if that content is created with defined objectives and purpose and a solid strategy than posting without purpose every day? Your audience is looking for quality content, they want to be entertained, educated, and inspired to build a relationship with you.

4. Unfollow People who don’t serve you: It’s easy to get caught up in comparing yourself to other salons online, but it’s important to remember that what you see is often not the whole picture. Avoid comparing yourself to others and focus on your business and online journey. You can opt to unfollow or mute profiles that don’t serve you or make you feel like you’re comparing.

5. Follow Positive Accounts: Follow accounts that make you feel good and inspire you and help keep you up to date with social media updates and changes.

6. Focus on connections over follow count: Growth is slow these days; instead of focusing on your follower numbers, start changing your mindset and building genuine relationships with your followers.

7. Set Time Limits: It’s essential to set boundaries regarding your time on social media. Try to limit yourself to a certain amount of time each day and stick to it. This will help you avoid wasting too much time scrolling through feeds and feeling deflated because you’ve spent more time aimlessly scrolling socials when you could have used the time more productively.

Remember, social media doesn’t need to feel “icky”. Creating a healthy relationship around social media is the key to not only enjoy using the platform, but to actually create content your audience wants to engage with, and measurable results.

@socialsforsalons