You Can’t Just Rely on Instagram To Grow Your Biz By Nicole Healy

2021 wasn’t the year many of us hoped for in our businesses, it was much like 2020, if not almost identical, for me in 2020, this was my BEST year in business, as salon owners like yourself reached out, and used their time in a global lockdown to better understand how to pivot their businesses and understand the power social media marketing could have in growing their salons to another level, and also being able to still connect with their customers when they physically couldn’t see them in person, whether this meant for clients to be able to still purchase from you, through retail sales or like some salons did, made colour kits to get their clients through months without visits to the hairdressers.

If we think back to times before technology, we are lucky we do have access to such incredible tools like this, being able to contact our clients with EDM (email marketing), and a simple DM through Instagram. If this was happening back in 1990, clients would only have access to calling a salon directly at the location or sending a letter by mail… how times have changed.

I have found over the past two years that many stylists have started to rely on Instagram as their main point of contact with clients, however this can not only be exhausting, but also risky, and here’s why. In May 2021, I lost my Social Salon School Instagram account - an Instagram Coach lost their Instagram account? How? I have no idea, I was logged out when I was simply posting a Story and my account was gone, never to be seen again. I had multiple Leads and Potential client enquiries gone, and thousands of dollars of sales in my DM’s - never to be transferred into coaching clients, not to mention I was only a few hundred followers away from that magic 10K followers that everyone strives for.

This was only a small part of my business that was lost, and I didn’t have time to panic, I had a two week old baby at home and I knew I could start again with the knowledge I had, I could build it back up again quick smart, it made me start to think, if this was a salon that particularly relied on Instagram for everything and it really can be gone in an Instant, that this is very risky for any business to rely on just this as a form of contact. Salon owners need to know that don’t own your Instagram account - Instagram does and you can’t just rely on this solely to grow your business and it can literally be taken away from you in just seconds.

Even though using Instagram Marketing as a tool that has helped to grow salons and stylists to six and seven figures a year, still doesn’t mean this is the only platform to use. For me, my business was social proofed to the extent that I had another Instagram account with over 118,000 followers, I had a website, I had a Facebook page, I had an Email Marketing Database, they could contact me through email, and I had grown my name in the industry over the past 20 years. Being contacted through Instagram was only a small part of my business, but for some, this is one of their only points of contact their clients know to contact them.

If you’re a salon that only relies on Instagram to contact clients or for clients to contact you, it’s time to change your ways, and here are my tips on how.

1. Take your Instagram Community off Instagram and onto an Email Database - these are your contacts, so if one day you were logged out of Instagram, hacked, forgot your password, whatever it might be - you still can contact people who followed you on Instagram and via email.

2. Have Text Message Marketing - you can contact your customers via Text, this is the most direct way of making contact and they won’t miss your email

3. Facebook Group for Clients only. Create an Exclusive Clients only Facebook Community group. This can be a place you advertise any deals; VIP offers or updates

4. Have a Website - I’m surprised at how many people don’t have one, and for me as a business, this is where most people contact me to book. You can also showcase more about your business than you can on Instagram!

So how can clients find out about these ways of making contact? Have the conversation with them in person at their appointment. Teach your clients about your contact etiquette in case they have trouble one day being able to find you or contact you.

Design a Form that every client fills in when they arrive at your salon and store this information on your salon database. Just like when you go to the Doctors, you fill in your health history and add your contact details

Your form may mention these points.

- Name, Phone Number, Address, Email

When they list their email address and phone number, ask would they like to be contacted via Text for Promotions & Emailed Newsletters?

Ask on your form what their Instagram @ is, this way if you need to contact them, you have their Instagram handle - as a last resort for contact. So, you can also follow them on Instagram too - which is what Instagram is all about, building relationships and connections.

Ask your clients would they like to join your Client Only VIP Facebook Group - mention the group’s name and how to join.

It’s up to you as the salon owner, to be in control of how people contact your business and buy from you - and just relying on one source of contact can be really challenging.

Be ahead of the game and the hairdresser heard on Instagram - have multiple points of contact.

To super proof your DM’s I suggest to turn on FAQ’s and/or Quick Replies on Instagram.

FAQs are a fantastic way for clients to get the quickest response possible for them - and the answers they’re looking for in just a few taps.

You can simply set up Frequently Asked Questions on Instagram by heading into the Hamburger Menu (the three lines in the top right-hand corner), going into Settings, Business or Creator and then you’ll see Frequently Asked Questions. You’ll need to turn this on by tapping on the toggle. Below you’ll see Questions. You are allowed to have 4!

For more tips and ideas on Instagram for your Salon, follow me @social.salon.school & @ melbournehairblogger. I run weekly Instagram Lessons inside of my Social Salon Members group. For more info visit www.melbournehairblogger. com.au/socialsalonschool