Are you looking to increase sales and drive more traffic to your hair salon without having to tap into your savings account? It’s time for you to dive into the world of social media. Instagram is one of the best social media platforms and has over 800 million active users. Think about the opportunities an audience this size brings, AND it is free!

10 Instagram tips for hair stylists

The following tips and tricks will help you convert followers into appointments for your hair business!

10. Get an Instagram Business account, It’s free!

You are a business so you need to step up your game, which means you should switch to from a personal account to a business account. In a matter of seconds, you can add your company’s address, email address, and phone number which creates easy access to your business.

An Instagram business account also allows you to see useful insights about your visitors. Instagram gives you great statistics about your visitors. You can see how many people clicked on your link, what is the most popular time your page gets views, the days your content is viewed the most, etc.

Booking app for pro braiders

9. Write a clean Bio

Keep it simple and concise. Make it sweet and easy for your visitors to book with you. Here are a few things you should put in your bio:

1. Your Business name
2. Your Phone number
3. The Link to your booking website (For deposits, payments, and appointments)
4. Your Location

That’s it, keep it short! Don’t crowd your bio with an excessive amount of text. This is Instagram: pictures speak louder than words 😉

8. Post more Videos

credit: Pro Braids

Marketing to attract the millennial audience gets easier when using Instagram, but only if you are showing them exactly what they will get. This is a generation that needs to see results to believe them.

VIDEOS, VIDEOS, and more VIDEOS, I cannot express the magnitude posting videos has to your page. Use your phone. Be sure that your videos have good lighting, and don’t have any distracting noise. Take the time to show before the cut, during the cut, and after the cut.

Speed up your videos to show how you style and revive damaged curls – get creative!. Videos will help your followers create a deeper connection, and one thing we all know is – you’re not touching my hair if I don’t trust you and your skills.

7. Post quality Images

No need for an expensive camera, your phone will do. Remember that lighting is everything – no one wants to see blurry photos. Plan out your picture and remember the best lighting is natural lighting. Use the daylight from your windows or some additional lights indoor. Get a good closeup of the head to show more details.

Avoid excessive watermarks, filters, and collages. Watermarks help you claim ownership of your pictures, but they can also hurt you. Putting too much text on your photo makes it unaesthetic and hides details of the photo. Avoid adding watermarks and text; nobody likes them anyway.

Collages are great, but they also make the images smaller in your feed. The bottom line is if you got nice shots just post them without excessive editing. Keep it simple and clear, and you’ll be O.K.

6. Be consistent!

credit: Pro Braids

Contrary to popular belief, posting 5-10 pictures a day is not always the best way to get new followers. The key is to find the number of posts you are comfortable with.

Whether you chose to post once a day or twice a week, keep it consistent! The trick is to post on a regular basis and make sure to keep your Instagram feed always active. Got pictures of those new feed-in braids you made last week? Now is the best time to post them!

5. Post Instagram Stories

Stories are one of the latest features of Instagram. Stories are a feature that lets you post photos and videos that vanish after 24 hours, much like Snapchat.

Stories highlight your profile and can get you lots of followers quickly. You use stories to make announcements or booking specials. Your offers will reach more people for your hair salon Instagram marketing.

For example, if you have a new deal, you can create a story to refer your viewers to your booking website. Post a special as an Instagram story and announce that the offer expires at the end of the 24-hour story period. Done!

4. Use relevant Hashtags

credit: Pro Braids

The hashtag is an integral part of growing your business on Instagram. Why? You may ask. The hashtag allows your content to be found easier by people who do not follow you. This is huge! Instagram users can search specific hashtags, and then the platform gathers all the posts that contain the hashtag into one newsfeed for easy viewing.

A hashtag is a keyword people use to find the content they are interested in.Currently, Instagram allows you to add a maximum of 30 hashtags to a post.

Use the hashtag that fit you best (#fauxlocs, #curls, #TheCutLife, #SilkPress, #NaturalHair etc.) . Remember, it is not about how many hashtags you use; it’s about what hashtags you use. For each hairstyle that you post, put that hairstyle name in your hashtags.

3. Be local!

Unless you are a traveling hairstylist, chances are you are targeting local customers, so use hashtags to set your demographic. When you post your photos or videos, make sure to add the hashtags relevant to your area.

E.g., If you are in Houston, you could add the following hashtags to your post: #houstonhairstylist #houstonhairbraider #houstonbraids #houstonlocs, etc.

Another tip is to follow people who hashtag local tags as well. This will show the community you are interested in creating a personal connection!

2. Engage with your followers

Reply to those Direct messages (DMs) and comments! The more exposure you get, the more messages you will get. Answering DMs and requests could be overwhelming and annoying, but ignoring them could make you lose some business.

When you receive messages, make sure to give the user enough information about your services. If you have a link to your booking website, send it to the user so they can book the appointment. Oh, and don’t forget about replying to comments if you can. Show your followers some love!

1. Get featured by Ebena

Featured Hair Stylists in Dallas

Following and tagging popular Instagram accounts can get you featured, and getting featured means more followers. You can tag bigger accounts in your posts and if they notice you, they might share your content and give you more exposure.

If you are late to the party be sure to jump on the bandwagon, Instagram is blazing hot and can get you noticed. If used and managed correctly, Instagram can double or even triple the number of bookings for your hair business. Oh, and one more thing you cannot forget – IT’S FREE.