You hear it all the time: you must have a social media presence to run a successful business. While we agree that posting on social media can bring in new customers, growing your beauty business on social media is much more than just posting photos. Planning when you post and, more importantly, what is crucial for building an engaged following and growing your beauty business.

If you’re a beauty business owner, you don’t just want to sell makeup, skincare products, or hair products to your customers. You also want to be their go-to source for advice and industry knowledge. By taking advantage of social media’s many platforms, you can help your business grow by attracting new customers, engaging with your current ones, and building a brand that people love. If this sounds like something you’d like to accomplish, keep reading for some tips to help your business flourish with social media!

First Impressions Matter

Before creating your profile, be sure to set your account as a business or creator account. This will allow you to track how your business is doing with your audience by checking out the insights. The first thing you should do after setting up your account? Make sure you have a professional profile picture. 

You wouldn’t believe how many people don’t take this seriously, or even worse, use their Facebook profile photo! Think about it this way: if you were looking to hire someone to do your makeup or hair for your wedding or any major event, would you hire them if their profile pic was of them in their pajamas? No! So please ensure your profile pic looks professional and represents your brand using your brand colors and logo. 

Sharing who you are as a brand and what you do in your Instagram bio is just as important, if not more, as your profile pic. This is your chance to inform the audience about what you do and include a line that helps you stand out from the competition. Maybe it’s your mission statement or how you put customer service above everything else; whatever it is, be sure to share this in your bio because it can help grow your beauty business on social media. 

Another HUGE aspect to include in your Instagram bio is a call-to-action and a link to your website. You want to encourage visitors to learn more about you, your brand, and what you do by inviting them to visit your website. Not only will this drive more traffic, but it will also show potential clients you’re legit. You wouldn’t believe how many people have turned away from businesses simply because they don’t have their website linked! Don’t let that happen to you. 

Know Your Audience

A vital part of any marketing strategy is understanding who you are marketing to and targeting. Without this knowledge, how can you expect to communicate with the right people effectively? For example, suppose your audience’s demographics and psychographics don’t align with the products or services you’re offering. In that case, it won’t matter how many likes or followers you have—they will not be interested in buying from you. 

To begin building a rapport with your target audience, take some time to research them: what are their interests; where do they live; do they have similar spending habits as others who purchase from similar businesses? Once armed with this information about them, write down what makes your target audience unique. Then ask yourself how your business can cater specifically to those traits.

When you know what makes your ideal customer tick, you’ll be able to connect with them on a deeper, more emotional level. This will enable you to create content aimed at a need or problem they face and how you’re product or service can be the solution. Knowing your audience isn’t just about sales; it’s about building trust and creating relationships that’ll eventually lead to conversion in a more natural way.

 

Content is King

The first thing to remember is that every single post must be geared towards your audience’s needs and wants. Before I write or post something on our social media, I think about how it can help my ideal customer or what value they could take from it. So what are their needs and wants?

They want to look good and feel good in every way possible. They want to know what’s new in the beauty products and services to keep up with the latest trends. They have questions about applying makeup correctly, which products work best for their skin type, the best hairstyles or cuts for thick, curly hair, and everything in between.

They also want answers from other women who have similar interests. So the key here is creating content that appeals to them on all levels (emotionally, mentally, and physically). Creating eye-appealing content that reflects the audience’s needs and wants will capture the viewer’s attention. This means creating posts relevant to your customer base and interesting enough for them to share with others. The more engaging your content is, the more likely people will spend time reading it and interacting with it — which increases your reach exponentially!

Engage with Your Audience and Ideal Customers

To build a relationship with your audience, you must respond to comments and questions left on your posts or in your DM’s. This can be as simple as liking their post and leaving a comment in the post’s comment section. This way, your audience knows they are important to you and matter. They will also appreciate knowing that they aren’t just another person following hundreds of other accounts on social media — they’re someone special who deserves attention from the owner of their favorite beauty shop!

Engaging doesn’t just stop after interacting with your current followers. You also must go out into the wide world of social media and engage with people who fit the profile of your ideal customer. Maybe it’s someone who followers a friend of yours or someone you find by clicking through your hashtags that describe your local area. When you find someone that seems to be a potential customer, you want to leave meaningful comments and like they’re three to five latest posts (at most!). Here’s a biggie: don’t forget to follow them!

This will show that person you’re interested in and like what they have to say and share, which will lead them to check out who this business is and interact with your content, which can lead to a follow, then lead to a potential new customer. It may seem a little intimidating to interact and follow people you’ve never met (trust me, I get it!), but that’s what social media is all about. It’s a giant step in helping your beauty business grow on social media. 

Use Hashtags To Build Your Audience

When posting a photo, carousel, or reel on social media, it’s imperative to include hashtags. Hashtags make your content more visible to other people who might be interested in what you’re posting. Hashtags should be used in every post (up to 30) and include words or phrases your ideal customers search that reflect their interests, what they’re specifically looking for, where they live, etc. These popular keywords make it easier for users to connect, find posts they may be interested in, and start interacting and following. Also, when you use hashtags, your post will appear higher on your current followers’ feeds than those without hashtags.

However, it doesn’t just stop at including hashtags relevant to the work your business does or reflecting on what the post is about. You also need to include hashtags pertinent to your location. 

For example: if you specialize in hair extensions and your salon is located in Chicago, Illinois, you would want to include hashtags like #chicagohairextensions or #besthairextensionschicago. You also want to appeal to the location in general because there’s a good chance your ideal customer is hanging out in specific hashtags based solely on location. Something like #chicagolocal or #chicagolife are the hashtags you want to include to appear to a broader audience. 

Conclusion

Social media has become the new go-to for basically anything and everything. It can be an invaluable resource for growing your beauty business, but you’ve got to use it right, be active, and put the necessary effort in. Utilizing social media shouldn’t be viewed as a possible marketing strategy; it should be included as an essential aspect of growing your beauty business. 

Before you go, here are a couple of the main takeaways I want you to remember:

Make sure you know who your audience is, and how they use social media so that you can tailor your approach accordingly, and create content that addresses their needs and interests, while still promoting what makes your business unique. 

Don’t forget to engage with your current followers and ideal customers; this will help build connections and trust. Above all else, though, remember to have fun! Social media is meant to be an enjoyable experience for everyone involved—and if yours isn’t yet, don’t give up! So, with these tips in hand, go forth and socialize yourself into a success!

To learn more about using social media for your beauty business, head over to our Work With Us page to apply for a FREE Discovery Call.