Business
Under the Influence – How Influencers Can Help Your Salon
Sep
Social media marketing can be a great way to boost the business in your salon but finding just the right way to make it work for you can be challenging. With algorithms often working against us, pushing our own content deep, down in people’s feeds, it can be hard to be noticed among the sea of posts. That’s where influencers come into play. Social media influencers have mastered algorithms and do everything that they can to remain in the spotlight. These people have eyes on them and what they say can often sway opinions in their target demographic. This can work to your advantage; having an influencer endorse your salon can help you fill your chairs and your appointment books if you do it right.
But what’s right and what’s wrong? Let’s look at a few ways you can effectively employ the help of influencers:
REMAIN LOCAL
While it might be tempting to contact an influencer who has 250,000 or more followers, that doesn’t really work well if they live halfway across the country and most of their base is scattered about. Your salon’s name might become known but that doesn’t do much good if your potential new clients live hundreds of miles away.
Looking into local lifestyle influencers within your own city can make all the difference. While these “micro-influencers” may have fewer followers, their base tends to be more localized because the things they post are more relevant to them due to being accessible. When these influencers post about their favorite place to eat or their favorite salon their base is more likely to check them out because they can.
Choosing a local micro-influencer over a more national face can help make all the difference in how effective the partnership may be.
WHAT TO AVOID
Even with local influencers there could be some red flags that should give you pause. After all you’re spending time and possibly money or services for their word-of-mouth endorsement, but if that goes nowhere then all of that could be wasted. It’s important to avoid influencers with low engagement or people who mostly post sponsored content. If you see an account with 50,000 followers but only 100 to 200 people ever engage then there’s a strong chance that those followers don’t pay attention to their posts. If the bulk of the influencer’s posts are some forms of advertisement, then their followers are also likely to ignore endorsements due to ad-overload.
