A full spectrum of social media marketing is never complete without involving Facebook ads for your salon. For any social media native or competent user, salon Facebook marketing ads should be a breeze.
A measured and tactical Facebook marketing strategy will wield excellent outcomes for those who put in the effort, plot results and act accordingly.
On top of salon Facebook ads, there’s a plethora of other social media strategies for salons that can be pursued. They’ll help to increase visibility of your salon, boost sales and provide better business outcomes.
Social Media Marketing for Salons
One of the best digital marketing strategies for salons is undoubtedly social media. Salon Facebook marketing and Instagram marketing should be avenues you’re chasing with an almost clinical approach.
Define your social media strategy
How should you approach your salon social media strategy? First you should lay out your intended platforms (Facebook in this example), intended audience, and content ideas.
Identify your target audience
You need to get serious about pinning down exactly who’s eyes you’re vying for – identifying your target audience is critical.
It’s not enough to have a vague idea. You need to get granular and specific to get the best social Facebook marketing results possible.
This is vital as Facebook ads can be targeted very specifically. So you’d better identify your target audience before you launch any paid advertising.
Of course, you’re likely going to have several key targets, with varying weight. For example, as a salon, you can usually be sure of a higher female demographic.
Be sure you focus on your core demographic first and then supplement this with secondary salon social media campaigns to ‘sweep up the crumbs.’
Your target will change
Your target audience will evolve from ‘intended’ to ‘actual’ over the course of your data capturing and reporting. So be sure you keep tuning this target as you become more aware of who’s interacting, liking, reposting, and buying from your Facebook ads.
To get serious about targeting and market comprehension, use Facebook’s analytics and other data gathering tools (including Google Analytics and other paid social media tools).
Content ideas: Build your content calendar
Now to the meat on the bones – fleshing out your content ideas while drafting up a Facebook content calendar for your salon.
- Start with ideation. What can you offer in terms of thought leadership, inspiration, advice, humour, blogs, infographics, imagery, video, livestreams etc?
- Set yourself a calendar of deliverables with set expectations around this established content mix, including monthly quotas. Maybe you’ll make one video a month, one blog a week, three picture/link posts a week etc.
- Report on your efforts and make sure you review the social media data and then act on this. If a certain post type is getting a lot of clicks and interactions, think about capitalising on this and increasing that form of content.
- No matter your content, be sure you have a streamlined landing page, with a booking form or eCommerce solution ready to go – these ads must go directly to your business.
Engage your customers
Time to engage! Social media marketing is a game known as the ‘eyeball business’. The aim is to grab the attention of as many eyeballs as possible amid the sea of competing businesses and personalities.
To stand out, be a personality or thought leader, not just a salon. Some businesses, such as nail or hair salons, really lend themselves to social media marketing that’s hinged upon a personality.
You become the face of your salon and post photos of new nail designs, how to treat problematic hair, or what products best suit a skin or hair type.
By using a photo and video platform like Facebook to post interesting and useful salon tips, you can create a serious following that will inevitably lead to increased business.
Facebook ads or boosted posts?
Now we’ve laid the groundwork for your paid Facebook activity, it’s time to create some Facebook ads and/or boosted posts.
There’s a slight difference between boosted posts and ads. Boosted posts are posts on your timeline, whereas ads are created in Facebook Ads Manager and not posted to your page’s timeline.
It’s at this point you should be looking at a Facebook budget for your salon. Boosted posts and paid ads are two primary ways to use Facebook’s paid marketing tools, so lay out some numbers first. Let’s say, $50 per week.
Boosted Facebook posts
This is a popular way to approach salon Facebook marketing. You use the posts you dreamt up above, especially ones that have already done well organically, and simply pay to have them feature more heavily and higher up in people’s Facebook feeds.
Facebook ads
The other way to use Facebook’s paid marketing tool is through ads. Simply knock up a great ad graphic, have landing page with your website or booking software for appointments ready to go, and fire away.
There are some things to consider when creating Facebook ads or boosted posts.
Use good quality pictures
Don’t get bamboozled by low quality stock image options. With the superiority of today’s smartphone cameras, there’s no reason to have low quality imagery on your Facebook ads.
Whether you’re a nail artist, hair stylist, eyebrow specialist or anything in between, you should already have a stack of high-quality personal photographs showcasing your talents.
Post promotions
Use your social media reach to not only promote your website or products, but specifically to post promotional activity.
If you can offer a salon deal to your followers, or those you reach through paid ad campaigns, you’re much more likely to start generating some traction and sales.
Create exclusive deals
People love exclusivity. If they know they’re getting a great deal due their interaction with you on social media, they’ll form an innate bond with your business. They’ll be more likely to promote you to their friends with word-of-mouth marketing. This leads to more followers and more business for your salon.
Monitor your Facebook ad performance
Monitoring your salon’s Facebook ad performance is pivotal to understanding your return on investment (ROI) and what you should tweak to get better results.
Facebook provides reporting tools and metrics that will give you a clear picture of how effective your Facebook ads have been for your salon. No matter the other elements in your marketing strategy, salon Facebook ads remain a central weapon in your arsenal.