Running a small business is no easy task. For an eyelash extension business, it can seem impossible at times! Lash businesses can seem all-consuming because, as lash techs, we’re passionate about what we do. We know that the harder we work, the more we can grow our client base and brand awareness. But sometimes, it’s about working smarter, not harder.
Having social media platforms for your eyelash extension business is a necessity in our digital world. Most searches for beauty businesses will begin on Google or on social media. If you don’t have social media platforms you’re seriously limiting your business’ chances of success. For lash technicians, Instagram is the go-to social media for clients to assess your work, even before they get into contact with you.
There’s no way we’re going to be able to cover all of social media marketing in one blog post. After all, there are degrees in social media these days! However, at BELO we’ve picked up a trick or two on how to boost your Instagram following and interactions to build your brand. We have put together our top social media marketing tips for your lash business on Instagram.
SETTING UP OR REBRANDING YOUR BUSINESS INSTAGRAM
It’s crucial to keep your business account and your personal account separate on Instagram. But that’s not to say that the Instagram account for your business needs to be boring (far from it!) We’re going to get to nailing your branding later!
Your Instagram business account is going to be the social media hub of your business, so it’s key that you ave an actual business account, which you can set up in your profile settings. This gives you insights into the engagement on each of your posts, the number of accounts you have reached and even gives you the opportunity to put out paid ad campaigns.
Keeping your personal account and business account separate makes it easier for customers to see your business offerings. Not only this, but having a separate business account can help you to maintain work-life balance boundaries. If your personal account has clients messaging you when you’re trying to take some down time it can become overwhelming quickly.
Keeping your Instagram business account separate makes things clearer for you, for your clients and for your business!
1. Choosing a brand handle
Coming up with your business name is hard enough, but coming up with a name for your Instagram account is another task entirely! Your brand name is what your marketing, advertising and business efforts will centre around, so getting it right is key. Let’s say you go by ‘Katie’s Lashes’ to your clients, the likelihood of this being an available handle on Instagram is slim-to-none.
Think about what you want from your eyelash extension business: do you want to be a mobile lash technician in your local area? Do you want to add lashes to your salon’s offerings and bring in more customer footfall? Or do you want to create an eyelash extensions brand that is scalable? This will impact whether you put things like your location in the name of your Instagram profile or not.
For example: if our Instagram business profile was @belolashmanchester not @belolash – it would be more difficult to market our products to an audience outside of the North West!
2. Select your branding carefully!
The branding on your Instagram profile is an extension of your business. You want it to be sleek, but not too formal; fun, but professional. There are plenty creative marketing factors to bring into play here:
Colours: what does the colour of your brand say about you? At BELO we chose pink for our branding as we love the fun, bright colour and its association to femininity. As a female-founded business, we wanted to celebrate ‘girly-ness’, not shy away from it.
Logo: Obviously, your logo needs to be eye-catching. As an eyelash business, do you want to have eyelashes incorporated into the logo? Or would you prefer something a little more sleek? At BELO, we decided against this as it gives us more room to diversify our products. If you want to focus on eyelashes, there’s no reason why this couldn’t be in your logo. A good social media tip is to have your logo as your profile picture to promote brand awareness!
Aesthetic: artsy, professional or fun. Who says you have to choose just one? The aesthetic of your Instagram profile is the fun part – so have fun with it!
Have all of these branding elements nailed down before you set up your Instagram business profile. This means that you can prepare the first couple of posts and Instagram story templates to have a cohesive Instagram business account from the start!
Note: if you’re looking to rebrand, follow the same steps and post everything in one go (at a time when your followers are least active) to minimise the impact on your engagement.
3. Curate your bio
Your Instagram bio is the first bit of information your potential clients will see, so it’s crucial to nail it. Bios should be informative and personal. Put a bit of information about your business, ie: where you’re based, contact information, a website link. If you have a tagline or slogan, your bio is where to put it!
Your Instagram bio is where your target audience can see exactly what your brand is about, even before they look at your posts – make a good first impression!
4. Instagram stories are your best friends
The ‘highlight’ feature on Instagram stories are great to make your business profile look professional. Use colours that match your branding for the highlight covers, or better yet, use branded highlight covers
Instagram story highlights can provide potential clients with quick answers and provide a point of reference for your target audience to decide whether to engage with you or not.
Top social media tip: Use your Instagram stories for FAQs, pricing, reviews or even client selfies to build trust in your Instagram brand!
CONTENT CREATION
1. Social Media strategy
Before you even pick up your phone to take a picture or put together an Instagram post, it’s crucial to outline your social media strategy. What are your goals? Do you want more engagement? More followers? More sales?
If you want followers, maybe try doing a competition to boost your reach. Our Christmas giveaway every year brings plenty of eyes to BELO!
If your focus on engagement, try setting a 10-minute timer once a day (maybe on your lunch break) to engage with people in your community. Remember, it’s quality over quantity. Anyone can tell when you’re on a mass commenting spree. Post meaningful comments on other people’s posts and share their content on your story to get people looking at your profile. With any luck, the engagement on your posts (and followers) will soon follow!
Think about your social media goals, do your research and put your strategy together!
2. Perfect photography
No Instagram business account will succeed without high quality images. For client photos, a top social media photography tip is to buy a ring light for your phone to get consistent lighting in all of your images. Day-to-day, think about how best to show off your work.
For example, if you’re using our BELO Velvet Russian Lashes with a matte finish, they will photograph very differently to how glossier lashes would. Adapt your techniques to make sure that your clients and followers can see the difference between treatments.
You could even hire a professional photographer for a day to get a bulk of content for your Instagram to ensure that you have enough photos in the pipeline to keep a consistent theme running on your profile. This is a great idea if you have a social media marketing campaign coming up so that your followers can trace the campaign across different posts.
Take a look at our Instagram for inspo:
3. Hashtags
Hashtags are one of the most talked about social media marketing tools for businesses on Instagram. Hashtags expand the reach of your profile to the world (or at least, anyone following that hashtag).
Spend some time researching the latest trending hashtags for the eyelash extension industry. Don’t bother trying to use the tags ‘eyelashes’ or ‘eyelash extensions’ as these hashtags are saturated with millions of posts. Use tags that are specific to your treatments and for your area. For example, the hashtag ‘classic lashes Manchester’ has just over 3,000 posts, so you will have plenty more chances of being noticed!
4. Scheduling your Instagram posts
Life as an eyelash technician is manic at the best of times. Remembering to post on Instagram may not be on your list of priorities between client bookings, business admin and actually living your life! Anything that can save you time in your small business is a plus, right?
Scheduling your Instagram posts can be a lifesaver for time-poor lash techs, there are a few good apps to help you schedule Instagram posts, but be aware, some of them are pretty pricey.
5. Tagging your products and services in your account
This social media marketing tip is key if you have elements of e-commerce with your eyelash business. Instagram has finally made it possible to link and tag products to direct customers to purchase directly from your social media.
For established service-based eyelash businesses, you could link the treatments/ services on your website to your Instagram. With the right technology on your website, you could even link to your online booking system of choice and have clients pay deposits directly from your Instagram profile!
BRAND PARTNERSHIPS AND AMBASSADORS
Influencers are always on the lookout for brand partnerships. so reach out to a couple in your area to see if they would mention your brand or services in exchange for a discounted treatment or a freebie!
Affiliate posts are an especially important marketing tool for larger businesses. It’s not about having big name influencers raving about your brand (although that’s always a plus). You want people who are experts and trusted advisors spreading your brand awareness. This will bring in the right followers and attention to your brand.
Influencer marketing, especially micro influencer marketing is particularly effective. At BELO, we have our gang of BELO ambassadors who we trust to show off our brand in the best light possible!
MAINTAINING ENGAGEMENT WITH YOUR INSTA COMMUNITY
Maintained engagement is a proven way to social media marketing success. To do this, try to engage with your community and your audience as directly as possible. Build a community by offering Q&A advice on Instagram stories, offer secret giveaways for people who comment a certain emoji on a post or try hosting an Instagram LIVE of a step-by-step on one of your treatments. Now that IGTV is gone, you can reach more followers by creating video content on trends from Instagram reels.
The more creative you are, the better!
Gain insights on your content
As mentioned earlier, on an Instagram business account, you can see insights on the reach of your posts. This is an invaluable tool to gain a clearer picture on what your followers want to see on their feed. You can tailor your content based on the reactions of your followers. As you can see below, for BELO, a fun mix of before and after pictures, tutorials and memes make up our most engaged posts.
The insights you gain on your social media content can then inform your future content strategies as you can see exactly what is working for your Instagram reach and what isn’t.
Bear in mind that the bigger your small business’ social media presence grows, the more overwhelming it can be. Keeping up with comments, DMs, shares and mentions can be a lot – so be sure to switch off too! Social media is always encouraging its users to spend as much time on their apps as possible, but it’s important to maintain connection and balance. Look after yourself first!
At BELO LASH, we want all of the boss babes in our eyelash extension community to thrive and succeed in their business ventures.
We’ve only scratched the surface when it comes to marketing on social media, and there’s no way we could cover it all in one blog. Let’s get a conversation going. Make sure to leave comments with any questions or tips you may have on bossing Instagram for your lash business!