3 Social Media Rules for Beauty Businesses to Follow

The number of social media users has jumped from under one billion in 2010 to nearly three billion in 2020, which explains why so many businesses consider platforms like Facebook and Twitter critical ways to connect with their customers. According to Hootsuite’s Social Media Barometer study, 87% of global businesses consider social media to be important, with 95% using Facebook and 82% on Instagram.

When it comes to your beauty business, using social media can help you attract new customers, and engage with anyone who’s interested in your services, while also showing off your creative skills and talent. Social media has become popular with women seeking out new products, tips, or places to have treatments done. Consumers are 41% more likely to discover new brands and products through social media campaigns, and as such, brands are using it to their advantage. Some beauty brands were even created as a result of social media, such as Glossier and Huda which started as blogs before branching out into selling its own products.

But how can you take full advantage of social media to get your mobile beauty business off the ground? Read on to find out more.

Don’t focus on too many platforms

Start by building up a following, but be selective about your targets. “Mastering one or two major platforms is the best approach, rather than spreading yourself over too many platforms when you’re just starting out,” explains beauty insurance company Salon Gold.  A thousands-strong follower base won’t happen overnight, but making considered use of Facebook and Instagram can work wonders in the long term.

Facebook is a more formal platform, whereas Instagram can be a bit more casual, but both are equally effective at gaining a reliable following. The former is the most popular social media platform, with 2.45 billion active monthly users, offering you a great way to promote your beauty business within your local community. Your Facebook page will work most effectively if you treat it as a mini-website, advertising offers and promotions, and encouraging clients to share your content and leave positive reviews.

By contrast, Instagram is an incredibly visual platform, making it ideal for showing off photos of your work. It has become a tool used by makeup artists, beauty gurus and celebrities alike, and helps make the beauty industry more accessible to the average makeup wearer. You can use hashtags to widen your reach and encourage engagement, while also tagging your location to make the content more relevant and visible to users in your local area.

Whichever platform you use, try to post consistently and at peak times if possible. Make sure to monitor engagement metrics across both platforms to see whether your social media activities are attracting attention, or whether you need to switch up your strategy. 

Reply to your customers

Considering that 82% of consumers read online reviews of local businesses, it’s crucial that you reply to any feedback your customers leave you on sites like Yelp. This serves to protect your reputation, and create long-lasting relationships. Ignoring customers’ issues, or failing to resolve any problems they may have with what you do, could lose that person’s business, suggests to other customers that you won’t care about their needs either.

Responding appropriately to reviews, or comments and posts on social media, could be the difference between retaining customers or not, as it shows that you care about their experience, be it positive or negative. Letting the people who are interested in your business know that they are both seen and valued can also encourage further engagement from them, particularly if you’re starting a discussion about what you do, and how you could do it better.

Invest in paid advertisements

Paid social media ad campaigns on social media can help you to reach a targeted audience, increase website traffic and drive sales. For instance, when you run an ad on Facebook, you can set a budget of how much you’re willing to spend over the duration of the campaign, which is then spent evenly for the time your ad is running. You can then choose how long it runs for, and will be charged either through an automatic or manual payment.

To set up an advert on Instagram you have to link your business profile to your Facebook account, then start your campaign based on what you want to achieve, whether that’s brand awareness, a wider reach or a higher conversion rate. You have control over how your adverts appear, and who can see them, which can be then be analysed through the platform’s business features. Running your own campaigns is beneficial for a mobile beauty business because you can fit them to any budget, and gather marketing insights to inform any future campaigns you choose to take out. Research has also shown that 28% of internet users discover new brands and products through social media advertising, making it a core part of your digital marketing strategy.