The Brand of Me
When it comes to self-promotion, the internet is your very best friend. From blogging on your own site to pushing your business through social media, knowing how to market yourself online is a valuable skill that will pay off for years to come.
One of the many wonderful things about the internet is that it has opened up the world of marketing and promotion to just about
everyone. Now, with a little know-how and minimal funding, it's possible to push your business online to countless potential new customers and create the sort of buzz about yourself and your business that seasoned
marketers can only dream about
Laura Ward, PR and social media manager for proto-col, says that social media is now a must for businesses looking to get ahead.
“Social media has grown over the past ten years and continues to do so, so if your business doesn't have a social media profile yet I suggest you create one ASAP. Clients will do their research on your salon before they even step through the door whether it's via Google or social media in order to find prices, customer reviews and any online presence. If your salon doesn't have a Facebook or Instagram page this could be the decider between you and another salon."
So how do you get started? At the very least, if you have a business and want to attract clients, you should have a website. Your website should reflect the look of your business – and this should follow through to your promotion
So how do you get started? At the very least, if you have a business and want to attract clients, you should have a website. Your website should reflect the look of your business – and this should follow through to your promotion.
Choosing your social media
Linking your website to a range of social media is important for SEO and for showing search engines that you're an active and interactive website. Laura comments: “The main thing you want to ask yourself is where is your audience? What are they using? This will help you decide
what platforms are best
“Personally, the first page I would create is Facebook. It's an incredible tool for advertising and marketing and is great for knowing
about the different habits and preferences of its users. It allows you to set up your page as a business, which gives you the option for a call button. This can be used to book appointments, send them to your website or even give you a call. Within Facebook, as well as creating a page for clients to see you are also giving them the chance to be involved within a community – great if you hold regular coffee mornings
“If you are flooded with beautiful before and after images, interior posts and maybe some product mentions then I would also suggest Instagram. This focuses heavily on photos so you need the images to speak for themselves without having to put in too much information.
If your clients tend to be a younger audience I would put more effort into Instagram and less on Facebook. Your clients may also be more
active on Twitter but I wouldn't spread yourself too thinly – start with one or two as it's best to have a fantastic presence on one than a lacklustre presence on three.”
Marie-Louise Coster from All About Mi Beauty School is a big supporter of Instagram. “For me, Instagram is my most favourite form of social media, you have a visual and text aspect so you cater to all – those who are provoked by image and those who are provoked by words. It is a fantastic platform for showcasing your work, especially if you are a nail, makeup or hair artist. Posts don't have to be daily – in fact with Instagram it is quality over quantity, use hashtags so as when people are searching your work comes up, so for example if you are a nail artist tag the company of the products you used to achieve the look and
then hashtag words like nails, nail art, nails of Instagram etc. to make your post more prominent. Also, make sure that your account is not set as private; if it is, only your followers (who may be limited to begin with) will see it, whereas if you have your account set as public and you use hashtags, the audience could be endless.”
Want to know more about social media forms and advertising through social media? See the January/February issue of Irish Beauty.
Generating content
In order for your social media to translate into actual business, you need to create great content that people will click on and read – and perhaps even click through to your website to read. This can be in the form of competitions and promotions (these are particularly useful on Facebook), visual content (for Instagram and Pinterest) and written content (blog posts on your website that you can promote through all the social media platforms, particularly Facebook and Twitter).
If you have a strong image as a business, creating visual content should be easy enough. Linton & Mac is a hair and beauty salon in Aberdeen, Scotland, that kept visual marketing in mind almost from Day One. “After location, our style was the most important aspect, as this was a direct representation of our brand,” explains Jenn Linton and Joanna MacDonald. “Within this, getting across our personality was key, and a huge part of achieving this was via social media.”
“After posting our new logo across social media to launch the brand, the salon build offered us the perfect platform for a teaser campaign. Furniture was custom made and we wanted it to be very classic, simple
and scandi. We have also ensured that we gain maximum exposure on platforms such as Instagram by ensuring our offerings lend themselves well to imagery, such as refreshments like artisan gin and prosecco,
Insta-pretty party rings and jammy dodgers, vintage sugar spoons, and water in Ayurvedic copper cups. We also have a running theme for our Instagram and our clean, white borders around each picture make everything feel clean and considered, which we hope is a direct representation of our brand.”
Written content
Another form of promotion is written content, such as blog posts, which can be promoted throughout all social media platforms – and if you're clever, you can use and re-use content again and again, eg a post about combatting a skincare issue can be updated and repromoted time and again.
Marsha Abrahams of Beauty Boost Solutions Ltd explains why written content is so valuable: “When it comes to social media EVERYTHING is about content. The best way to get more engagement is to write
original content that people are interested in reading (this is basically what a blog is).
Try to think of topics that are related to what you promote; for instance, we distribute skincare to beauty salons, so our Business Development Manager Clare O'Hanlon writes pieces on key skincare ingredients, skin concerns and treatments, while I write more business-focused pieces, like the important of marketing plans, planning a salon event and the relevance of staff training.
“Once you have written your piece getting it out there is the social media part. If possible share it everywhere you can – Facebook, Instagram, Twitter (consider tweeting in the relevant Twitter forums – for beauty it's the Irish Beauty Hour), the more places you can share it the more people will hear about it the more traffic goes to your website.”
Making the internet your friend can really give your business an inexpensive and worthwhile boost. The important thing is to do your
research, keep your brand's identity in mind at all times and always stick to content that adheres strongly to your identity – so if it's a serious skincare business, make sure your social media content establishes you as a voice of authority in all matters skincare, or if you're a young and fashion-forward salon or makeup artist, make your content visually arresting and attractive to the type of clientele you're want. It's all in your hands.
