REPORT 👉🏻What is new with Instagram for Autumn/Winter 2021? 

Instagram started out as a simple photo sharing app and is now an essential part of your online marketing to grow your salon business. Instagram is just as important as your website and should act as an extension to your website. The best Instagram pages are used as a funnel to channel your followers over to your website.

The pandemic in 2020 forced salons to use their Instagram page to stay connected to their clients and so Instagram saw a massive surge in usage of business profiles.

The hair and beauty businesses that used Instagram the best realised that content creation was more than just a portfolio of your work, your Instagram page is a community space where you can stay in touch with and educate your clients.

2020 also brought the launch of Instagram Shops as well as Instagram Guides, Reels and many new features. All of these features are designed to help you grow your business through Instagram.

Instagram is constantly changing and evolving. What worked for you in 2019 or 2020 may not work for you right now. User behaviour has changed on the app and so your content creation strategy needs to change with it.

Where some things have stayed the same, some of the most ingrained theories have changed. This is not to say what you are hearing on the Instagram grapevine is always true, the great hashtag debate rages on…

How many hashtags should you use? 

In 2019, it was commonplace to use 8 to 10 hashtags on every post. Today, the most common teachings are to use all 30 hashtags on every post. However, the data reports according to Influencer Marketing Hub show a different story. The most engaging posts had 20 hashtags. 

More recent hashtag NEWS... to increase your searchability through hashtags, put your hashtags in the caption and not the first comment!

Grab my free guide to hashtags to learn more 👉🏻 click here

Did you know your bio is searchable?

Think of it like SEO on your website. Put simply, it means that potential clients can search, for example, ‘balayage in Cornwall’ and Instagram will search for the words and offer up suitable accounts that have used those words in their Bio, name and in the captions.

Instagram will then use its relationship algorithm to sort the order in which they are seen by the searcher. This algorithm decides how interested you will be in the account based on your previous interactions, hashtags and accounts in common.

The following will help you get to the top of the list of your potential new client's search:

• Connecting and regularly interacting with businesses in your area.
• Using location-based hashtags and hashtags that relate to your dream client.
• Using words that clients search for, think non-hairdresser terms.

What content is performing the best and where should you be putting your efforts right now?

Video content is king.

In 2019, the most engaging posts were single image posts, whereas now video content is followed by carousel posts and then, in last place, single image posts.

This doesn’t mean stopping making posts and going crazy on Instagram Reels. A good mixture of content types will create the best growth and overall engagement.

Carousel posts where you post multiple pictures perform better than single image posts, which is great news for us hair and beauty professionals, before and after posts encourage the user to swipe to see the before image thus increasing your engagement and time spent on your post.

👉🏻 TOP TIP ditch the side by side images in favour of a before and after carousel

Reels, IGTV, Lives and short form video content are a great way to humanise your page, showing your face and your personality increases the know, like, and trust factor.

You may be tempted to ditch all other video content in favour of Reels - don’t!

The algorithm in 2021 will reward you for using all the features of the app, build IGTV and Instagram Lives into your social media strategy, for maximum growth aim for 3 Reels, 1 IGTV and 1 live every week!

👉🏻I know this sounds like an impossible task, but if you are clever with your content you can get all the content you need from one client. 

Here's how

• Film the whole process from beginning to end
• Cut it up into different segments for Reels. For example, painting, toning, styling
• Create a longer video with a voice over explaining your technique for IGTV
• Go live✌️talk about the process and why you chose the techniques and products you did. Maybe invite your clients to join the live to ask you “anything”  👉🏻Top Tip don’t go into a live cold, plan it and advertise it for a few days before to let your clients know the live is happening.
• I can’t talk to you about video content without mentioning TikTok. All your video content can be repurposed for use on the app. Working smarter not harder! You are better to be there than not. For TikTok training my good friend and fellow HAIRDOTCOM Art Team member, Casey Coleman is hosting his first TikTok for Dummies class in November.  GEt your ticker here 👉🏻 TIKTOK FOR DUMMIES

For More INSTAGRAM TIPS, TRICKS, HACKS, AND ADVICE follow me on Instagram, where I have over 400 posts to help you grow your hair and beauty business using Instagram 🙌🏻