Adeline Er With over 9 million monthly active users on Instagram in Australia* alone, it is no surprise that the way that consumers are shopping for beauty treatments is changing drastically. By Mackayla Paul**.
While you may feel like you have a never ending to-do list as the owner of a spa or clinic, the power of Instagram marketing simply can’t be ignored.
If you are trying to increase walk-in clients, over the phone bookings, or simply would like some more enquiry on the collection of retail products that you stock, Instagram can help you to do just that.
Today, we’ll be diving into all of the information you need to know in order to create a profitable and powerful presence on Instagram for your business.
How Instagram is Changing the Way Clients Choose Their Skin Clinic
WHERE BEAUTY BUSINESSES GO WRONG ON INSTAGRAM
Whilst there is certainly a lot of great opportunity for your spa and clinic to flourish on Instagram, there are many businesses that simply can’t get it to work for them.
DO YOU KNOW WHY THIS IS?
Whilst there are many common Instagram marketing mistakes that could be made, usually there is an overarching issue – a misunderstanding of the proper usage of social media as a business.
Social Media is its essence, is about building relationships and ‘socializing’ with your existing and potential clients.
What many businesses fail to do when they begin utilising social media marketing is to acknowledge this.
The content that you share on Instagram, from the image to the caption, should tell a story and encourage conversation between you and your followers.
Your Instagram account is your digital shop front – if you are trying to increase walk-in clients and new customer enquiries through Instagram, you must make sure that your Instagram is portraying the message that your carefully chosen décor, music, and scent does in the foyer of your spa.
WHAT CONTENT SHOULD YOU SHARE TO INSTAGRAM?
Through working with a range of spas, clinics, and professional skincare brands, what I have discovered is that content featuring the staff or owner perform highly on Instagram.
As long as the image is high resolution and taken in a flattering light, you are likely to see comments flooding in from regular clients and likes galore.
WHY IS THAT?
The main reason being that you and your staff are the faces of your business. Your customers recognize you, they love you, and they feel more connected to you and like the conversation on Instagram is more personal when you share images of this nature.
By sharing a mix of content such as photos of your staff, educational videos, and beautiful inspirational images, all whilst ensuring they follow your brand colours and brand message…. You’ll win on Instagram.
How is Instagram Changing Consumer Behavior?
According to the Australian Sensis Report of 2017, social media as a means of research into products and services reached 16%.
Research into the cosmetics, beauty, and fragrances space in particular is now making up 21% of that research behaviour.
The evidence is there – new potential clients are researching procedures and potential providers of services through Instagram and other social media platforms.
On Instagram, the main methods of researching brands would be:
- Searching the profile directly of your spa or clinic
- Searching Hashtags of a particular procedure (i.e. #LashLift)
- Searching Hashtags of a location (i.e. #SydneyBeauty)
- Finding you in the explore tab
- Seeing you mentioned by an influencer they follow
- Finding you in the explore tab in your local Instagram story
It is imperative to the success of your Instagram Marketing efforts for your spa or clinic that you understand how consumers are searching for beauty services, so that you can tailor your content strategy in order to be found.
Overall, Instagram presents an exciting opportunity to beauty businesses who make the time to utilize the Social Media platform.
In an industry where consumers are shopping around to find the best deal or the best experience, you should be taking advantage of every opportunity to communicate to the heart of your ideal client.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
** Mackayla Paul is Australia’s leading Instagram marketing expert, with her business Social Stylings recently being named one of the Top 50 Instagram Marketing blogs in the world.
