Love it or hate it, marketing is crucial for your business. Over the years, marketing has increasingly become an online game and made social media the most accessible marketing tool as a small business owner. No matter which platforms you are using, social media marketing is an ongoing conversation - an opportunity to tell your story and help potential customers get to know you, while also engaging with your current and future customers to get them excited for their salon experience even before sitting in your chair. In May, we hosted a panel discussion with 5 of our amazing Faces of Sola who are also social media rockstars. Our panel was moderated by Sola’s Chief Marketing Officer, Jennie Wolff (@jenniethewolff), who was joined by panelists Morgan Abernathy (@colored.in.chaos), Ashley Sciulli (@ashleyhairdesigns), Jodi Snowden (@jodisnowden), Cuyler Engram (@cuylerdidit), and Ashely Lantz (@ashleylantzhair). From creating viral posts and growing their following exponentially, to staying connected with their clientele, these Faces of Sola have leaned in and learned how to strategically use social media to get more clients in their chair (and more money in their pockets). And now we're sharing their best-kept secrets with you! Read on to find out how to make the most of social media to grow your salon business. 1. Be Where Your Clients Are With all the different social media platforms out there, it can be hard to know exactly where your clients (and potential clients) hang out online. Think about their demographic. What does that say about their social media habits? For example, older clients may prefer Facebook while millennials more often use Instagram. “I just paid a lot of attention to where I was getting the most engagement and what kind of engagement it was. It just depends on the time and what’s going on with each platform.” - Ashley Lantz 2. Expand Your Reach With Instagram Stories Want to get your amazing works of art seen by thousands of potential new clients? Take advantage of Instagram Stories! You can either post a picture of your clients' beautiful after shots (just make sure you tag them so they can share!) or ask them to post a selfie and tag you in it. Trust us, they will want to show off their new ‘do or set of lashes just as much as you want to get your work seen by new clients. “Before and after pictures are always really successful, and I also love telling my clients to post selfies on their Instagram Stories so I get my tag on there, so people can click on it directly and it will take them to my page.” - Ashley Sciulli 3. Don’t Overlook Other Platforms When discussing social media, Instagram and Facebook often come to mind first. However, platforms like Yelp, NextDoor and Google My Business are also great ways to attract new clients through reviews. Ashley Lantz’s clients often tag her in the NextDoor app when people are asking for hairstylist recommendations, and she has gained a handful of new clients through that platform. “Don’t put all your time and energy into one spot. I know Instagram is really hot right now, and TikTok is really big too, but you just never know. Sprinkle yourself all over everywhere - you don’t know if that other platform will bring in your dream client!” - Jodi Snowden 4. Leverage Technology Make things more efficient and streamline your communication with technology like SolaGenius! From text message and email marketing and 24/7 online booking, there are so many reasons why SolaGenius is an absolute game-changer for marketing your biz to new and existing clients. “I have used the emailer in SolaGenius a lot lately because you reach everyone and it goes straight to their inbox, so it’s an easy way to get a quick response… Maybe it’s to fill a last-minute cancellation, or maybe I have a special going on or I’m doing gift cards. With everything going on with the pandemic, reaching my clients [via the email feature] proved to be really helpful and my clients really liked how personal I got with the emails.” - Ashley Lantz 5. Get Creative With Captions More often than not, the caption is the hardest part about showing off your awesome work. You don’t have to do all of the hard work yourself! Utilize the internet for quotes and catchy captions, and if you’re still feeling stumped, use emojis! “I’ll either be with a client or in my classes or with a friend and I’ll ask them ‘When you look at this, just give me a random word -- the first word that comes to your mind’. Let’s say the word is ‘sunset’, I’ll go on google and type in that word and then follow it with either ‘book quotes’ or ‘good reads’ and then it’ll pull up all of these different quotes that I then use as part of the caption.” - Morgan Abernathy “Google is our best friend. I also try to end with a question to get people engaging with your content as well. It will boost you up in the algorithms if people are e