Social media marketing, particularly the unstoppable growth of Instagram, will be one of the hot topics at next month’s Beauty Melbourne as more and more salons make it an important part of their marketing mix.
However if your salon hasn’t found insta-fame yet, do not despair as social media marketing specialist, Heather Porter, will be hosting a seminar at the expo to help you ‘Grow your Beauty Biz using Instagram’ seminar.
Heather says the seminar, will help novices as well as those who are already on the site, to take their online marketing to the next level.
In the meantime Expo, we asked Heather a few questions about ‘gram activity – and its importance for business success today.
Why do you think Instagram is so important to a business marketing strategy?
“Seventy-two percent of users have bought a product they saw on Instagram! Plus, 35 percent of online adults use Instagram. It’s where people go to research products and brands and now that enough of the population is using Instagram, especially younger generations, it is becoming a necessary place to focus marketing efforts. In marketing, you want to determine who your market is and then hang out where they are. If 35 percent of online adults are on Instagram, the chances are that a huge part of your market is, too.”
What do you see as the biggest mistake that businesses are making on Instagram?
“The biggest mistake I see is when a business is not developing a marketing plan and just haphazardly posting things when they can. There is something called the ‘Rule of 7’ in marketing, which means that a prospect needs to “hear” a brand’s message at least seven times before they’ll take action to buy a product or service. Let’s say you want to promote a certain treatment you offer, where you want more bookings. With that in mind, trying to get a cold lead to book a treatment requires different angles of sharing information about that treatment – from testimonials to benefits, to education. Once a business understands this, they can plan the multiple posts required for each item they want to promote.”
In what ways do you want to educate those that attend your Beauty Melbourne session about growing a beauty business using Instagram?
“So many people ask me if they’ve set up their account the right way and what they can do to get more engagement. I will be focussing on that a lot, including really understanding Instagram’s ‘stories’ function and how to use them. Plus, I will briefly talk about how to start advertising on Instagram for those who are interested in reaching more potential clients, fast. Attendees will get loads of examples of what they can post to grow their beauty biz!”
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