This month’s #10Things is guest written by Pamela Heal, SFIEC’s educator and social media expert. Here are her #10Things that can build your social media brand.
1. Choose your look.
You’re a designer of your online space in the same way that you designed your spa. Do a little homework on the accounts you love the most. Notice how their photos seem to use consistent imagery, color palettes and sequences.
2. Timing is everything.
For the most traffic and engagement, share your new and improved content when everyone is on their phone: wake up time, lunch time and right before bed. Showing up to the party when everyone has left won’t make you any new friends.
3. Caption consistently.
Make is easy, sweet and cute—just like your last Brazilian, right?
4. Tag, you’re it!
Tagging the companies and brands we work with closely is today’s answer to cross-promotion. Make mentions on Twitter and Instagram. A little @ sign goes a long way.
5. Hashtag with a purpose.
Using #skincare is great, but if you live in Miami, someone from Milwaukee to Milan could see that post faster than potentia clients in your area. Using #miamiskincare exposes you to skin enthusiasts in your area, not in another hemisphere.
6. Plan your posts.
Business seems so overwhelming without a calendar, right? Apps like Hootsuite and IFTT make planning your posts and sharing them throughout multiple platforms a walk in the park.
7. It’s a numbers game.
Looking to increase your followers? Launch promotions that encourage visitors to enter and win free products or services by tagging your accounts. You’ll gain followers and exposure.
8. Your vibe attracts your tribe.
Sharing your company culture will attract clients looking to invest in a place with people like them. Be the spa you’d want to follow, and so will they.
9. Geotag ingeniously.
Where does social media guru Natural Light Natasha go to brunch—that new place in town where matcha tea vegan lattes in jars are placed delicately next to repurposed wine bottle centerpieces? Your photos can be geotagged there too, right next to Natasha’s.
10. Stay up to date.
Understand that #theinternetisundefeated and always changing. Before you know it, you’ve become your own unique brand with no celebrities needed.
Pamela Heal works as a cosmetology and social media learning leader at San Francisco Institute of Esthetics and Cosmetology. With seven years of salon, spa and social media experience, Heal now prefers “social media learner” over “guru,” as the Internet is always changing, and we are always growing. @thenpamelahappened
Founder and owner of the San Francisco Institute of Esthetics and Cosmetology since 2002, Deedee Crossett is an industry pioneer for raising the bar of undergraduate education for cosmetologists and estheticians. She can be reached at www.facebook.com/deedee.crossett and Twitter @DeedeeCrossett #10things.
