POST REGULARLY from SMSMAN's blog

SOCIAL MEDIA TIPS FOR EYELASH EXTENSION ARTISTS

So you’re thinking about starting an Instagram account for your lash business, huh? According to Hootsuite, 200 million Instagram users visit at least one business profile a day. *Hint hint* that means for a visual business like lashing, IG can be a goldmine of customer leads to help you grow your lash extension clientele. In order to use the platform for your benefit, you’ve got to start from scratch and create your own business account. Here are our five fav tips to consider when building your account for your lash business.

1 | SETUP YOUR LASH EXTENSION ACCOUNT AS A BUSINESS PROFILE

First things first, make sure you start your account the right way! A business account on Instagram will give you access to metrics that you won’t be able to get with a normal account. You’ll have the ability to view insights about how your followers are interacting with your eyelash extension business - AKA you can see if they’re going through your Instagram account to check out your website, book with you, etc. With a biz account, you can also easily add a phone number, email address, location address, website, and business info to your profile for your lash extension clients (or potential clients) to easily make contact. You can even directly link your booking website. 

If you want to get super specific, you can even check out what percentage of your followers are male or female, your followers’ ages, how many people followed or unfollowed you that day, and more. With these insights, you’ll have specific knowledge to customize your content more for your audience and turn followers into new lash + brow clients. 

2 | USE ALL 30 HASHTAGS + MAKE THEM SPECIFIC TO EYELASH EXTENSIONS 

You can think of hashtags as strategically playing the lottery - you’re allowed thirty hashtags per post and each one gives you the opportunity for someone new to find your lash extension business. Using hashtags is an easy way for people to find your business and see your work, which will help you generate more leads. Try to find + use hashtags that have a decent amount of posts under them, but not so many that the tag is oversaturated with posts to the point where your photos get buried. 

For example, the hashtag “#EyelashExtensions” has over eyelash extensions 15 million posts. Your picture will most likely be quickly buried in the other content. Instead, try a location-specific hashtag such as “#LashExtensionsDallas” that only has 10,000 posts - you’ll’ be way more likely to find customers in your area and your post won’t be buried as easily.

3 | ENGAGE WITH OTHER LASH EXTENSION ARTISTS

Starting from zero followers can be daunting (we’ve all been there, babe) but thankfully, the eyelash extension network is a supportive business community. Use hashtags to find + comment on the posts of other lash artists, follow them, and continue to like pictures of their work. Most people will be really grateful to have some more love on their page and will return the kindness by engaging with your content.

Lash brands would love to talk to you as well! At Lash Affair, we’re all about spreading the lash love on social - our team gets excited to read comments and messages back and forth with artists. We really love when we’re tagged in photos of your work with our lash extensions and products. As a small courtesy, try to steer clear of tagging brands whose products you didn’t use. 

4 | DON’T BE SHY, GET SOCIAL WITH YOUR LASH EXTENSION CLIENTS

As you start to grow your following and post more of your killer sets of lash extensions, your followers will engage more on your business page. They’ll leave comments, slide in your DMs, and respond to your stories. Be sure you’re taking a little time out of your day to show them some love back! Responding to messages and comments will make your followers feel heard and will help build a good, lasting relationship with them that will only benefit you in the future. Be sure to show genuine interest in your followers and start a conversation about their possible lash needs. Increased engagement on your page will also increase your visibility on the platform AKA more engagement means IG’s algorithm will push your content to be seen by more people. 

5 | POST REGULARLY (LASH BEFORE + AFTERS, TIPS, WHATEVA) 

This one may seem like a no brainer, but posting regularly will encourage your lash extension business account’s growth. People want to follow an active IG and stay up to date on your work, policies, and news. This is a great opportunity to diversify your posts as well. Your page is a place to showcase your work as well as your business - you can post before and afters of your lash + brow services, lash extension aftercare products, educational graphics, information about your business, etc.

Be sure to utilize every type of post on Instagram. Story highlights are a great place to put your menu, policies, and information about yourself, employees, or salon. You should also use IG’s video sharing options called “Reels,” as well as their long video sharing called “IGTV.” You can post videos to showcase lashes, studio tours, or Q&As. Use those insights we talked about to reach bigger audiences by giving them content they genuinely enjoy!

Additionally, having a posting schedule that you stick to every week will hold you accountable for your activity on Instagram. Deciding what days and times you’ll post will make the process of remembering to post less stressful - you can even find the best times and days to post in your insights tab. P.S. You can even download scheduling apps for free that will help you plan ahead and post for you!