Setting up social media accounts for salons and spas
Social media is important to all new businesses. You may not actively use all the social media accounts, but you should still “claim” them. If a potential client is looking for your business, they will be able to find your on THEIR preferred social media account to contact you. Your potential clients don’t want to see pictures of your kids in the bathtub so it’s best to keep it separate from your business account.
Organizing everything can be confusing and overwhelming. If you’re not sure where to start, use this guide to keep you organized.
What you will need to start:
Business Name – Register your business with the government before starting this. It is essential. You need to know if you legally have the right to use your business name! Google “How to register my business in (insert country, state, city)”
Logo– Your logo should reflect your brand and your business. You can make on yourself on Canva (FREE and they have templates), or you can purchase a premade one from Creative Market.
Contact information-Choose the best way for potential clients to get a hold of you. Usually, phone number and email are fine.
Website – Setting up your website is easy. Check out the company, which does it the best ( It doesn’t cost that much.) Bluchic
Your introduction paragraph- This is the short blurb that usually is posted right under your name in your profile. Neil Patel has an excellent article on how to create a good one.
State the platform you will be using the most– If you plan on using mostly Instagram or any other platform, put a statement saying that. For example. ” If you would like to see more of my work, the platform I am most frequently on is (insert platform). Please head over there and follow me.”
A note about DMS (direct messages) and notifications– I turn off all direct messaging on social media accounts. I have found that that keeping track of dozens of Dm’s on multiple platforms gets confusing. I have even put “No DM’s please” In my profile statement so clients will not be mad if I miss one. I also have notifications turned off on all the profiles that I don’t use regularly.
List of Services Provided– Get a list of services that you will provide. Some online platforms will give you the option to add those to your profile.
Online booking information– These days in the spa industry, online booking is an absolute must-have. Once you have this setup, you will find that 90% of your clients will book online. Clients like the ease of booking 24 hours a day.
Sample Pictures– Book a mini photoshoot with a local photographer. A good headshot is essential to have. It’s your visual introduction to your clients. Take a few pictures of your workspace and outside of your building. Clients like to know what they are walking into. Photos of yourself doing services or some of the work you have done are also good to have.
Staying Organized
Open a word or note document to get organized. It will come in handy when it comes to updating your information and staying organized.
If you have all these things ready then you won’t have to keep repeating the same things over and over again and can use the cut and paste function.
Claiming your social media profiles
•Head over to the platform you want to use.
•Always choose to set up a business profile if possible.
•Claim the name of your business. ( Your handle) If that profile (Handle) name is unavailable, try adding your city to the end of it, for example. If your business name is “Classy Nails” and is already in use, try “Classy Nails Seattle” If this is the case and you legally own the name, and it is registered with the government, do a little digging. If the person is operating a business under your business name, you may have the right to ask them to stop using it. Go back to the government website you registered the name at and to get more information on how to proceed if someone is using your registered business name.
It may also be that the business is no longer operating. You may be able to contact the social media platform and ask if you can have the name.
If the handle is still is not available, try adding your name to the end it. “Classy Nails by Ang.”
Setting up your profiles the easy way
•Step one
Set up your first profile
For example:
Choose Facebook for business
Fill in all of the blanks, add any relevant pictures and save it.
•Step two
Copy the Handle name and paste it into your word document.
•Step 3
Copy the login URL at the top of the page (You may choose to “keep signed in” but you may need the login information at another point in time) and paste it into your document.
•Step 4
Copy the URL of the actual profile and paste it to your document.
•Step 5
Optional – Paste your password to this profile into this document. This is not safe, so I recommend using a good old piece of paper for this step.
•Step 6
Bookmark the page in your bookmark bar. Click on the star icon in the top right of the browser window. Give the bookmark a name, and select a location where you would like the bookmark saved. It makes it easier to log into your profiles quickly.
•Step 7
Repeat this process for every profile you will set up.
•Step 8
Save the document on your computer.
•Step 9
Add all of the links to your social media profiles to your website.
•Step 10
Optional-Some profiles have the option of letting you list all the social media accounts you have. Just use the word document to copy the URL of your profile handle and paste it into the necessary boxes.
•Step 11
Optional- Connect accounts. Some accounts allow you to connect together. So when you post on one, it posts on others. This can be a bit confusing though.
You can do this 2 ways:
Manually- Read this blog post.
Or the easy way. Get a scheduling platform – I love Tailwind
List of social profiles
There are hundreds of social media accounts out there and what you sign up for is up to you. Sign up for the big 4 (Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter) Try each of them out to find the best fit for you. You should notice after a month that some of your potential customers naturally connect better with you on some platforms than others. The platform you get the best engagement on should be the one you focus on the most.
(You don’t have to set all of them up)
The following are not social media profiles but they are important to keep up to date.
Also check out other free business listings websites like Yellow pages, 411 sets. If you type “business listings + your city” a bunch should come up.
Once you claim your social media accounts and other free business listings, potential clients should have no trouble finding you. Make sure that you check them every few months to make sure they are up to date. Some of the programs pull the information from algorithms and the information can be incorrect.
So what do I post?
It can be frustrating to come up with perfect social media posts all the time. One of my best-kept secrets is the content calendar and social media images that I purchased from Ange Gensler. To read a more in-depth post on what it is, click HERE.