Mobile beauty therapists can’t always centre their brand around a salon – they are the salon! Instead, it’s essential to build your brand on social media to bring in more clients, drive loyalty and create a buzz around who you are and what you do. But, as a beauty therapist who is perhaps new to the world of social media, how do you use these tools to your best advantage?

Read on to discover our 14 social media tips for mobile beauty therapists that will have your brand buzzing in no time.

1. Be organised

Social media is a hungry beast and as a self-employed mobile beauty therapist it may be hard to feed it. The trick is to be organised. Work out how often you want to post and use scheduling tools to help you. Don’t worry too much about the technicalities, but do aim to be consistent with your approach.

2. Show off your work

It’s all about looks when it comes to your work as a mobile beauty therapist. From gorgeous lashes to wonderfully styled hair, your best advertisement is showcasing your work – social media is perfect for this, especially image heavy platforms such as Instagram. So don’t be bashful, and show off what you do!

3. Learn to take decent photos

Showing off your work relies on you taking eye-catching professional looking photos. You may be ace at picture perfect nails but if you’re not ace at picture perfect shots then it’s tricky.

Learn how to do macro shots and well-lit photos so you can do your work justice when it goes online. You don’t need a fancy camera – most smartphones nowadays have fantastic cameras, perfect for capturing photos for social media.

4. Think local

As a mobile beauty therapist, you’ll have a territory within which you’re able to travel. Therefore, you can target a local audience. Share your work on relevant local groups and consider using paid social media ads to target your local town (more on this below). Avoid wasting effort and expense on targeting areas outside those which you’re able to reach with ease. 

5. Be generous with your knowledge

You need to stand out from all other mobile beauty therapists by demonstrating that you are a cut above the rest. The way to do that is to be an authority in the industry. Videos sharing ‘how tos…’ won’t give away your trade secrets, but they will position you as the best of the best. No one can just go out and copy you and achieve the same results, so this can demonstrate that you’re extremely capable and the mobile beauty therapist to choose.

6. Sing your praises!

Hopefully in time you’ll get some wonderful reviews rolling in, but you need to put in the legwork to get those initial reviews which demonstrate how amazing you are. If you enter yourself for local beauty awards and come out with a prize, shout about it! Got a big high profile gig? As long as the client approves, tell the world! 

7. Don’t just post, connect

It’s not enough to pop a post on a social media platform and then just leave it. It’ll likely fall flat. When followers comment, make sure you respond. Engage with connections and ask them questions. Use polls, run competitions and encourage communication with you and amongst your audience. 

8. Utilise Reels on Instagram

We’re all aware of the shift from photos to videos on Instagram. While this may not be welcome news to everyone, it’s essential that you make use of Reels. They are a fantastic way of increasing your reach without needing a huge number of followers. 

Have fun with trying transitions to demonstrate before or afters, or keep it simple by positing a video of your amazing work. Another successful format is to film the process of your work – for example, doing nail art or creating a gorgeous hair style. Just make sure that you get the client’s permission and perhaps only ask your most loyal clients.

9. Go live

Live video updates are enticing and are one of the fastest growing strategies on social media. Users lap them up and it’s a speedy way of gaining new interest. It’s also great for showing off what you do in the moment. What this also does is show that you’re ahead of trends and puts a real person behind your brand. 

10. Get help with social

As said, social media can be a hungry beast. It can feel like you’re never doing enough. As a successful mobile beauty therapist, you may not have the time for all the admin behind the scenes. 

Sure, you can do the live reels and the odd off-the-cuff photo, but regular engagement and long term planning? It’s tough. So, if you need to outsource some of your social media activity, do so. Pick someone who will represent your brand and can adopt your tone of voice. 

11. Make it beautiful

Some of the most engaging social media profiles and feeds of mobile beauty therapists that we’ve seen go way beyond basic images. They’ve thought of colour palettes for backgrounds, are consistent with their photography style, and use beautiful fonts and touches across imagery. 

Make your social media visuals as aesthetically attractive as you can to differentiate yourself from the competition. This will become your brand identity and is powerful stuff. Free tools like Canva are great for creating your own brand identity and social media designs.

12. Be irresistible online

You’re probably competing with multiple other mobile beauty therapists in your area, as well as local salons. As a result, you’ll need to keep proving that you are the beauty therapist to choose. Use your social media to push discounts, keep them enticed with competitions, and occasionally share some freebies.

13. Use paid services

The truth is that you’re in a competitive field. As such, you will probably need to go above and beyond to pull in your audience. Try using Facebook and Instagram advertising (“paid social”) to draw the followers in. It can take some trial and error, but it’s a good idea to plough around 20% of your profits back into marketing. 

14. Post those reviews

Word of mouth is everything in the beauty world. When it comes to social media, reviews act as powerful word of mouth. Publish reviews and encourage clients to leave them. Every time someone leaves a positive review, push it out in a separate post.

It can feel uncomfortable to sing your own praises online, but just remember that you’re promoting and marketing your business, which is essential for long-term success.

15. Thank others

Gratitude goes a long way. From sharing insight about any staff you have working for you, to giving a shout out to suppliers, social media is a perfect way to show your thanks. 

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It can feel daunting to start out using social media for your mobile beauty business, but the results are worth it. Go slow, build up your presence, and figure out what works.  Remember that it takes time, so don’t expect anything to take off overnight and be patient with it.

It’s really important once you have the interest to convert that into a sale. Using Secret Spa’s Solo software makes the whole process run more smoothly for both you and the client, as they too can benefit from complete clarity at every point of the booking process. You can download Solo from the App Store for free!

Why not take a look at how you could work in partnership with Secret Spa today?

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