If you are ready to take the digital world by storm and make more money from your passion for hair, these tips will teach you everything you need to know about how to become a hair influencer as a professional hairstylist.
As a hairstylist, hair is your job and your passion. When you love what you do, you want to share it with the world. So you head to social media to showcase your work, tips, and style. Social media is an excellent marketing tool for your salon and a way for you to increase your income even more by turning your passion for your day job into its side hustle. You already know the ins and outs of the hair industry, so why not try to become a hair influencer?
Influencer marketing is hot right now. You scroll through TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram, and it may feel like everyone is an influencer. It may seem easy, but to succeed in this digital space, takes a lot of time, work, and consistency. You are already a hair guru; now it’s time to let the digital world know just how much you have to offer.
From Hairstylist to Beauty and Hair Influencer
We have talked to some of the top hairstylist influencers in the business, and they have shared their tips to help you grow your hair influencer side hustle.
It’s All About the Branding
You can’t scroll through any social media platforms without coming across hair influencers who already have amazing clout online. It may seem that it is too late to enter the influencer game, and you shouldn’t even try, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. You see, none of those hair influencers have your unique approach to style or your personality. People in the hair business love following more people to inspire them and make them feel good. There has never been a better time than now to become a hair influencer.
Since there are so many influencers, you must create a brand that sets you apart from everyone else. Find a niche within the hair industry and build your brand around that one special thing that you do best.
While you may think that you should try to be a jack of all trades and talk about everything within the hair industry, what will set you apart and help you grow is picking a niche within the industry. For example, you could be a natural hair influencer, a color specialist influencer, or you could even specialize in helping other hairstylists grow their hair businesses. You could even specialize in specific styles and techniques, such as knotless braids, locks, or different types of mullets (yes, they are very much back on trend). Focusing on a specific niche will set your content apart from the crowd and give you plenty of room to grow your social media presence.
You don’t have to figure it all out right away. Getting started and then figuring out your niche as you go is okay! If you aren’t sure what you want your specific niche to be, then start by asking yourself these questions:
- What makes me and my opinion unique?
- What kind of content are you most passionate about sharing?
- What are you already known for in your hair business?
- What kinds of stories do you tell while working that always make your customers laugh?
- What is my target audience interested in?
- What do I want my brand to represent?
When you can answer these questions, you will be well on your way becoming a skilled hair influencer.
Storytelling is Everything
What sets high-earning influencers apart from those who fail is their storytelling skills. You have to tell an engaging story and draw your audience in.
As a hairstylist already, you have a leg up in this area. Your day-to-day involves talking to your clients while they are in your chair. All you need to do is translate that over to video, and you have a winning strategy.
People will follow you because they are interested in your words. You can keep them engaged and entertained and even teach them something. So ramp up your storytelling skills, and everything else will fall into place.
One fantastic tool to build your storytelling to an online audience is to imagine you are talking to a customer in your chair. When you imagine you are speaking directly to a customer you like instead of a tripod ring light with a phone camera, often your natural charisma and storytelling ability will kick into full effect.
Create Value for Your Audience
Once you have a handle on storytelling, you need to focus those stories on creating value for your target audience. Are you there to entertain them? Are you focused on educating them? Either way, you must ensure your audience gets something of perceived value from following you.
For example, if you are a hairstylist who wants to help teach other hairstylists how to make more money, then you want to give good actionable tips that they can use to see a difference in their business. You can even tell them about what hairstylist booking app and tools you use to run your salon.
When your audience gets value from your content, your platform will continue to grow along with your income.
Consistency is Key
While we know you’ve heard this one before, we just have to say it. The key to growth as a hair influencer is to create consistent content.
This doesn’t mean you need to post on TikTok every day. It means you need to create a content schedule and stick to it. Know your bandwidth and then create a schedule that works for you. This may be 3 TikTok videos a week on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, or it could be a single YouTube video every week.
With consistency, your audience will know exactly what to expect from you. The algorithm of your preferred social platform will also be happy with you because they love consistent content.
Whatever it looks like to you, just ensure you stay consistent.
Grow Through Networking
No person is an island. While it is possible to grow as a hair influencer all on your own, it is much easier to do when you connect and network with other hair professionals.
We recommend reaching out to other people within your niche and networking with them. You can do this through Facebook groups, following other influencers on Instagram and commenting on their content, connecting on TikTok, or any number of ways that you can make meaningful online connections with other creators.
Remember, you are building a community here, so make sure you add value anytime you comment on someone else’s posts and aren’t just trying to self-promote.
Share What You Love
As a hairstylist, you already have a pretty good handle on what you love and what works for you and your current clients. So as an influencer, you can share what works for you! Authenticity truly shines through when you are talking about products that you already love.
Many of these things you already love also probably have affiliate programs where you can make a commission any time someone purchases through your link. This is an excellent way to share what you love and make a little extra income!
For example, at PocketSuite, we have an affiliate program where all of our pros can make extra money any time someone signs up through their unique link. So if you are a hairstylist already using and loving the PocketSuite hairstylist booking app, you can talk about it in your content, help other stylists learn effective ways to run their businesses, and make extra money for yourself all at the same time.
So if you are ready to make the leap and become a hair influencer, we say go for it. You already have all the skills and knowledge you need to be successful, and here at PocketSuite, we support all of our hair influencer pros through social promotion, an affiliate program, and helpful tips to grow your business.
