Are you a solopreneur Esthetician or an Esthetics business? Then you’ve probably noticed (in between ordering more facial scrubs and checking your inventory of lancets) that Estheticians are killing it on Instagram. Why do you think that is? In this article, we’ll cover the absolute need-to-know tips for crushing it on Instagram with your Esthetics business.
But before we dive into that, the first thing you need to realize is…
Instagram is basically the modern-day landing page.
When clients look up your business, they’re officially more likely to check out your Instagram page than your website.
“Why is this strange phenomenon happening?” you might ask, bewildered.
The answer is something you might not expect and it’s called… honest signals.
HONEST SIGNALS
Honest signals refers to the concept that there are certain things you can fake in order to convey something and other things you can’t fake.
A website is something you can fake. Nowadays, with the advent of easily-accessible and idiot-proof website builders like Wix, Weebly, and Squarespace, it’s easier than ever to make your business come across divinely professional with little-to-no coding knowledge.
Just slap together a website in 10 minutes using a pre-built template and you’re good to go!
A business Instagram page, on the other hand, although containing less overall info than a website is actually more of an honest signal because of one thing: the pictures.
Most of us grew up with the web, so we’re accustomed to fabricated images (i.e. stock pictures) and can easily discern between them and “real” pictures.
On the other hand, creating a website professionally and easily at a low cost is now a widespread commodity, making it more difficult for us to determine a business’ professionalism just going by their website alone.
10 years ago, if the business had a nice website, you were able to trust that business with a high degree of certainty. It was an “honest signal” because 10 years ago websites were actually arduous, required custom development work, and super expensive to build, conferring onto their owners a true honest signal of value and trust.
This is what the client thinks:
“Well, if they can afford a website like that, or invested that much into it, they must be a legit company.”
Nowadays, just because you have a nice website, doesn’t mean your business will be the right fit for a client.
As of this writing, with that same website, the client thinks:
“The company probably just used a template from Godaddy website builder or Wix to throw it together in a few minutes.”
Instagram, on the other hand, features prominently the photos that you choose to display.
And unlike a cookie cutter website template, it’s hard to fake good photos (given what we discussed before regarding how folks typically have an eye for spotting fake vs real photos).
So now that we’ve exposed the tricky way Instagram forces business owners to put more of the ‘realness’ of their business on display, instead of hiding in front of a well-crafted template, here is the real question:
How do we as business owners take advantage of this format instead of letting it scare us into not posting anything? (Which might be the worst thing of all – to the modern-day world of service business clients, you basically don’t exist if you don’t post online)
There are three things I’d like to discuss:
1. Useful, relevant content (for *your customers*)
2. Calls-to-action (you have to ask your customers to *buy*)
3. Using the bio link wisely (you only get one)
The first of which is useful, relevant content.
USEFUL, RELEVANT CONTENT FOR YOUR CUSTOMERS
The first mistake I see Instagram business profiles make is oversell (too many calls to action) without any actual substance (useful content).
The issue with this is that your content isn’t engaging, and doesn’t draw folks in.
So your Instagram page looks like a wall of tacky neon and multi-colored flyers for your business. In fact, this may be the majority of the content you post anyway.
Think about what would be useful for your customers to know.
One great example is to post ways that they can actually avoid using an Esthetician and do it themselves.
For example, post content about how clients can take care of their own faces so they don’t need to get a facial or extractions.
Believe it or not, this actually makes them want to come see you because it does the following…
1. Builds trust – in this example, you or your business is the authority on the topic of skin care
2. Provides actual value – reciprocity is a strong human urge. You can delightfully encourage folks to give back by using your service to thank you for the value you’ve given them, expecting nothing in return!
More examples of useful, relevant content for Estheticians:
- How to set up your morning skin care routine
- How to keep your skin young with [Insert Product Here]
- How to prepare for your first extraction or facial
- What to do after you have a facial so you don’t ruin your perfect skin
- When to use mud versus milk versus oatmeal versus algae
- Why massaging your skin can be game changing
- How to deal with the sun…is SPF1,000,000 sunscreen high enough
- Why using too many products on your skin can be very dangerous
- How vitamins and water are literally all you need
So now we’ve talked about Instagram business profiles that have lots of substance and value added content (and as a result growing follower base and great engagement), we’re going to take it to the other extreme:
An Esthetics business owner who posts only great content, but never asks for the sale.
CALLS TO ACTION
You’ve got to ask for the sale!
Consider this, studies show: 90% of customers won’t buy unless you ask.
With a figure like that, and all of these possible customers browsing your Instagram, you’d be crazy not to at least ask occasionally for the sale!
But what’s the best way to do that?
Several ways:
- You can use the comments section in each of your pictures to refer folks to your bio link, and have a link to your online store or your PocketSuite booking widget there.
- Then there’s the bio link, which some folks will directly access without looking at the comments or your pictures.
- Instagram Stories are a great place to put a call to action (it can literally be a video of you asking folks to swipe up to claim their offer) but your account needs at least 10,000 followers to enable it, so if you have less you’ll need to direct people in your Stories to access the offer by tapping the link in your bio
- Finally, we have the description, where you should be placing an offer so irresistible that your potential customers are just aching to tap that bio link! As an Esthetician, try a free facial with purchase of a recurring membership.
At last, we arrive at the best practice tip, which is how to make best use of the sole link in your bio.
USE YOUR BIO LINK WISELY
…because you only get one!
Instagram’s single-bio-link “feature” constraints mean you can only have 1 link in your bio.
So how do you take full advantage of this?
The best advice I can give you is simple and to the point – paste PocketSuite’s booking widget in there so clients can book your services online, right from their phone or computer.
Combine this with an amazing offer in your description and you’ve got a recipe for a bunch of new bookings coming in out of the blue from your Instagram!
Trust me, you’re going to wonder how you ever lived without it.
Aside from that, with a service like Linktr.ee you can add a whole bunch more!
I hope these 3 tips have given you enough actionable content so that you can market your Esthetics business or yourself as an Esthetician solo-preneur on Instagram effectively.
If you haven’t checked out PocketSuite’s booking widget yet, try the 30-day free trial to test drive it!
Once you’re signed up, paste it into your Instagram and let me know how many extra online bookings you get!
Like this article? You’ll love our guide on how to generate leads for service businesses in 2022, and of course our Frustrations with Square article!
