When people decide if they want to visit your spa, they will use social media for social proof to help decide if you are the right spa for them. If you don't have a strong social media presence, you may lose trust and credibility with potential customers. Discover our best marketing tips for a strong and engaging social media presence that will keep your spa in mind and encourage repeat appointments.
How to connect with customers through social media
1. Reply and engage with any comments
Social media is one of the few digital ways your business has two-way communication with customers that gives you the ability to get feedback, monitor sentiment, and build a relatable brand personality. Part of building this personal relationship is replying to as many comments and direct messages as possible. Fast response times and friendly, helpful delivery are a surefire way to attract and retain new customers.
Authenticity and transparency are the key to building trust and social proof. You engage on a public platform so that others will stumble upon your conversations when they visit your account. If your spa has multiple employees who manage their social media accounts, you may want to create a social media engagement document. This document describes best practices for answering all types of questions so that your voice sounds consistent and professional on all platforms. This document should cover the correct tone, brand voice, and language you plan to use, as well as answer templates for the most frequently asked questions. You may also want to respond optimally to sensitive issues (such as politics, religion, or race) or to customer concerns such as allergic reactions to certain spa treatments or skin care products.
Other topics that may require replies in templates include:
- Product advice / recommendation requests
- Concerns about skin reactions
- Return and Exchange Policy
2. Post at the right time
Which social media platform are your customers most active on? When do you get involved the most? When you can answer these questions, you can maximize your potential for post engagement and reach. By doing some trial and error and analyzing your customers' behavior using data, you can determine your ideal publication times. But guesswork should at some point be replaced by analytical tools to get precise insights into your customers' social media behavior. Social media engagement platforms like Sprout Social or Later are very useful for planning content and recommending the best time to post. Some social platforms like Instagram's business account already have built-in analytics tools.
3. Livestream in questions and answers
As more people become familiar with video calling and working online, live streaming on Instagram or Facebook becomes an attractive option. You can create a Q&A livestream and open the room for questions so you can stay connected with your customers remotely. Watching a live video in your spa room creates a stronger sense of connection as your prospects get a better feel for the spa and give you the freedom to say and do anything. Many people have questions for estheticians and would like to take this opportunity to provide feedback or ask them questions in a low pressure environment. When answering audience questions, you can use the question format to talk about the services and treatments you offer, making the livestream a subtle marketing tool.
4. Re-share high quality content
As you interact with your audience and niche, you are likely to stumble upon quality content that your audience would love too. Consider republishing content when it visually integrates with your feed. Make sure what you repost isn't intrusive or completely different from your branding image. Before reposting, contact the original creator to request their reposting permission and offer them credit. Once you have permission, you should create an original signature to update the content and mark the original creator.
5. Use unique content
Use content that highlights what makes your spa unique and why people come to your spa. As you brainstorm content ideas, think about the key messages you want to share, such as:
- We have special offers on Tuesday evening
- Our beauticians will be happy to put together a skin care program specifically for your skin type
- We carry products made from organic ingredients
- We know about skin care
- We have trustworthy and highly qualified staff ready to help you
For example, if you decide to create posts to showcase your staff's knowledge of skin care, create educational posts explaining the different skin types or suggesting skin care products. If you want to highlight your employees' skills, you can post a photo of their work with a client with a before and after photo showing results or testimonials from previous clients. This is an excellent option if you or your employees have unique skills or are performing specialized treatments.
Other content ideas are:
- Post a question sticker on your Instagram story as "Ask me anything!" Invitation to answer all burning questions
- Post photos of your favorite skin care products
- Ask your beauticians about their favorite products and tag them in a quote post
- Post a video, Instagram reel, or TikTok video that shows your audience how to perform a skin care routine in the correct order
- Set up a “Tip Tuesday” or regular schedule so your audience knows when to expect a certain type of post. Tip Tuesday could be a day to highlight facts about the skin, knowledge of ingredients, or explain treatments and techniques used in your spa
The possibilities are only limited to your imagination!
Since it can be difficult to always create original content, Eminence Organics creates social media packages especially for our spa partners. They contain sophisticated images as well as sample messaging for various social media platforms. Spa Partners can log in and download from the News page and the Downloadable Images page on the Professional site. We hope this will ease some of the content creators' fatigue!
You can use this list of social media tips to build your online audience. Interested in even more resources? Find out how to become an Eminence Organics Spa partner and the benefits we offer, including social media packages and more.