How many times have you found yourself with writers block when it comes to curating captions for your salon or spas social media posts? Have you ever found yourself wondering how exactly hashtags work and if they add any value to your posts? Sometimes, the most seemingly simple tasks cause the most grief, and this can definitely be the case when it comes to caption writing and hashtags. In this blog post, we’re going to give you a breakdown on caption writing and explain how to best use hashtags in 2022!
CAPTION WRITING MADE EASY
We are all guilty of using the basic coffee inspired hair captions (you know, the caramel macchiato bayalage and oat milk latte blondes) but as cute as they are, they are not super effective. Instead of leaning on a simple caption that only explains the post they are seeing, make your caption INSPIRING, EDUCATIONAL, PROMOTIONAL or ENGAGING. Put a little more thought into your captions and think of captions that would make you stop scrolling to read. We’re going to show you examples of what an explanatory, inspiring, educational, and entertaining caption looks like for the photo below.
EXPLANATORY- Pretty in pink 💕 🌸🌺
INSPIRING- This lovely lady is absolutely obsessed with pink. Every time she visits the salon, she has her hair done in a different shade of pink. Her nails, her accessories, her makeup are always beaming with bursts of soft, bright, neon, or pastel pink. The colour pink represents love, kindness, and approachability, and this is the vibe she puts out as soon as she steps in the salon. 🌷
It brightens my day every time she sits in my chair and shares her sunny, vibrant, PINK energy with me. Not only is she an absolute joy to work with but I also have the opportunity to be creative and turn her pink hair dreams into reality. 💕✨
EDUCATIONAL- Here’s how we created this dusty lavender kissed pink 💜💗
First, we pre-lightened with Evo Pro Bottle Blonde Lightener + 20 Vol + Olaplex. Then, we pre-toned with Evo Pro Platinum Shampoo
Next up- application.
Crown Formula: Evo Fabuloso Pro Chocolate + Black, STAINO Ruby + Plum + Clear
Mid-strands- Ends Formula: STAINO Clear + Ruby + Fab Pro Chocolate
We sent her home with a custom mixed Fabuloso Pro Conditioner to maintain this gorgeous tone until next her salon visit !🎉
PROMOTIONAL: Ooo, this pink would look SO good on you! 🤩
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ENGAGING- We absolutely LOVE this pinky purple masterpiece but we can’t put our finger on what it reminds us of … 🤔
Help us out by telling us what this color combo reminds you of in the comments!!
On a side note… if you could do your hair in ANY pastel colour, what would you choose?!💕
Next time you’re writing captions for your salon posts, establish whether you want your post to be inspiring, educational, promotional or engaging. Once you’ve figured out that and the story you want to tell, the rest of the caption should fall into place. When in doubt, take a look at your favourite salon industry accounts and take inspiration from their captions! Most importantly, always remember to be authentic.
For more on authenticity on social media, give this blog post a read!
Hashtags are an interesting concept that have evolved greatly over the years. They are keywords about the content you are posting and allow social media users to easily follow along with the topics they are interested in. At first, the idea was to hashtag every. Single. Thing. And include as many hashtags as you could. Then we were told to not include hashtags in the caption, but in the comments. It changed constantly and it’s hard to know what’s right and wrong and how to come about utilizing them properly for business. Well folks, it’s much simpler than we all think. In 2022, it seems to be most efficient to niche down and choose between 3 and 5 specific hashtags. For salon/spa businesses, you can narrow down your hashtag strategy by keeping the following categories in mind:
Service/Product hashtags. For hairstylists, this may look like a specific hairstyles like #bayalage or #curlyhair and for retail, you may choose to hashtag the type of product like #proteintreatment or #clarifyingshampoo . You may also choose to use the brands of products used in your salon/spa.
Salon/spa industry hashtags. These hashtags are linked to the specific work you do and services you offer. For example: #hairstylist , #lashtechnician , #skincareexpert etc.
Branded hashtags. If you haven’t already, create a branded hashtag for your salon company! This way, IG users can search your hashtag and see every post that’s used it in their caption, creating a library of content linked to your salon!
Community/location hashtags. These are the most important type of hashtag in our opinion as they aim towards social media users in your area, AKA potential clients. Look up the commonly used hashtags in your community and apply it to your industry. For example, if you live in New York City, you may choose #nycsalon #hairstylistnyc #newyorkcityhair etc.
Once you’ve nailed down the hashtags you think will perform best, the hard work is done! You simply need to copy and paste your pre-set list to your captions. We do suggest mixing them up a bit between posts to see which perform better. We also recommend scheduling your posts ahead of time to make it even easier on yourself, check out Salon S.O.S Social Media Scheduling Platform for more info!
We’ve compiled a list of some of the top salon hashtags to use in 2022 to help get you started:
#hairstylist #hairstyles #haircolor #salonlife #bestsalon #bayalage #colorexpert #curlyhair #livedincolor #shadowroot #colormelt #instahair #hairinspo #modernsalon #vividhair #bronde #bridalhair #hairgoals #hairstyleoftheday #aesthetichair #newlook
These are just a few ideas of hashtags that are popular based on current beauty trends but as the trends change, so do the hashtags. For this reason, it is important to give trending hashtags for salon/spas a Google on the regular to make sure you’re staying current with social media trends!
CONCLUSION
You now have a cheat sheet for caption writing and hashtags for your salon/spa and we want to see you put it into play!
We challenge you to schedule your posts/captions for the next week (minimum! Brownie points if you plan for the month!) using thoughtfully planned and written captions. Along with these beautifully curated captions, we challenge you to test out different hashtags with each post to see if it makes any difference performance wise. Over the next month, see what works and see what doesn’t, then adjust your strategy accordingly moving forward!
Or if you're not longer interested in the headache of managing your salon's social media, we've got an S.O.S Solution for that! Hit this link to learn more!
We can’t wait to see what you come up with, make sure to tag us on Instagram @salon.s.o.s in your posts with INSPIRING, EDUCATIONAL, PROMOTIONAL, or ENGAGING captions! Make sure to give us a follow on social for your daily dose of all things digital marketing for salon and spa owners.
‘Til next time,
Your Team At Salon S.O.S