6 Excellent Instagram Marketing tips for Barbershops

If there is any business that seems to work like the good old days, it’s the local barbershop. There are nostalgia and culture that goes with barbershops. A kind of male retreat and social scene that made some barbershops a local place to gather.

This lent itself remarkably to marketing.  Men just knew where to go to get a haircut.  Joe, Tom, or (of course) Floyd were the best – and usually only – barbers in town.

Times have changed. Today there is a much broader range of potential customers, many as interested in working with a hairstylist as an old-school barber. To reach more audience and compete against both local and chain salons or barbershops, you need better marketing strategies than just the yellow pages and word of mouth.

Here are six ideas to help you market your barbershop in 2019. Follow these tips to fill your chairs with new customers and keep them full with loyal clients. This is where Instagram comes in as one of the most effective and powerful tools to get new customers and engage with the existing ones. Instagram is very important since it’s such a visual medium, adjusting itself perfectly to the craft. Also, Instagram has two times more engagement than any other social media platform which makes it an ideal place to engage with your audience.

How to run a successful barbershop account on Instagram?

Here are six excellent Instagram marketing ideas for barber shops(that actually work) that can help you milk the popular platform for all it’s worth:

1- Highlight your work!

Instagram allows you to create permanent collections of your Instagram stories that will show on the top of your Instagram feed. Use this feature to organize every aspect of your business like products you use, barbers in your shop, most popular services and running promotions. It is likely that new customers will be comparison shopping. So list your prices, and make sure it’s clear from you feed the level of service you are providing.

Instagram allows you to create permanent collections of your Instagram stories that will show on the top of your Instagram feed. Use this feature to organize every aspect of your business like products you use, barbers in your shop, most popular services and running promotions. It is likely that new customers will be comparison shopping. So list your prices, and make sure it’s clear from you feed the level of service you are providing.

2- Create a perfect gallery of haircuts and styles

Haircuts are visual, and your Instagram profile should reflect this. Think of your Instagram as a visual gate to your shop. While designing your Instagram feed, strongly consider what potential customers want to see. Share pictures of recent haircuts, fashionable hairstyles, and your shop. This is where your customers will spend most of their time on, so you need it to be enticing and visually appealing.

3- Create and extend your Branded-Hashtag

Create a branded hashtag that represents your barbershop and use it to brand all your posts on Instagram. Some services are better suited to the “selfie” culture of Instagram than styling hair. When you have customers proud of their new haircut, ask them to share a selfie on their Instagram profile and mention your barbershop with your unique hashtag as a branding tactic. It’s free, effective marketing that provides social proof and trust for your business.

4- Gain followers and engage with them

Whether it’s a picture, funny meme, contest, or just an essential update about your working hours or closing times, engage your followers consistently. Create a posting schedule as a piece of your strategy. With the new algorithm now engagement has more influence on what appears on your feed. So, be more engaging, if someone asks a question, make sure to respond quickly, and display the same kind of friendly attitude you would if he were sitting in your chair.

5- Use Instagram Ads

Like many other platforms that offer online advertising, Instagram lets you target your ideal audience with pinpoint precision and charge you only when the person clicks on the ad. In 2018, the average cost per click for Instagram ads was around $0.7 for all age ranges. Instagram offers “store visits” with the intention of turning ad impressions into people that walk into your shop. Instagram is particularly suited for brand engagement, and it can be the perfect platform for promoting your barbershop.

6- Analyze your posts every week

Instagram provides some critical insights like impression, profile visits and audience demographics to all business accounts. You can use this feature to track which one of your posts get the most engagement and where your followers are coming from. You shouldn’t leave anything to chance. Make sure also to leverage this data and look for guides to understand your audience’s pain points and needs.

The ultimate purpose of a barbershop is to develop a constituency of repeat customers, as well as new clients through customer referrals. Because of this, many neighborhood barbershops are a place where people socialize and enjoy each other’s company, which only lets you get more satisfied and loyal customers. In this digital age, social network platforms like Instagram offer a different avenue for barbershops to hang out and engage with their clients. Use Instagram to get found by a new audience, develop a positive reputation, and earn the loyalty of your best customers. When people look forward to coming in for a haircut, you will know you’re doing it right.

Barbers and stylists, how do you use Instagram for promoting your business?

Let us know in the comments below.