Have you ever been tempted to pass the social media baton? There’s a right way and a wrong way to make it happen.
Social media was a huge gift to our industry, but doing it properly is like taking on a part-time job. If you’re thinking about bringing on somebody to help with yours, do it properly and put in the work.
Today, we are going to go over the seven steps to take to make sure you outsource it the best way possible.
Step 1: Define your brand and target market
Until you build a social media presence that is visually appealing and speaks emotionally to YOUR target market, you won’t see the results you’re looking for.
Take some time to marinate on how you want your clients to think about you and feel when they see your posts. What impression and tone do you want to set? Do you want to funny? Inspirational? Well-educated?
Know what type of client you want to attract and create a brand that they will find appealing. You need to have an overall vision for what your social media looks like before you even begin hiring.
Step 2: Create your plan
If you didn’t know what you were doing, would you do a good job? People need to be told what to do and be given an outline. Creating a plan gives you a framework so that you and whoever is going to take over for you know exactly what your goals are.
Choose specific days for Facebook Lives, Instagram posts, and stories and what those will look like. Map out everything that happens on your social media in advance, so everyone on your team knows what’s next.
Step 3: Create your content
In our industry, we’re not a lifestyle brand. You’re selling a service, so you have to showcase your service as content. There is no other option.
You have two choices to create content:
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Commit to taking photos of all of your guests. Over 90% of stylists have learned how to get great lighting and pose their guests to create photos that are going to get great engagement on social media.
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Hire a photographer to come into your salon just 2 days a month. It doesn’t sound like much, but if a photographer gets 10-12 usable photos of each guest seen that day and if you see 6 clients a day, that’s 240 usable photos a month. That is PLENTY of content.
Now this second option will cost you a few hundred dollars a month. But if you have a salon team, and that photographer shoots 8 guests an hour, this could be well worth the investment.
Do you have to do this? No. Can you be wildly popular without this? Absolutely But just think of the potential there.
Step 4: Choose your captions
Photos are important, but if I had to put more weight on photo versus caption, caption is going to win every single time.
Go back to the social media vision planning you did in step one, especially tone and impression. Think of all the things you want to come to clients’ mind when they read your caption. Make sure your captions are in line with who you are and what type of clientele you’re trying to attract.
The tone you set on social media will help attract clients into your chair that will click with you. If they don’t like your writing, that means you’re probably not a fit, and that’s okay.
Step 5: Hire the right person
There’s the temptation to hire a college intern to save a buck or ask the receptionist or your assistant to run your social media. But passing the baton to somebody who is not qualified or comfortable in the role is a mistake.
You want somebody so good that they write like you better than you do. The right person can do your social media so flawlessly that your viewers won’t notice you’ve handed over the reins. But if you don’t have the right person who is an extension of you, your viewers will notice, and your engagement will go down.
Hire slow, fire fast, and don’t cut corners. Don’t be afraid to test people out and if they’re not a right fit, know a better person is around the corner. See hiring social media support as an investment, not a quick fix.
Step 6: Get the tools
To get super organized and properly outsource your social media, you’ve got to have the proper tools:
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Social media scheduling app. We currently use three on my team, but you don’t have to. Find an app that’s easy to use and set it up for you and your team.
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Get a file sharing app. If you’re going to bring someone on to support you, there needs to be a better way to share files than texting. Find a file or content sharing app, set up folders, and make sure everyone on your team can access it.
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Share your social media weekly calendar. Upload the social media calendar you made in step 2 to your file sharing app, so your support person knows exactly what you need. Make sure this calendar includes upcoming promotions and any other details they might need to run your social media properly.
Step 7: Be patient
If you’re going to hire someone to do a job, you need to trust that they’re going to do it. That doesn’t mean you can’t check in to make sure they’re doing well, but you can’t pre-approve something before they do it. They’re going to feel ultra-micromanaged, and it’s not going to be a good outcome for either of you.
If you hire somebody and, in the first two weeks, they’re making you nervous even though you see potential, take a step back. It takes time to learn a job. How good were you at doing hair your first two weeks? Not that great compared to how you are now, right?
I challenge you to give it 90 days. Now, if in the first 30 days, you can tell that it’s just not working, then they have to go. But if they’re putting in the effort and you see the potential, please be patient.
Give this person a shot. If they’re going to stick around, they need to feel like they are appreciated for their work and that you trust them to do it properly.
Everything we do in our business as stylists or salon owners is going to cost one of two things: money or time. That’s it. Sometimes it’s a combination of both, but if the reason you’re looking to outsource your social media is that you want more time, you’re going to have to exchange money for time.
Use this post as an outline to outsource or a mega plan to get super organized with your own social media and commit to make it happen!