Sponsored Instagram and Facebook Stories are great opportunities for PMU artists to showcase their work and attract more clients. With each platform boasting billions of users and capabilities such as Ad Managers and URL linking stickers, these social media outlets have become an easy but necessary way to expand your social media marketing influence.
The Stories features allow you to engage and have a more intimate, real-time exchange with your audience. According to a 2021 Forbes article, about 58% of users say that an Instagram or Facebook Story piqued their interest in a product, and 50% say they visited the business’s website with the purpose of making a purchase after seeing it in Stories. If you are struggling to fill your schedule, those are encouraging statistics. With a bit of know-how, you can grow your following and convert followers into paying clients.
What do you need to know to be successful in this space?
Make Your Account User-Friendly
Attention to a few small but essential details will go a long way to ensure that your brand looks professional and trustworthy on Facebook and Instagram. First, tidy up a long, unsightly URL. Third-party services exist that will help you create a nice, neat, aesthetically pleasing “vanity” URL so that your link doesn’t come off as unprofessional, unsafe or untrustworthy.
Secondly, optimize your website for mobile use. Many users view web content on a mobile device, so your time and effort will result in a better payoff if you drive traffic to a website that is viewable from their chosen device.
Next, create separate business accounts on Instagram and Facebook. To better promote your PMU brand, differentiate your business from your personal account. Not only does this look more professional, but it also opens up a host of promotional extras for you.
Engage With Your Followers Regularly
Facebook and Instagram Stories last only a short period of time, typically 24 hours, before disappearing. They are a fun way to quickly grab your audience’s attention and create a sense of immediacy.
Because they are short-lived, creating Stories is not a one-and-done kind of deal. It takes time and regular posting to achieve the following and generate the interactive conversions you are looking for, so keep at it. Aiming to add a Story to your social media platforms once per day is a good goal to build consistency. It pays to post regularly.
Use Multiple Social Media Features
With features such as stickers, location tags, hashtags and calls-to-action, Instagram and Facebook offer many different ways to capture your followers’ attention. Play around with the various features to determine what piques the interest of your followers. If you are fortunate enough to have at least 10,000 fans already, different features are available to you, such as the ability to include your URL link in your Stories on Instagram. With exclusive sticker labels like “Read More” or “See More,” users can simply tap to be guided to your website. Not at 10,000 fans yet? You will get there, but in the meantime, you can still promote your stories and drive traffic to your site using the Ads Manager and IGTV video clips.
Experiment with features such as polls and stickers to engage your audience. Test multiple Story ads, using a direct link to your website if you can to ensure that your Stories are driving traffic to you. Try out promotional content like contests, giveaways, and sales and provide a link to your webpage to entice your followers to visit. Engage with complementary businesses, users and influencers in tags to expand your reach and following. It may take a little time, but your brand can soon become known to your fans as one to pay close attention to.
Invite Followers Inside Your Business
Facebook and Instagram posts have always been, and continue to be, a great way to share strategically crafted content. However, Stories on these same social media platforms are all about showing the real, unscripted, even off-the-cuff side of life. They provide an excellent opportunity to build relationships and showcase your work. Users will love seeing your clients’ transformations in their before and after pictures.
Connect intimately with your followers by showing them the behind-the-scenes footage of your PMU business. What may seem everyday and mundane to you may be of interest to someone who has contemplated PMU but has never stepped foot in a PMU studio or salon. Consider adding sneak peeks or videos of what goes on behind the scenes: you, your tools, your employees, and with their consent, a client mid-way through a PMU process. These behind-the-scenes looks could all help garner a closer, more intimate relationship with your followers.
Create a Content Plan
Although Stories are meant to capture real-life events in real-time, it is still a good idea to plan your content in advance. Planning ahead will save you time, and give you the chance to see how your content will flow together into one cohesive brand. Your plan can be very flexible to allow you to change along with changing trends and current events.
Set Achievable Growth Goals
Naturally, the more followers you have, the more views your brand will get and the broader your marketing reach will be. Garnering a lot of followers will also make your business appear more trustworthy. Additionally, once you have more than 10,000 followers, extra marketing materials become available to you on Facebook and Instagram, so striving for more than 10,000 followers is a smart business move.
Keep it fun and lively. Allow your followers to see a side of your PMU business they might not usually get to see, like you, your staff and clients. Your dedication to your craft coupled with free and creative marketing strategies on your social media platforms will pay off with loyal customers. Social media marketing for makeup artists is an invaluable tool you can use to connect with followers converting the curious into loyal clients.
