Want to Boost Your Brand? Ask Clients for a Social Media Post

Asking clients for a social media post is a great way to build your business. These posts are called “customer-generated content,” and they are among the most trusted forms of advertising you can find. When a customer posts about your salon, it’s seen by their followers, most of whom probably don’t know you. So, it’s free advertising that boosts your exposure to prospective customers. You can engage with them and convert them to new customers. Keep reading to learn more and get a great idea for a lead-generating contest.

Estimated reading time: 7 minutes

What I’ve Learned

I recently read about a successful marketing campaign from Coca-Cola. It involved using customer-generated social media posts. It was very successful, generating thousands of posts and increasing sales by 2% during the campaign. It was the first sales increase Coke had seen in 10 years. As I read the story, I thought anyone could do something similar to increase sales. I did more research and found several examples of similar campaigns used by all sizes of businesses. And best of all, it’s so affordable! I wrote this article to spread the word about the opportunity.

Why Customer-Generated Posts Are More Effective Than Your Posts

Customer-generated posts are more effective than your posts because a third party with first-hand experience creates them. They are digital word-of-mouth endorsements from your clients. Word-of-mouth advertising is the most effective form of advertising on the planet. A 2024 article published in Business News Daily cited a Neilsen survey that found “92 percent of people trusted recommendations from friends and family above all other forms of advertising when making a purchasing decision.” 

Brand advertising still has an important role in marketing, but nothing beats a great review posted on a third-party social media or review site.

Other Ways Customer-Generated Posts Boost Your Brand

Engagement

Engaging with prospects directly provides a great opportunity to connect with them. If someone comments on your customer’s new look, you can connect with them by adding comments of your own. This could start a conversation where you invite that person to experience your service. Engagement with a prospect is the first step to gaining a new customer.

Affordable and Diverse Content

Asking for a social media post costs you nothing but will deliver fresh content you can repost on your social media platform. That provides diversity to your posts, and that fresh look can stand out to your followers. Customer-generated posts on your site may inspire your followers to create their own posts for you on their social media feeds.

Brand Reach

Customer-generated posts will boost your brand’s reach, exposing it to people who you cannot reach on your own. Think about it. If 10 clients create a post for your salon on one of their social media pages, and each page has 100 followers, your brand gets seen by 1,000 people who don’t follow your pages. If just 1 percent engages with you, you could pick up 10 new clients. 

Asking clients for a social media post can quickly spread the word about your salon, give you a chance to meet new prospects, and get lots of new content for your own feed. And again,  it will cost you nothing!

How to Ask for Social Media Posts

Asking for a post is easy, but like most things, timing is everything. First, create a good relationship with your client before asking. If your relationship is good, follow the tips in our recent blog post, “How to Successfully Ask for Referrals to Boost Your Salon Business.”

Our tip to keep the cape on was well-received, and it works!

When asking, give them clear instructions on what you want. For instance, if you are a hairstylist, instruct customers to take a selfie with their new look. Ask them to mention you or your salon’s name, and give them a hashtag to use. Then, let your customers loose to get as creative as they want. Then, repost their post on your social media pages.

The Next Level—Create a Contest

If you want to take this to the next level, make a contest out of it. Contests bring out a competitive spirit and will deliver more customer posts. Here are some tips to help you pull this off.

1. Offer a big prize. The prize incentive will motivate people to participate. Make sure the prize has real value that everyone can enjoy. For example, who wouldn’t love tickets to Disneyland or Six Flags Discovery Kingdom? Dinner at a local steakhouse is another idea. You will have to buy your prize, but you could quickly recoup the money you spend by adding several new clients to your book.
2. Create a branded hashtag to use for this contest. 
3. Ask your customers to post a selfie showing off their new look and write about how it makes them feel. Be sure they include the name of your salon and, if possible, a link to your booking site. Be sure they include your branded hashtag to help you track entries. The post that best showcases your salon wins!
4. Create a poster for your salon with all the details, including who will judge the contest entries. You can refer to it while talking about the contest to your customers.
5. To keep things honest, ask someone else to judge the entries. You shouldn’t do it yourself to avoid a loser getting mad at you. Bello Salon Suites management is a good choice and can judge entries without bias. 
6. During the contest, repost entries on your social media accounts and add information about the contest to your website and booking site. The more people know about the contest, the more entries you’ll get.
7. Once you announce the winner, create posts featuring the contest winner and repost the winning entry. This serves as important proof you awarded the prize.

Monitor and Engage

Monitoring results and engaging with everyone involved is important when asking for social media posts. You can do this with hashtags. If your customers use the hashtags you give them, follow them to see the posts. Whenever someone mentions you or your salon in a post, go to the post and thank them. Then, read other comments and respond to them, too. The more conversations you have with prospects, the more prospects you will convert to new customers.

Conclusion to Ask Customers for a Social Media Post

Asking customers for a social media post is a great way to boost your brand and pick up new customers. Customer-generated content, like social media posts, is trustworthy, can showcase your salon to hundreds of people who don’t already know you, spark engagement, and lead to new customers. Follow the tips provided to make sure you effectively ask for posts, and to take it to the next level, create a contest. The folks at bello Salon Suites focus on your success and are happy to judge entries. It’s part of the support bello provides to everyone in the bello family of salons. To learn more about growing your business, we publish a blog dedicated to salon success. Check out recent articles like “How a Google Business Profile Makes Your Salon More Successful” and “How Attending a Trade Show Can Quickly Boost Your Business.”

bello Salon Suites is a collection of 106 custom, private salon suites for rent in Sacramento. We cater to hairstylists, barbers, and cosmetology professionals. Privately owned and locally based, our facility features four stylish lounges and an outside garden for a truly zen-like experience. On top of that, we offer more amenities, like plenty of FREE parking steps from our entrances, than any other salon suites company in the Sacramento area. Take a tour today and see for yourself. For income potential, perks, and value, nothing compares to bello.