“Instagram has been all but ruined. Long ago it stopped showing us anything we want to see. Our feeds are jammed with sponsored advertising for things we do not need or want”.
There are no such things as social media experts. The platforms and the way people use them move so fast that just when you think you understand Snapchat, Tik Tok explodes with the younger crowd. By the time the kids are moving on from Tik Tok your grandma just downloaded it. Users can barely keep up. The pros are just guessing.
Some of the older platforms have been used long enough that we, collectively, have amassed enough experience that we can actually do some good with them. The leveraging of social media is not the be-all, end-all of marketing for haircutters. It is just another arrow in our business building quiver.
Instagram has been all but ruined. Long ago it stopped showing us anything we want to see. Our feeds are jammed with sponsored advertising for things we do not need or want. It shows us very little from the people we initially followed out of interest or relationship. The typical Instagram feed is much like sitting down in front of the television for an hour of solid advertising.
The so-called experts will suggest location flagging and tagging to increase eyeballs and reach. While that might work to expose your post to some additional people, what is the chance you will be suited to serve them? If you are still seeking to leverage Instagram for building business here is a powerful tip that just might catch some haircuts. The truth is that other people’s social media is more powerful than yours (at least for your agenda).
Perhaps you have 1,000 Instagram followers. All 1,000 of these people know who you are, what you do and where you do it. Odds are that you are already cutting all of them that will ever show up. Likely, Instagram’s algorithm is not showing your posts to more than ten of these people anyway.
Jimmy comes in for a big change haircut. You grab an after image of his snazzy new cut (you were too excited and forgot to snap a before). You enthusiastically post Jimmy’s cut to your Instagram and it gets five likes. No one new shows up. This is about what we can expect from Instagram at this point in time. You could pay to sponsor the post, but that has not proven to work very well. The return is just not there.
How about if you play the platform a bit differently? Your client Jimmy has only 200 followers, one fifth the size crowd that you have. But of his 200, about 190 of them have never heard of you. They do not know you. They have never been to you for a haircut. How about if you snap the picture of Jimmy’s new haircut with Jimmy’s phone? Ask him to post his sharp new look to HIS Instagram and tag you in it. Is it better to post to 1,000 people who have stopped paying attention or to post to 190 people to whom you are fresh news? Jimmy’s Instagram is a better bet than yours for sharing haircuts and hoping for a referral. Do this three or four times each day and you will impact some new people in a way that results in some new traffic. We need to move faster than the platform.
Are you ready to build a haircut business? Are you seeking to become a $100,000 haircutter? Get Ivan’s book, Be a $100,000 Haircutter today. Available at ivanzoot.com or amazon.com
