WHY SALON OWNERS NEED A SOCIAL MEDIA POLICY

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Posted March 9, 2020

The way consumers use social media is changing, and it is becoming increasingly apparent to HABA that salon owners need to change the way they are utilising it in their salons. No longer is your Instagram feed the place to showcase what’s going on behind the scenes of your salon – that now lives on stories. Your IG Feed and Facebook profile should both be an absolute showcase and portfolio of the best work that you produce and should be highly curated to give potential customers an idea of the experience they will receive in your salon.

 

But how do you manage this polished and professional portfolio without a social media policy amongst your team?

 

Most hairdressers and beauticians use their team as the primary content creators for their salon. Whether that’s directly on your profile or tagging your profile in posts on their profiles, your team are the ones doing facetime with your customers and creating the work. But what if you’re afraid of a staff member using photos of work they’ve done in your salon to promote their own business that they run outside of work hours? Or that they will develop a profile full of your clients, and then change salons, taking their clients with them? All of these things can be achieved through social media and it becomes a minefield for salon owners.

 

That’s where a social media policy comes in.

 

A social media policy should detail:

• Use of all forms of social media as a representative of the salon The types of images we accept, whether you require them to add your salon name or tag to their professional profile etc.
• Use of social media for personal use and guidelines around this eg. Encouraging staff to set their profile to private or not to interact with clients via their personal profile and only through their professional profile.
• Use of social media via your salon internet services and what is not allowed eg. Accessing of any adult material via salon wifi networks or illegal material
• What staff are prohibited from doing Posting work as their own and not crediting the salon; defamatory comments towards the salon or any other member of staff; critical comments towards clients etc.
• The results of any breaches of the policy Disciplinary actions or possibly termination.

This might sound a bit like a dictatorship, but imagine the alternatives – clients seeing pictures of your team drunk on the weekends (because their personal profile isn’t set to private); a senior staff member developing a strong following of your loyal clients and moving to your competitors salon (and taking your clients with them); or staff posting badly-taken photos onto your professional showcase. None of these things are that far-fetched or unmanageable, but pre-planning and drafting a social media policy can help save the heartache down the line.

Below are some ideas for setting rules around social media in your salon that we have seen be quite effective for salon owners –

• Enforce a policy that salon staff must have a ‘@name_salon-name’ profile on social media for their work whilst at your salon. This acts as a great way to curate a professional portfolio for each stylist on your books that is controlled by and clearly branded as part of your salon. Even set it up for them with a user name and password you won’t forget, so if you need to close the profile down later you have the option.
• Don’t allow your team or clients to access wifi in your salon. Keep it strictly for salon software and your own use to ensure that you aren’t in any kind of security violation or at risk of any viruses.
• Monitor your team’s social media. Make sure their personal profiles are on private and call them out on it if they aren’t. Check what they are posting and ensure that your salon receives credit where credit is due.
• Maintain control over your salons professional profile. Whether this is managed by getting your team to send in their best hair pics of the week or by working with an agency, ensure that you maintain control over your salon social media – not your staff.

We know social media is an incredibly successful way of showcasing your brand, attracting new customers and engaging your existing clients in what your salon is doing. But it simply can’t be a free-for-all in salon – it’s just too important. Protect your business and your team by implementing a social media policy in your salon today.