The Aspiring Stylist with Tracey Franklin

Morgan Franklin: Welcome to the
Aspiring Stylists Podcast with

Tracey Franklin. Where to begin,
grow and aspire to become the

best stylist you can be. Whether
you're thinking about becoming a

stylist opening a salon, or
developing your skills as an

experienced stylist the next
step of your beauty career

starts here. Each week we'll
discuss strategic ways to

design, plan and execute on
becoming a stylist that excels

behind the chair and above the
bottom line. Here's your host,

Tracey Franklin.

Tracey Franklin: Today, we're
gonna talk about social media,

the unnecessary evil, and I'm
just gonna be raw with you for a

minute. I don't like it either.

It's like a whole nother aspect
of the job that feels super

overwhelming and super
exhausting. I used to be able to

come to work and make beautiful
relationships with people create

gorgeous hair, and call it a day
walk out of the salon with a

smile on my face. With social
media. Now I have to be an

incredible photographer. And I
have to be very eloquent with my

words, a poet, if you will, I
also have to factor into my

schedule that I need at least a
15 minute photo session with

every client before they walk
out the door. You know, I needed

to take 150 shots and make sure
that I get it absolutely right

so that I have something really
special and impressive to post

on social media. And it just
feels daunting, it feels super

overwhelming. But it is a
necessary evil. posting your

work on social media is a really
great way to attract more of

your ideal clientele. So say
you're an amazing colorist. And

that's what you want to attract
more of than that really, really

perfect Bob may not be the best
picture to post next into your

feed, it may be something that
you're really proud of. And

that's great. And yes, people do
want a great haircut to go with

their color. But that is not the
type of client that you're

trying to attract. So make sure
that you're posting all of your

best color work. There are
definitely a lot of facets with

social media, and captions are
one of them. And I know some

people that are the most
beautiful writers, you know,

they have the most interesting
stories behind this connection

with this client and the story
behind the work that they

executed that day. And all
that's really great. But like

people don't care, you know,
some of the things that you can

include in your caption or
formulas, help your fellow

stylists out, like let them know
exactly what you mixed up to

create this gorgeous big blonde
like that is something that your

fellow stylists would definitely
love to see. And don't forget

the hashtags. If you're gonna
put anything in your caption,

make sure that you are focusing
on your hashtags, using hashtags

and your captions is great, but
use it as a search engine, be

very specific about what
hashtags you're using. If you

put hashtag Bolyai, then you are
gonna get lost in a sea of a

million other stylists, no one
is ever going to find you based

on that hashtag. So be very
specific use your location, and

whatever your niche is. So for
me, it would be hashtag

Cookeville extensions, hashtag
Cookeville. blonds, something

that a lot of stylists get super
caught up in is followers. And

I'm just here to tell you, that
doesn't really matter. You could

have 10,000 followers that have
no intention of ever doing

business with you. And that
brings you no value whatsoever.

Or you could have 100 followers,
60 of which are existing clients

or future clients. And that
translates into income. And

that's exactly what you're
looking for. People can buy

followers, there's no value in
having hundreds of 1000s of

followers that are never going
to engage with your actual

content or bring you any type of
value. So I think people that

look on my page expect me to
have like a lot more followers

than I do. But that's not what
it's about. For me, I'm looking

for community, I'm looking for
people to engage with and have

relationship with. And a lot of
this comes down to consistency.

Be consistent about what you
post and how often you post. And

definitely take the time to
respond to people that comment

on your post if they're showing
you love that deserves at least

a heart right? In addition to
social media reviews are an

equally important way for
clients to find you. You need to

be asking your clients for
reviews. And if you get a

review, whether it's good or
bad, you have to respond. I have

a really successful salon with a
ton of really talented stylists.

And we still have a couple bad
reviews. The worst thing you

could do is ghost a bad review,
like you should absolutely get

on and respond to even a bad
review. And make sure that that

client and not just the client,
but the public sees that you're

willing to address a
dissatisfied situation and see

what you can do. Hey, how can I
rectify the situation? What can

I do to make this right? I feel
like people love to spread bad

news. And so if you get a
negative review, just know that

that particular person is going
to go to the ends of the earth

to make sure that that
information falls on As many

ears as possible, a couple of
years ago, gosh, I think the

salon had probably been opened
like two years, we were still

making our way finding our way.

And we got a pretty bad review
from a client that came in. I

think she received an Extension
Service. However, it doesn't

really matter. But she was
dissatisfied with her service.

And she wanted to come back in
and she wanted us to redo it,

which we offered to do. For
whatever reason, we couldn't

make her happy. Like some
people, you just cannot make

happy. And you have to just cut
your losses and do whatever you

can to kind of save your
reputation. And she went way out

of her way to make sure as many
people knew about it as

possible. She didn't just post
it on Google, she posted it on

Yelp, she posted it on Yahoo,
she posted it on Facebook, yard

sale, whatever it was. And it
was just amazing how many people

came and said, Hey, what's going
on? I saw this review. And it

was like, hey, look, I don't
know, we could make this chick

happy. We offered to do whatever
we could, we just couldn't see

eye to eye on things. And that's
going to happen. The best thing

that you can do is address it
publicly. And let people see

that you're willing to do
whatever it takes to make it

right no matter what. I think
one of the most intimidating

things about social media is the
imposter syndrome. Do not

compare your beginning to
someone else's middle, that

perfectly polished picture that
you're looking at, you have no

idea how long that stylists had
to work to get that photo, you

have no idea how long that
stylist has been behind the

chair. Comparison is the thief
of all joy, and it will

constantly keep you in a state
of inferiority, you'll never

feel good enough. If you're
constantly comparing yourself to

someone else, especially someone
that is a lot further along in

the game. I think people avoid
posting on social media because

they think it's going to take
hours and hours and hours to

create this beautifully curated
and crafted week of post. And it

can if you're not organized, if
you don't know some of the tools

that you have on hand to make it
easier for you. My best advice

is batch your work, spend an
hour every week on a day that

you're not super covered up with
clients are tied up with a lot

of other things and plan your
week out, reach out to your

clients on your book for that
week and say, hey, look, I'm

going to be taking some pictures
of my work this week. And I just

wanted to let you know so that
you could wear makeup or wear

your favorite outfit or whatever
it is, it's going to make you

feel really pretty in the
pictures because I'm going to be

taking some, your client is
going to really respect you for

that they're going to appreciate
that because the worst thing you

can do is ask a client to let
you take pictures of their

gorgeous hair when they're not
feeling their best. And you

definitely don't want to have a
feed full of pictures of the

back of someone's head either.

So this is a really good way to
prepare your client ahead of

time. Another great resource is
Planoly. Like you can go in and

you can upload your picture, you
can create your caption, you can

even go in and put the first
comment in there. So if you'd

like to put all of your hashtags
in your comments, this is a

really great way to get that
scheduled ahead of time. My last

tip is reach out to your clients
and ask them to help you out. I

mean, they look great, right?

You've just done their hair,
they've got a face full of

makeup on, ask them to post a
selfie and tag you in it. You

can share that on your stories.

And that's the best of both
worlds. It's like a really great

review and a really great post
all tied up into one. I know

social media can feel really
overwhelming, but it is a

necessary evil. Don't let it
overwhelm you and don't be

consumed by it. Use it as a tool
for success.

Morgan Franklin: Thank you for
joining us on this episode of

The Aspiring Stylist Podcast
with Tracey Franklin. If you

enjoyed listening and you want
to hear more, make sure you

subscribe on Apple Podcast,
Spotify or wherever you find

your podcasts. The Aspiring
Stylist Podcast with Tracey

Franklin is a Morgan Franklin
Production. Today's episode was

written and produced by Morgan
Franklin editing and post

production by Mike Franklin.

Want to find out more about
Tracey and the Aspiring Barber

and Beauty Academy go to
aspirebarberandbeauty.com