Photo courtesy of Ellen De Vos
If you’re a stylist or barber you’re almost certainly on Instagram. If you aren’t, we wish you the best of luck, but we highly recommend you get on there if you want to maintain a good base of clientele. It’s tough to stay on top of Instagram. You have to maintain a consistent level of quality, you have to engage, you have to know what you’re talking about and what to say and who to say it to. Every now and then you hear something about the Instagram algorithm and wonder how important it is that you understand what that actually is. It can be a lot of work, but it’s simpler to keep your Instagram healthy than you think.
Tell Your Story, but not Too Much
Even if you’ve reached the point where you’re consistently styling hair that you’re proud of, you probably still aren’t standing out from the rest of the excellent stylists consistently putting out work that they’re proud of. There is no shortage of highly skilled stylists and barbers, which means most stylists don’t always get to just let the work speak for itself. Give people a glimpse into your process every now and then. Tell them about the client’s history and what they wanted when they walked in. When you tell a decent story behind a picture you give your followers something deeper to engage with, and you’re more likely to stick in their memory.
Hashtag in Moderation
You’ll find this advice everywhere you look, and yet so many stylists still insist on placing a hashtag behind every nook and cranny of their posts. We’ve talked about this before while discussing general social media tips for stylists, but it’s worth repeating and simplifying the advice:
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Always make hashtags
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But research before you hashtag
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And hashtag what’s relevant to the picture
Engage and Share
It’s not cheating to re-post a well done balayage from another stylist. In fact, there are a lot of quick benefits to re-posting good work from other people.
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It helps you engage with a larger community,
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Lets other artists know you appreciate their work,
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Brings more variety to the content you post,
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And gives your followers a deeper sense of your aesthetic.
Whether you find something by an established stylist that you admire or come across an especially good piece by an up and coming artist, re-posting their work (with attribution) helps you at least as much as it might help them. And when you do re-post them, be sure to comment on the picture. Tell them what you liked about it. Be a supportive member of the hair art community, not just because it increases your visibility, but because other stylists need encouragement sometimes too.
Stay Excited
Hopefully you’re in hair styling or barbering because you love it. All of this is a lot easier if you do, because then you’ll want to go find other people’s work, tell them how great it is and share it. You’ll want to tell people how you got that perfect shade of lilac blue. The minute you start losing interest or getting bored, it gets harder and you’ll slow down. When you feel yourself falling into a rut, you need to find ways to remind yourself why you enjoy this.
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Pick up a mannequin head and try a style you haven’t tried before,
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Find new sources of inspiration. If you’re usually inspired by nature, try taking a closer look at the neon colors of a city night.
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Talk to someone who styles completely different from you (and not just polite conversation. Really dig in there).
Or finally, and more dangerously, take a break. Doing the same thing day in and day out will always wear you down eventually. It’s tricky to step away from styling and advertising yourself on Instagram because people are probably following you for the hair glam shots and staying visible on Instagram means posting consistently. But posting a couple pictures of your vacation and taking a hit in followers for a week is better than falling out of love with what you do. You can always recover on social media. There’s always a way climb back up the Instagram ladder. Don’t let obsession with making your work more visible interfere with your passion for doing the work itself.