What's Working On Social Right Now: Stop Posting For Engagement And Start Posting To Make Money

Hello, my friend. Welcome back to the Modern Hairstylist Podcast. This one might be a little ranty. Y'all know I get a little passionate about things, particularly within this industry and within business, because I just see so much potential for hairstylists, and there are so many different ways that you can grow and improve.

But all too often, I just see so much BS get in the way of truly fulfilling and tapping into the potential that is possible for you. Like, genuinely, there is so much BS out there nowadays that trips people up and makes people's focus go all over the place and overwhelms them and just paralyzes them from being able to take a step forward. And I'm gonna try my best to demystify some of that stuff today when it comes to social media. So, I'm gonna be talking about a lot of the BS that I'm seeing right now, what we are focusing on that we really shouldn't be, what we should be focusing on, and yes, I am gonna be talking to you about what is working on social right now, like what content I'm seeing that is performing well and getting people results, okay?

On the flip side of that, you're gonna hear me talk a lot about, who the fuck cares about what's working right now? Because what's working right now on social does not mean that it's going to make you money, okay? So I'm gonna be talking about the difference. I have a lot of different points that I'm gonna be going over today, and I hope that it's helpful for you.

Social media is not dead. Social media is very much a valuable thing for you to be focusing on still in today's day and age. Uh, depending on w- you know, who your ideal client is and what your marketing strategy is, what social you focus on may differ. However, social in general still absolutely works.

I have people within my programs who are getting 60 new client requests a month because of Instagram. So, don't think that Instagram is dead or Facebook is dead. It could be working for you if you demystified all this bullshit, you stopped listening to it, and you focus on the things that actually matter at the end of the day from a very analytical and bigger, larger picture perspective. So, I hope that I can accomplish getting you to look from that perspective after today's episode.

So, if you're ready to get into it, let's go. Before we get into this, I wanna make it clear that I'm recording this episode today on June 4th of 2024. So, I am gonna be sharing with you what's working on social right now and specific trends, but I'm also gonna be sharing with you marketing fundamentals that never change. But just in case you're listening to this way in the future after this episode was recorded, I want you to know, hey, the trends may have changed since then, right?

I have people who listen to old episodes of mine all the time, and I wanna make sure that you are in the know. So, without further ado, let's get into it. What's the tea, friend? My name's Hunter Donia, industry business educator for hairstylists, but my friends just call me Hunty.

Whether it be growing your clientele, making more money, or automating and streamlining your systems, in the next 20 minutes or so, you'll be hearing realistic, actionable strategies to create a beautiful career for yourself behind the chair. So, if you're ready to get into it, welcome to the Modern Hairstylist podcast. Okay. So, the reason why I'm bringing this topic to the table with you today, my friend, is because recently, a- somebody from the creator's account on Instagram posted a post that was talking about how CTAs may not do as well in the algorithm.

So, a call to action, if you're not familiar, is where at the end of a caption or the end of a video, you tell somebody to do something, such as like, comment, or share. And then everybody freaked the fuck out, because everybody's like, "Oh, my God. We've been u- all using call to actions. That's how we do this.

That's how we've- we get the engagement, et cetera, et cetera. Should we not be doing that anymore? Oh, my God. Instagram changes things all the time."

People, y'all need to chill the fuck out. Like, y'all really need to relax, because every single time Instagram talks about something or they change something or you hear from a mentor or guru that something is changing and something's working in the algorithm or not, we freak the fuck out. We get so overwhelmed, and we're like, "Oh, my God. Marketing feels so impossible.

Instagram feels so impossible. They- I finally got my shit down, and now they're changing something." Girl, you need to take a step back and look at everything that happens within your marketing from a very analytical perspective. Instagram is a tool.

It's a tool. Social media is a tool, and it has capabilities, and it has tools within that tool that will allow you to market your business, grow your clientele, but also check and see if the things that you're doing are actually getting you results or not. Nonetheless, whatever trend is happening right now does not fucking matter, because engagement does not equal to making money. There are two ch- s- making money, posting on Instagram to make money or using a social media platform to make money is very different than using a social media platform to gain engagement and then become an influencer on that platform or whatever it may be.

Two very different strategies. And there are so many people out there who get a shit ton of engagement, a shit ton of likes, that get really pushed in the algorithm, that get on the explore page, et cetera, et cetera, that are not making money because they're not posting to make money. They're posting for people to like that shit and give them dopamine release, that they're- th- they're doing the right thing, or their lifestyle is really cool, or whatever it may be, or even just to create communities, right, that don't have to be monetized. So, the tea is you are in the game for a very different reason.

And yes, visibility does matter. You doing things that will be shown to more people is good, but it should not always be the priority. And every time you hear somebody tell you that, "Oh, Instagram's favoring this," or, "Instagram's favoring that," I want you to think about it critically, and I want you to not feel like you have to do that or now you have to change your entire strategy. You should stay the course of whatever strategy that you're committed to, and it should always go back to the ideal client and what they need to see and where they're gonna show up for you to be able to actually get real results.

Calm the F down. Post shit that is valuable, that is going to move your client furthermore down your funnel to trust you more at each part of their journey to get their butts in your chair. That is very different than posting content that will get likes and comments and shares. Trust and believe, okay?

You should be showing up in the right places where your ideal client is showing up. So that doesn't have to be Instagram. That could be, uh, Google My Business, that could be Facebook, whatever it may be, on a consistent basis. You should be optimizing your searchability the most that you possibly can on that platform to make it so it is most likely for you to be sh- found and stumbled upon.

And then you should be posting content that speaks to your ideal clients in all parts of their journey, furthermore, like I said, of building trust and moving them closer to wanting to book an appointment with you. Let's talk about that journey. Let's talk about what you need to be posting and rotating through to make sure that you're speaking to clients at each part of their journey. That's what fucking matters.

That- this is the shit that a- is actual strategy for how you can make money on fricking social. Not telling you that, like, "Oh, hashtags are dead," or, or, "Don't post CTAs." That shit is not going to help you. I promise you.

It may help you reach more people. Not gonna help you reach your ideal client. Not gonna help you get more butts in your chair. Trust and believe they do not equate to each other all the time.

Okay? Here are the five different parts of your customer journey that you always wanna be speaking to and rotating through. Not all five of these are things that you should be focusing the majority of your efforts on, because when we look at your marketing funnel and we look at, um, where your client first finds you and then they start to consume content from you and then they decide when they want to get an appointment with you, you have to share with them different content that connects at each- each of those levels of that journey. But I'll share with you a little bit about what should be prioritized as far as the person that you're talking to and that part of that customer journey on social after I explain these five levels.

I broke down this concept a couple weeks ago for my Modern Stylist Movement members at our Modern Stylist Retreat, and the feedback that I got was so insane, and people felt like it really made things click for them and really helped them figure out exactly what they need to actually put out to get more clients into the door. So, I'm really excited to be sharing that with you now. Number one, the first part of your customer's journey is they aren't looking to get their hair done. That's the, that's the type of customer, that's the type of client that's out there.

They don't even... They're not even on the market. They don't even realize that they even would want their hair done at all, or that they would want extensions, or they would want to lock their hair, or they want to start to embrace their natural curls at all. They've been flat-ironing their hair their whole lives.

Why would they change anything now, right? They are somebody who is completely oblivious to the fact that they even have a problem or that there are solutions out there. So there's that type of client. And for that type of client in that space, we need to be using different types of content and copy to be able to connect with that person.

Then we have somebody who is problem-aware. So, they now know that they don't like their hair or there's something that's going on that they aren't l- enjoying or something like that. So now that they understand that they have a problem, now you need to be speaking to this person about a solution, and you need to be bridging that problem that they're d- that they're discovering that they have with your solution. So you need to be understanding of the pain points that come with that problem and the different messaging that's going on through somebody's brain to be able to be like, "Okay, you have this pain point.

Guess what? I have a solution." Right? And then that makes somebody solution-aware, which brings us to the next level of maybe they are looking for a solution.

They are looking to get their hair done. And in this case, we want to talk to them about our solutions and what makes us different and why we should be trusted to take care of them and offer that solution to solve their problems. So, I'm gonna review really quickly before we get to the next two. Number one, there are people, there are clients out there who are not even problem-aware.

They don't even understand that they even would ever want their hair done. That's not a thought that's going through their brain. Number two, they are noticing that they don't like their hair. They notice that there's a problem, and they are...

They don't know that there's a solution. They don't know that there's something out there that can actually help them. For example, they have thin hair. They don't know that extensions even exist, or they don't know that extensions are even an option for them.

Then they become solution-aware. So at this point, they're actually are looking to get their hair done, and this is the perfect type of person that is going to be great and very easy to convert on social. But the majority of the time, you normally have people who are in the first two. You have people who are noticing that they don't like their hair, but they're not really aware that there's a solution or there's not really looking for a solution.

But if you can hit their pain points and you can aggravate them and make them feel like you understand them and that, like, it's a problem that should be solved, then you can make them more solution-aware and more excited to actually indulge in that solution to solve that problem. Okay? So, we have unaware, problem-aware, solution-aware. The next level, the fourth level, is going to be product-aware.

So now that they're aware of you and they are aware that you have the solution to their problem and they're considering getting their hair done with you, however, they now still have objections that are stopping them from working with you. These objections could be price. These objections could be myths and misconceptions around the solutions that you're offering. So for example, they know that they have thin hair.

They know that extensions exist. They know that you do extensions, but they have these misbeliefs around your extension solutions, thinking that, "Oh, well, if I get extensions, then it's always gonna show. The, the beads or the sew-in or whatever maybe is gonna show because I have thin hair." That's just a small example.

So at this time of the, of the customer journey, we need to be posting content in which will tell this person, like, "Oh, no," like, "don't worry, I know how you're feeling, and I know what is gonna stop you from booking an appointment. But on the flip side of that, don't worry. With our method, with my specific method, I'm able to make sure that your shit is hidden and nobody will be able to see it," or something like that. That's the type of content that we wanna post for that type of person.

And then the last level is they are a customer of yours, right? They are a customer of yours. They've already come to see you, and you just need to be key posting... You just need to keep posting content or putting out content, even with email marketing, that is going to make sure that you stay top of mind and that you're continuously apro- uh, proving that you are the authority and that you can be trusted and you- they will want to continuously do business with you moving forward.

So those are the five levels of awareness, and that is how you wanna be thinking about posting your content, and you wanna be posting what is going to speak to each person at each of those levels. When it comes to social, the majority of the time, when it comes to, like, for example, like, an Instagram post, we wanna be focusing on the second and third and sometimes the third level. That is most of the time where we kind of want to be pushing the envelope with our content and our copy. So, we wanna be talking to the person who understands they have a problem, and we want to share with them a copy or things or examples of things that say, "Hey, you have this problem, and this is what the problem is and this is why it's happening."

And then you want to share with them that there's a solution. And then now that they understand there's a solution, you wanna be posting content about how the solution is great and why it'll solve the problem and what sets it apart, et cetera, et cetera. And then you also want to be posting things that talk about your specific solution and what sets you apart, and then also considering what they m- what may be stopping them from fully trusting you and hitting the trigger and then sharing with them copy or things that will bust those myths or disbeliefs or whatever is stopping them from actually moving forward. Those are the types of things that you wanna be posting.

You wanna be rotating through each of those so you're hitting each of your followers at different parts of those journeys, because not all of your followers are alike. Not all of the new clients who are gonna stumbleupon your profile are going to resonate with the same exact things. So, thinking about how you can, number one, use your content to be speaking to those things. Use your pinned post on your Instagram or whatever's pinned to the top of your pa- Facebook page, whatever's featured, um, et cetera, et cetera.

And then using your story highlights, and then of course, your- your- your traditional posts and your- and your stories, et cetera, et cetera, to speak to all of those people and rotating through that could be really, really powerful for you. Do you see how that's a strategy? Like do you see how that's, like, a really smart way and an intentional, strategic way to use social versus focusing on, like, what bullshit is gonna be hitting the algorithm, what's gonna get me a bunch of likes and comments? I'm thinking about, how can I move somebody c- further down my funnel to trust me more to be able to convert them into a butt in my chair?

Like that is how you should be thinking about social. And whenever you hear some bullshit, like for, like, a- a trend or an algorithm change, whatever it may be, sure, take it into consideration, but don't let it stop you from staying strong to the strategy. All right? That's all I'm trying to share with you now.

Now, how do you know if you are posting the right things, right? Because sometimes you will get good engagement on a post, so you're like, "Okay. Well, my audience really liked this, so I should be posting more of this," right? But same concept, engagement does not always equal results.

You posing for engagement or posts that get good engagement are not always going to make you money. Here is a perfect example. Have you ever seen anybody post... This is a classic.

Have you ever seen anybody post, like, "Oh, I have some new followers around here, so I'm gonna introduce myself really quickly with five fun facts," or something like that? You probably have posted something like that before. They always hit. They always skyrocket.

They always do better than any other post that you post. Any pictures of you with your family that are personal, they always do better than every other post. So, should we post more of that? The answer is no.

Why? Two reasons. Number one, people do enjoy being social on social, right? So, like, in general, people are going to interact with a more social post that's not as salesy or showcasing work, right, or art, or whatever it may be.

They're going to be looking at other people. They want to connect with other people, so that is just a natural reason why. But the big reason why is your followers, who are your current clients who already know, love, and trust you, your friends and your family who follow you and love you, they're gonna see a picture of you and they're gonna like it. They're gonna love it.

They're gonna comment it because they already like you. They have a reason to give a shit about who you are, right? A person who has no idea who you are and doesn't have a reason to care about you is not going to engage with that. It's not gonna move them further down the funnel.

You need to give them a reason to give a shit about- shit about who you are first, right? So my- this- I say all this to say is just because a post gets good engagement does not mean it's what you should do more of. What you should do more of is what gets you actual butts in your chair, what gets you more requests in your chair. The way that you test that is you should have a singular way that your clients book with you, one funnel in way- in how they actually get into your chair, so that way you have clear data points, like the ones that I teach in Pre-Visit Pathway, to make sure that you understand if you're getting more new client requests and if they're coming from what social platform or where they're coming from, referrals or whatever it may be.

And you should be running possible tests for, like, a month where, like, I'm just gonna be posting this type of content and I'm gonna see if my requests go up or down. Or what is really good to look at is website clicks on carousel posts or static posts. At the time of recording this, I don't believe that you can actually look at Reels and see website clicks, but website clicks are what we're looking for. Why?

Because it's moving them closer to booking with us. If they get onto our website, right, then that means that they're really interested in actually learning more and maybe possibly even working with us. That is the type of metric I want you to be looking at for results, is follows and website clicks. Those are really, really massively important, because it means that that's the type of content that actually makes somebody want to work with you and spend money with you, not likes or comments or shares.

Yes, those things can be helpful, but it doesn't necessarily equate to making money, right? So, my long story short is, is when you're getting likes, comments, and shares, I want you to take them at face value and I want you to think, is this actually equating to getting results and getting more people in my chair, and should I do more of these posts or not? And I'm not saying to never post other diversified content. It has its place, 100%.

But the majority of the time, you posting your work and you posting valuable content that is going to speak to your ideal client is what's gonna get you the most results. So now that we got that out of the way, I'm going to share with you what you probably came to this episode for, which is suggestions about what I have seen working well, like the type of content that I have seen work well, so that you can take that and get inspired and maybe think about doing content in a different way, okay? And these are con- this is content that's getting people results. It's not stuff that's trending or that's doing well with engagement.

It's stuff that's getting people results. And then also, I'm gonna be talking about things that people are saying that you should or should not do. I mean, this is just what I've seen and heard from my students and people, and I'm gonna debunk them because I'm fucking over it, okay? I'm done, all right?

So, number one, hashtags are dead. This drives me up a wall. You should be using all 30 fucking hashtags on every single post. Why?

Tell me why. Think about why. What do hashtags do? Hashtags allow people to find what they're looking for.

If somebody searches on Instagram and they search for California San Diego hairstylist and you did not use that hashtag in your last post and you live in San Diego, you just lost a client. You literally just lost money because you decided to follow a trend instead of follow what's bringing you money and increasing your searchability as much as possible. You should be using every single hashtag you possibly can that is relevant to your local area, that is what- going to be what your ideal clients actually are searching for all the freaking time. Just because using 30 hashtags may bump you down in the algorithm does not mean that it's not gonna make you money, right?

Perfect example. Side note, there are very specific hashtags that you should be using, and we do the research of what your client- your ideal client would normally be searching for in Chief Marketing Hairstylist at the time of recording this, which is my short little mini course that gets your marketing together really quickly, gives you a beautiful marketing strategy to take. It's proven to work. It's based on real data and feedback.

If you wanna check it out, go to my websiteThe next thing that I just heard just yesterday, I was doing a, um, I was doing funnel audit. So, like, in our, um, in our Modern Stylist Movement Membership, uh, we have quarterly funnel audits. So, like, people will submit and I'll go through their entire marketing funnel. I'll go through maybe their Instagram or their Facebook or...

And then I'll go through their website and I'll share with them constructive feedback. And a lot of people on Instagram were posting, like, a lot of Canva graphics recently, and I was like, "Oh, this is cool." Like, this is a cool way to divers- diversify your content. But I also want to make sure that we're still posting enough work, so I gave somebody specific feedback where it's like, "Well, we're posting a lot of graphics, like, it's like every other post, like, and we're starting to lose a fair bit of yo- your work within your grid.

What's going on?" And they were like, "Oh, well this guru or mentor said that we should be posting gra- Co- Canva graphics because that's what's, what's trending right now." I'm like, "Fuck what's trending." Literally that is insane.

That is wild. Number fucking one, your clients, new potential clients are look- are going to book with you for the o- one main reason, is that your work looks good, okay? We forget, uh, in the mi- in the miss and the, the mysteriousness of the algorithm and all this shit when we, when we get so tripped up with marketing. We forget that, like, your clients just really want their hair done and they want good results, right?

All the other fluff behind it, yes, it can be very helpful for your strategy, but at the end of the day, your clients want to see your work to be able to gain trust with you. So, it should not be taking up the majority of your feed, these Canva graphics and pictures of you, et cetera, et cetera. They can be there as long as they are offering value and they are relevant to your ideal client. So, cool, post Canva graphics if you want to, but they should be extremely valuable and relevant, like, massively valuable and relevant if you're not gonna be showcasing your work.

And it shouldn't be completely flooding your feed. I was like, "Who the hell told you that you have to post more Canva graphics?" And this person didn't even like making Canva graphics. I'm like, "If you don't like doing this, just fucking post your work and post what you like to post, and that is gonna connect with your ideal client and serve value and gain more trust, like, in that way instead."

It... The, the mode of how you post does not matter as much as is the post valuable and is it going to hit well with your ideal client and tr- make them trust you more? That's what matters at the end of the day. Last but not least, don't use call-to-actions.

It, it really doesn't matter whether you use it or not. I mean, sometimes people do need that push, like, to go to the link in your bio or to DM you, like, if that's something that you want to do. Like, sometimes people, like, just need a next action to s- and step to take if they've read or seen, like, a really great post that's getting them engaged. If you sh- share with them that that's even an option to be able to reach out to you in one way or another, or that's how you take the next step with you, then I think that it's worth putting a call-to-action in there.

Um, I think a call-to-action where you've built trust by sharing a tip or a trick and then giving them a call-to-action like, "Hey, I want you to try this yourself at home and tell me if that worked for you," I think is a really beautiful engaging post, and something that is very much in alignment with Instagram's mission of creating engagement and community. Like, that is a really great thing to do. You also don't have to use call-to-actions if you don't want to. It doesn't fucking matter.

Post what's working and getting you results. It really does not matter. Like, stop overthinking it and just post good content that's educating your clients, that's proving that you're the authority, that's making your clients feel like you understand their pain, you understand their problems, you understand where they're coming from, and share what... And then bridge your solution and prove to them why your solutions are excellent and amazing and why they should trust you and do business with you.

Now, here are two types of content that I've seen hairstylists post that are doing really well right now and actually getting them results, which is, number one, showing the process. People are very... Especially post-pandemic, people are just, have just consistently more and more and more been more interested in showing the process. I think people have a...

Had a lot of bad experiences with hairstylists. I think people are more... Less trusting of hairstylists more than they, they've ever have been before. And I think showcasing your process, and this looks like your consultations, your applications, how you're styling, and having your client's face and the, the interactions between you and the client in it as much as possible, is really, really powerful.

And it does not have to always be a video. A video's really powerful in, in, in... To be able to showcase a process, but, uh, it could also just be your client, like, flipping over for you to diffuse their curls or something like that. That's been working really well for my curly people within my programs.

So, showing the process and posting that type of content I've seen get people really good results right now, and then educating or showcasing a niche but relevant topic. So, right now, people who are... I know that there's a lot of people who are do- like, uh, advertising, like, detoxes because they live in areas where there is really hard water and the ha- water takes a big toll. And it's interesting how that, like...

Eh, that, it's, it's, it's kind of picked up some traction and people are really interested in this right now, and so therefore, um, I've seen some hairstylists really take advantage of that, and it's very shocking content. It's something that really catches the eye, right? And then it gives somebody... Eh, it makes somebody problem-aware, so they would, would have never thought about getting detox before, but now they realize, like, "Oh, I have frizziness and my hair is so brittle because there's a bunch of build-up on my hair."

You're showing that you have a solution for them and you're showing that you're the authority and you're proving that you know what the hell you're doing with it when it comes to the solution, and it's worth it for them to invest in that solution, right? Um, it goes back to the main fundamentals and core marketing, uh, theory that I'll... Eh, that I just shared with you in this episode, that I just gave you a crash course on. Um, another thing that's not as, as relevant to that, like, eh, to, uh, like, a problem and a solution, but that is doing well right now I've seen is, like, scalp spas.

So, like, if you showcase, like, going really, uh, in-depth and having a lot of detail to specific scalp spa services, I feel like this one's a little bit more trendy and it's gonna come and go and it's a lot harder to market and get traction with, but I have seen people really maximize it, um, and do really, really well with it and actually explode their requests with it. Now, everything I just shared with you, I said, "It's working well." It's working well for the certain hairstylists that I've seen, um, and I've seen it work for a lot of people. Does not mean it's gonna work for you.

Does not mean that it's going to fit well for you. Does not mean that you're gonna be skilled enough or you're not gonna be the right hav- It does not mean that you're gonna have the right ideal client for it to work, um, that you have the, the social media savvy to make that work for you. So then therefore, don't fucking do it. Focus on what's gonna work for your ideal client.

If you don't know what's gonna work for your ideal client, you need to do some restrategizing with your marketing fundamentals. Again, we teach you how to do that, like, really build a beautiful foundational strategy so you know what you need to post and, and you know what's gonna get an ideal client into your chair, right? In Chief Marketing Hairstylist, my mini course, it's available all the time. It's super cheap.

I mean, it's, it's wildly cheap for the value that we give you, um, and it's based on real data and feedback, on my website right now if you wanna check it out. My friend, stop letting the gurus and the fucking trends and the overwhelm stop you from making money. Stop. Just post.

Post shit that is good, from a strategic space, of course, but that is going to offer value. You know how to offer value. You are an experienced hairstylist. You take really good care of your clients.

Translate that into social. It's really, really, really, like, a simple concept if you demystify it. You have the choice to do so. So, so much love to you.

Hope that you enjoyed this episode, my friend. Peace out, girl scout. Bye-bye.

End of transcript. © 2024 Hunter Donia LLC.