But we are in a new wave of work-force mentality while simultaneously watching the old values of work-force mentality dissolve.
If there’s anything the past 2 years have taught us, it’s not only that change is inevitable in work-culture but that it’s running at an accelerated pace. Is your Salon ready to keep up? Or is your salon one step ahead and ready to set the pace?
Check out the following descriptions on contemporary salon efficiency to find out what fits in with the fast-paced changes the hair industry is currently experiencing and how you can increase efficiency in all capacities within your own salon.
Running an Efficient Salon Workplace
Good efficiency within a salon is largely about time management and maintaining a well-staffed environment. But when you dive deep into what time management entails, you’ll see every aspect of your salon culture is involved. From marketing to the education you supply your staff, nothing is missed.
Maximizing efficiency means looking at the major aspects of what it takes to run a successful salon here in 2022. And now more than ever, the details that lead to success have been modified.
What it took years ago to increase salon efficiency: advertising through visual portfolios, paid marketing campaigns through a trusted company, semi-professional photography, industry connections to magazines, an in-house rep at red carpet events, a kick-ass front end of staff especially your receptionist squad, hard-earned community connections, clear company policy and values, quality assistants, sending an in-house trainer out into the world to accumulate knowledge and bring it back and train other employees, etc.
VERSUS …
What it takes now to run an efficient salon: Knowledge of social media algorithms and how they work, skilled marketing person/team/or personal education that can help you manifest an influential brand identity, capacity to pay for top notch education for staff, assessing the analytics of target Youtubers within the hair industry to create content with, scheduled breaks, evolution of in-house aesthetics, authenticity within your brand identity, new employee benefits that don’t cut corners, knowledge of video production (especially short videos or a budget to hire a videographer), how to compete with independent salon suites, and knowledge of green products and practices.
Let’s look deeper at these aspects of the modern salon industry.
The Break Down For an Efficient Modern Salon
Knowledge of Social Media Algorithms and How They Work. Social media algorithms are essentially mathematical calculations based off data that create what you see in your feed. The way you interact with your social media provides clues as to what you look at the most or search frequently. The algorithms collect this information and then generate what they believe you will want to see in your future feed and ads.
-Algorithms on different platforms measure different things. Facebook looks for “heart-felt” content, which may increase how likely someone is to engage with your post. Instagram looks for interaction, begging the question, how likely is a viewer to interact with the post?
-Algorithms are meant to help connect you within your specific industry. For a salon, making sure to interact with hair influencers and educational platforms regularly helps curate your online community. Keep your business and personal social media accounts separate so the algorithms can tailor your content specifically to your salon.
Marketing is largely social media driven. But where do you begin when you want to upgrade your salon’s approach? The Marketing Manager of Salt Society and Salt Hair is Sarah Fasolo. If you’ve viewed Salt’s content, you know instantly they’re working with someone who can craft a video to evoke trust, emotional experience, and a strong sense of brand identity. Jaime Sea lets you in on their marketing secrets too by providing a free resource called “Everything Social Media and Marketing” that provides a glimpse into best marketing practices. Take a look! Whether you are ready to hire a guru like Sara Fasolo or begin by reading this free resource, you are headed in a beautiful direction.
Knowledge of Video Production and Video Trends. No matter what happens with the social media algorithms at the moment, one trend always shines through: videos get higher results than photos. This is why reels, video carousels, live feed, etc are so important. If you want to boost engagement, video creation is a must. If your budget can afford it, hire someone who can create content that fits your brand identity or can help you curate it to make it new. If you need to do it on your own, here are 5 apps to use for short videos.
-Vimeo
-iMovie
-VideoLeap
-Splice
-PicPlayPost
Text and on-line booking. Imagine this: limiting what your receptionist has to do booking-wise can increase the ease and power of booking for the salon at large. Instead of having them take all the calls and plug them into the software, clients can either directly book themselves through say an Instagram tag linked to the salon’s Instagram profile, or they can book through text. What’s the benefit? With clients booking themselves, it saves time and energy. The receptionist might not be so tied up with booking then and can employ her skills as an amateur videographer/marketing specialist. Just make sure the roles and what’s expected in each is clearly laid out. With clients able to book themselves, you can book more per hour as well.
Taking Care of Your Employees Through the Best Education Plus Benefits. To stay competitive with salon suits and independent stylists, great benefits for your employees are a must. They provide an attractive advantage and may help a stylist choose you over going independent. 3 of the most important ones are: affordable health care insurance options, the best in educational resources, and mentorship. By offering quality options your employees will feel well taken care of, especially concerning how difficult life has been over the past couple of years. Employees are looking for a sense of security and making sure you’re well-staffed is one of the best ways to maximize salon efficiency. But you need to gain your employees trust through how you care for them as real people. Providing mentorship and quality education shows you care for their development as stylists/colorist.
Resources
Everything You Need to Know About Social Media Algorithms | Sprout Social
Understanding algorithms to improve your salon's social media (professionalbeauty.co.uk)
How does the Instagram algorithm work in 2022? | A guide for marketers and creatives | Vimeo
Free Resources: Marketing + Branding (saltsocietyeducation.com)