As a lash artist, you may think your job simply comes down to doing excellent lashes to grow your business. But in a world driven by social media, not having an active social presence for your business is dropping the ball and hindering your path to success. With the ever-evolving content on social media, the most engaging drivers now are videos. They are accessible, engaging, and easier to assimilate ideas. So, let's explore the power of videos for your business and how to plan and execute them.
How can videos be used in your lash business?
As a lash business, videos can be a great way to build your brand, create awareness of your business, educate clients and staff, and target potential customers. Some ways to use videos for your lash business include:
- For marketing purposes: You would want your business to reflect your personality, and the best way to display this is through the videos you create. In addition, video content gives you the power to promote your products, achievements, knowledge, and business campaigns in a versatile and engaging way.
- For training for new staff/business: Staff retention is volatile, and recruiting and training new team members can demand a lot of your time and money. Having pre-recorded videos on the training processes can be helpful for you and your employees to stay on your brand guidelines. In addition, visual learning helps retain information better.
- Testimonials: Requesting clients to put in a good word for you can sometimes seem stressful to your clients. They are either too busy or do not have the gift of words. Video testimonials can be easier to create, quicker to record at the salon, and more impactful. Plus, potential clientele can see the hard work put into a new set of lashes and see the value in your business
Short vs long-form video
Before we jump into how you can use video for your lash business, it’s important to understand the types of video content out there – short and long-form video.
1. Short-form video
Short-form video content is the type of content you see as you scroll through Instagram, for example. Quick, snappy and engaging, short-style video content can range anywhere from five seconds to 10 minutes (this will differ with each platform). Short-form video is great for people who are new to creating video content, as the shorter length means less time editing and cutting shots.
2. Long-form video
Long-form video, on the other hand, is what you click on when you want to watch a youtube video, for example. Through discussing products, sharing tutorials and covering topics in length and detail, long-style content helps to keep users on your site or channel for longer, increasing watch time and improving overall rankings.
How to start using video for your lash business?
1. Start with a marketing plan
Small business owners rarely have a marketing strategy to lead their business, which can ultimately cause stress, inefficiency, and, eventually, failure to achieve their goals in the long run. A strategic marketing plan can help you keep your eyes on the prize.
Before making a video, have your marketing goals set as to what you are trying to achieve through them; it could be building a solid following, becoming an influencer, educating your existing clientele and keeping them loyal to the business, to gain new clients, talking of your latest achievements, or announcing a sale or discount. You will be surprised to see how setting a goal for each video will help you plan them efficiently. Research what is trending, the hashtags, and the keywords relevant to your topics to ensure you are easily found.
2. Spend time to understand your audience
Rome wasn't built in a day; similarly, don't expect to hit the bullseye as soon as you set your eyes on your goal. Understanding your customers may take you a while. Start with understanding which social platforms they are active on – Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, or other social media platforms. Focus on one and master it before you grow your following on other platforms. Posting different kinds of content on your social pages and monitoring the engagement can give you helpful insight into your audience's wants.
All social platforms have their own type of analytics ready for you to review and strategize your content accordingly. It would be beneficial to casually ask your clients about their lash concerns and get feedback on what they want to see on your pages. Keep track of your client demographic based on gender, lifestyle, age, behavior, required benefits, income, motivation, price sensitivity, or lash styles they are opting for. When you focus on your clients, you can create the right content tailored to their needs and requirements, move away from competition and build your business' identity.
3. Understand what video style will work best for your business
Do you want to outreach to your clients and build your brand, or do you want to educate and train lash artists and start your training career or be an influencer? If you are sure who your target audience is, the next progression in your video marketing strategy would be to create your assets. From Instagram and Facebook to Tik Tok, videos are the future of socials. With everything else you are doing to run your business, it would be worth considering how much time and resources you have to churn out videos regularly. While Instagram Reels, Stories, and Shorts would be straightforward, creating content to train your staff would have to be more professionally done.
For your socials, you should start populating how many videos weekly you would want to post and what would be the focus of your content. Begin with a short-form style and monitor the response before you move on to more professionally done videos.
Another point to remember is to ensure every video you shoot is aligned with your brand. Remember, while your videos provide value to your customers, you are also building your brand; therefore, staying consistent with your branding, like coloring, style of shooting, music, etc., is equally integral. With long-form content like training videos, you can write the script, hire a videographer and get it done professionally, put together, and brand-aligned.
4. Invest in quality over quantity
Creating videos is one of the most engaging ways to capture your audience's attention. Living at a time when the opportunity to capture your audience's attention is three seconds, creating video content that grabs them within those three precious seconds may sound like a challenging task. Good quality content is a critical factor that holds our ever-shifty audience's attention. Start investing in phones with high-resolution cameras along with a tripod to ensure your videos are not shaky. It's also essential to consider good lighting and sufficient memory to store all the footage. The content of your videos needs to also be on point and cater to your current audience.
What kinds of videos can you create?
Your content should add value to your clients and followers, answering their questions and increasing their awareness so they see you as an authority in the industry. Here are some of the types of video creation ideas:
1. Product Reviews
This is a great way to leverage your retail product stock. Prolong Lash aftercare products are highly effective and showcasing how to use them in a video format can be a great way to garner more interest. As a member of the Reseller Partner Program, along with discounted prices and support from the lash community, you also get assets like images and videos to use for your socials. This can save you time in recreating product videos.
If you are creating videos from scratch, ensure you have a script ready, or at least the essential points you will discuss. Talk less and focus on the product. Capture the unboxing of the product and its contents and discuss the benefits. You can even ask a willing customer who has used your product to appear in your socials video to review the product.
2. How-to
Ask your clients what part of wearing extensions they struggle with the most. Washing lashes can be tricky; creating videos on how to wash lashes would be a great start to help your clients maintain their lashes. You may want to organize a client to sign a no-objection document to demonstrate how to wash their lashes. Instructional videos such as making lash baths from Prolong Lash's concentrate bottles, applying an eye serum the right way, or keeping lashes safe in different seasons can be helpful tips for your customers. Create a storyboard and script ready before rolling. Create 60-90 second tutorials that can be snipped down for use on many different media channels. Use more visuals and simple language to keep viewers engaged.
3. Business advice
As an established lash artist, you should share your experience and skills with your audience. You could have a Q&A session on your social pages. Understanding what your audience expects from you would be a great start. You could talk about important topics that would be helpful to a potential lash artist:
- How to start their business from home
- The do's and don'ts of the business
- The different lash styles
- How to handle demanding clients
- Lash shedding
Keep it real and talk about the struggles and how to resolve them. The idea is to influence your audience with your skills and experience. You could even bring in an expert and have a Q&A session about particular topics or subjects. Consistently posting videos on YouTube can be a great medium to gain traction for your business. Going Live also helps, as your followers will get notified immediately.
Whether it is Facebook Live, Instagram Stories, Reels, or YouTube shorts, video content can be used to educate, entertain, and inspire your clients and viewers. Remember, there is no easy way to connect with your audience, however, videos can effectively provide value to your clients and encourage them to follow you and book an appointment.
Discover more useful tips and tricks for marketing your lash business from the Prolong Lash blog or learn how to partner with us for your lash business now.
