Facebook ads for salons: Exactly how we made $2150 in bookings with $210 in ads
If you’re like thousands of other salon owners, you’ve probably tried Facebook ads. And there’s a good chance they haven’t really worked for you. Maybe you threw some money into a boosted post with a link to your website to promote your services and then… crickets.
Several likes, a few comments and maybe one or two bookings. What a disappointment.
But it doesn't have to be like that. If done correctly, Facebook ads have the power to completely change your beauty business for the better. I promise.
The problem is that Facebook ads are changing all the time: What worked last year probably won’t work this year. What works now probably won’t get you clients next year.
That’s why I'm really excited about this blog post: It's based on a real case study of a real client that I helped with Facebook ads in the past few months.
I'm going to show you step-by-step the exact Facebook ads that I used for my facial spa client that got 80 leads, 33 appointment bookings as well as $2150 in revenue in one month. And we spent only $210 in ads.
"But Stephanie!" you may be thinking. “I thought that people pay you to do Facebook ads for them! If you show me exactly how it’s done, doesn’t that mean that I don’t need your help?"
Here are my two reasons for giving away such a large amount of knowledge for free:
1) My ultimate goal for Sunnystorm is to share knowledge and help salon owners. If you don't have the budget to have someone do Facebook ads for you, does that mean you don’t deserve to make more money? Absolutely not.
2) By helping you, I am also helping myself. There will always be people who are curious about how to do something, they see how to do it, understand how it works, why it’s important, and then they’ll say “yes, but I don’t have the time to do it”. That’s where I come in.
So, shall we get to the meat of the blog post?
What you need to know about Facebook advertising before getting started
I mentioned earlier that Facebook ads are always changing, and what worked last year probably won’t work now.
While that is true, there are some things you should know about Facebook ads, certain principles, that will always be true.
1) Don’t think of it as an ad, think of it as a conversation
People go on Facebook to be entertained, wowed, inspired, or learn something new. They do not go on Facebook to be sold to.
People can smell ads from a mile away, and even if they “like” you, if your post seems like an ad, they’ll scroll past so fast they won’t even read the first line that took you forever to write.
I’ll show you a few tips in this post to keep your ads friendly, approachable, and non-ad like.
2) Always target people who know you first
Even when you’re paying money for an ad and technically you can show it to anyone in the world, don’t forget that at its core, Facebook is a social network.
This means that the more people know and like you, the more they’ll interact with your ad.
There are several ways that you can show your ad to those who already know and like you:
1) A classic “boosted” post to your Facebook fans who already are familiar with you. You've probably done this already if you've ever boosted a post.
2) An ad targeted towards friends of your fans. You've probably done this before as well.
3) Collect the traffic of people who have been to your website and show them an ad
4) An ad targeted towards people on your email list
5) An ad targeted towards people who have watched one of your videos
If you want to learn exactly how to do numbers 3-5 (I highly recommend these methods), check out the end of this blog post for a free download.
3) Wherever you take people must match where they came from
If your Facebook ad takes users to another website or landing page, it must match the ad as closely as possible.
Have you ever heard of clickbait? This is exactly the opposite of what I mean. Clickbait is a "too good to be true" headline that leaves people feeling disappointed.
You want whatever you write and “sell” in your ad to match exactly what they’ll see when they get to your web page. Here are some ideas to do just this:
Use the same headline on your ad as on your landing/ web page
Use similar images and colours
Make the ad for a specific offer, service, or piece of info, and make the page specific to that (not just your general homepage)
4) Give them a good reason to click
People usually want to stay on Facebook and scroll until infinity. They don't generally want to be taken off of Facebook. Unless, of course, there is a really good reason.
The “reason” is your call to action, and it has to be compelling:
"Get 50% your next appointment by clicking here"
"Claim your voucher (only 30 available!) by clicking here"
That kind of thing. Whether it’s a discount, a limited time offer, or something so interesting that they have to click, that is your call to action.
You have to have an irresistible offer or piece of info that gets them excited and make that come across in your whole ad.
5) Try, test, retry.
I’ve been doing Facebook ads for several years, and I am still learning. No one is perfect, and one of the most important things I’ve learned is that you can’t assume anything. Follow “best practices” and advice from people who have done it before, but make sure to follow your own instincts, try things out, and if they don’t work, change them.
How to get $2105 in new appointments spending $210 in Facebook ads
This is the exact formula I used to promote a package for my client in Australia. She had recently hired new staff and wanted to find new clients for them by promoting a spring package including eyebrow henna and shaping, lip waxing, and hand and arm massage.
My client was extremely pleased with the results, and so was I!
What you need to get started
1) Someone to respond to comments, book appointments, and answer questions on Facebook
We’re going to set up an automated system to take care of most of these things, but there will always be people commenting and messaging you. The faster you respond, the better. So be sure that either you or another staff member devote at least 5 minutes a day to responding.
2) An irresistible offer
We put together a package for spring (just starting in Australia when we ran the ad) that was normally $95 AUD, for a special price of $65.
You may be reluctant to discount your services, but consider this as a way to get new leads and clients. The leads you can email in the future with newsletters and market to them, and the new clients will end up spending more money and becoming loyal clients. Think of it as an investment.
I recommend using an offer that costs less than $100. Remember that generally the less expensive your deal is or the more valuable it is, the more leads you’ll collect.
3) A budget for advertising
I recommend spending at least $5 a day for one month to make this campaign a success. Plan for between $150-$200 minimum in ads.
4) Images of your services, or even better a video
People are visual creatures and Facebook is made for looking at pics and videos. If you’re promoting spray tanning, hair, eyebrows, etc: before and afters or client pics are perfect. If you’re adding in products to create a package, pictures of those will help, too.
5) A landing page
This is a simplified, single webpage made specifically for your offer. Further down in this article I’ll show you how we set ours up, but to start with here is a list of landing page software that’s easy to use:
In this article I’m showing you how to set up a landing page with Instapage. They have a 14 day trial so you can try it out and see how it works before you decide to pay.
6) Email software
When people claim your promo from your landing page, they’ll leave their email address and become a lead. You need to have email software connected to this for two reasons. First of all, you’ll want to send an automated email confirming that they’ve claimed the offer and giving them details for booking. Second, you can add their email address to your database and send them newsletters and promos in the future.
I recommend using your existing email software. If you don’t already use one, Mailchimp and Campaign Monitor are my two favourites.
7) A chat bot (recommended but not necessary)
We made a chatbot through ManyChat to get more contact info from our leads for our ad campaign. If you want see exactly how we made our chatbot, check out the free download below!
Download the free guide: 5 tricks to maximize your Facebook ads
8) Understand Facebook’s advertising policies
Before you create ANY ad, make sure that you’re familiar with Facebook’s rules for what you can and can’t show in an ad and landing page. If you don’t respect these rules, you could have your ad rejected, or worse, even your ad account suspended. Facebook ad policies.
Now, let's go create some awesome ads!
Step 1: Choose your offer to promote
Your offer is the specific promotion that you'll be using in this ad campaign. I personally prefer packages that are under $100, for example: a conditioning treatment, haircut and styling; a spray tan plus a spray tan product; or, like we did in our offer, eyebrow tinting and waxing, lip waxing, and hand and arm massage.
Your offer should be slightly discounted or include extra bonus services or products for free. For example, our offer was originally $95 and the promo price was $65. You also get bonus points if your offer is seasonal, for example a Christmas promotion.
Choosing an exciting, relevant, and attractive offer is the first ingredient to success for your campaign.
Step 2: Build your landing page
Your landing page is where you’ll send people who click on your ad.
I want to make something clear: you do not want to send people to your website’s homepage when they click on your ad. You also don’t want to send them to your booking page.
What you do want is a specially created single-page webpage that gives more info about the offer, gives info about you and your staff, and allows people to put in their contact info to claim your offer.
Using one of the landing page builders I mentioned above, you can make a drag and drop landing page in less than 2 hours.
I always use Instapage for my landing pages. It does cost $68 a month, but they have a free 14 day trial so you can build first and see if it works for you.
Here is part of the landing page that we used for our skin spa offer:
Here’s how to make an effective landing page like this with Instapage:
1) Log in and choose your template
Choose a template that looks good but is simple. It shouldn't be too long or have too many extra features and sections.
2) Change the fonts and colours to match your brand
You want to make sure that your landing page matches your salon's branding. Also make sure to put your logo at the top of the page.
3) Put the most important information about your offer above the fold
The top section of any web page is called “above the fold”. It's what people see first without needing to scroll down. You want to make sure that it contains the most important parts of your promo: the title, description, and image, and well as instructions for claiming the offer.
You should make reference to your geographic area, city or neighbourhood which will echo your ad (we’ll create that part later).
I also like to create a sense of urgency, either with a countdown timer to when the offer expires, or by showing that there are only a limited number of vouchers or promo codes available.
You also need a place to collect lead contact information and a strong call to action. On our landing page, when someone presses "I want my voucher", they get this popup:
4) Include info about where you're located
This could include a map, address, phone number and opening hours. Before claiming your offer, most people will want to know if they can actually get there.
5) Use “trust” factors about your salon
These could include client reviews, any awards you might have won, your Yelp, Facebook or Google rating, or links to positive PR.
6) Include a gallery of images
Your landing page should have pictures of services included in your promo, of your staff or location. Include anything that gives a better understand of the service or package you're promoting and gets people excited about coming in.
7) Include a second call to action
I like to reiterate the promotion at the bottom of the page and give another “Call to action” button.
8) Connect the landing page to your email service provider
I’ll show you how to set up the email in the next step, but for now just make sure that you connect your landing page to an email list.
9) Make a mobile version of your landing page
On Instapage, you just have to switch to mobile view and then move things around so they look good from a mobile phone.
10) Make a thank you page
This is another page that your leads are redirected to after they put in their contact info. It should be similar in style to your original landing page, but it should say something like “Thank you for claiming the offer. Since there are a limited number available, please call us to book your appointment now."
Include your phone number and instructions for booking an appointment. Here's what our thank you page looks like:
11) Publish your landing page to your website
With Instapage, you can publish to a domain like promo.yourwebsite.com/fallhair.
12) Set up lead notifications
Whichever landing page builder you use, you’ll want to make sure that you get notified each time you get a lead, so that you can follow up with them. On Instapage, you can go to the "leads" section and set up notifications there.
13) Test out your landing page
Test it out from your computer and mobile to make sure it looks good and works properly when you insert your info. The last thing you want is to launch an ad campaign with a landing page that doesn't work!
If you want to see the full landing page that we built, check out the free bonus download at the end of this article.
Step 3: Set up your email autoresponder
We’ll be setting up two different types of ads for this campaign. One of them will have a chatbot to communicate with leads. The other one will follow up with leads through an automated email.
Whatever landing page software you use (I use Instapage), make sure that it integrates with your email software. If you don’t have email software, the easiest one to use (it's also free) is Mailchimp. My personal favourite for email marketing is Campaign Monitor.
Use your chosen email software to set up a list of contacts and create an autoresponder; an email that will be sent automatically to people when they claim your offer.
Your email should be friendly, helpful and informative. It should welcome people to your salon, repeat to them the offer, give them a voucher code if applicable, and explain to them how to book an appointment.
Step 4: Set up your boosted post to get engagement and comments
Now we'll set up the first Facebook ad with the goal of getting people to leave a comment in order to claim the voucher or package.
Here is the "engagement ad" that we set up for this package:
This will be a post you’ll write on your Facebook page and pin to the top, so it’s the first thing people see when they visit your page.
You’ll notice a few important things about this post.
First of all, it’s informal, friendly and fun. Introduce yourself and mention the city, area or neighbourhood you’re in, so people know that it applies to them. Get them excited and interested about what you’re promoting and provide a few details about what the package or service consists of.
Don’t be afraid to use emoticons and informal words, because remember this is a conversation, not a sales post. Add in a picture of your service (I especially like before-and-after pictures) and ask people to comment something on the post in order to claim their voucher, deal, or promo code.
Post this to your page and click on “Boost post”. You’ll want to boost it to people who like your page and their friends.
How much budget you put into your boosted post depends on how much you have to work with. I recommend trying $20 a week and if it works well, put more budget in the next week.
Step 5: Set up your chatbot to collect lead info (optional but recommended)
When people comment on your boosted post, it means they’re active on Facebook and excited about your offer. If you’re able to send them a private message as soon as they comment with more details about how to claim your offer and book an appointment, they’re much more likely to do so.
If instead you wait a few hours until you or your staff member checks Facebook, this potential client will probably already be off Facebook and possibly disinterested.
A Facebook chatbot will automatically send a private message to commenters asking for their contact details to book an appointment, and give them information about how to claim the promo or voucher.
After we implemented a chatbot for this promo, we saw a huge response compared to manually sending messages. I highly recommend it.
If you want to see exactly how we set this up using the free ManyChat chatbot app, download the free guide at the end of this blog post.
Step 6: Set up your landing page ad campaign
If you’ve played around with Facebook ads, there is a pretty good chance that you’ve tried out boosted posts directly from your page.
For this second ad, we’re going to use the Ads Manager instead of boosted posts. It may seem daunting at first, but if you follow these steps, setting up an effective ad should be a breeze.
1) Enter in Ads Manager and set up your account
Enter your business info, credit card info and more.
2) Click on "Create an ad"
Go to “create an ad” in the top right corner, or you may be brought automatically to the ad creation page, which looks like this:
3) Choose your campaign objective
A “campaign” is a group of ads that all have the same objective. The objective in this case will be to bring the right people to your landing page to claim your offer. Under objective choose “traffic” since you want to bring traffic (people) to your landing page.
You’ll need to name your campaign. I recommend calling it something descriptive about your promo, like Spring Haircut $50, Henna promo, etc.
Step 7: Choose who you’ll target with your ad
The next step is to create your "ad set". Your ad set is who you will be targeting with this promo. For each campaign you can set up multiple ad sets, meaning that your ad will be shown to different groups of people. For now we’ll just be showing it to one group of people or one “ad set”.
You’ll want to choose a gender, age range, and geographical area around your salon to show this ad to. Who do you think would love this promo the best? Who is your ideal client?
We chose to target our ads to women, 19-35 years old, who were within 10 miles of the skin spa.
First of all, name your ad set to describe who will see your ad. It could be “women 18-30 in New York” “men 35-60 in Toronto” etc.
Under “traffic” choose website.
Under “offer” choose off.
When it’s time to choose your audience, it should look something like this:
Choose “People who live in this location” and type in your salon’s address. Then choose a radius of how far away you want to target.
The radius you choose has a lot to do with how large or small your city is. Ideally you’ll want to target at least 50,000 people, which you’ll be able to see under "audience size" on the right:
Next, choose the gender and age range you want to target.
Skip detailed targeting and connections.
Under “placements” choose “edit placements” and deselect everything except Feed Placements. That means that your ad will only show up on Facebook’s news feed, which is where we want people to see it.
Under budget, you can either choose a daily budget or a lifetime budget. For daily budget, I would start out with no less than $5 a day. For lifetime, if you want the ad to last for a month, your budget should be 5 times the number of days in the month.
Leave all the other options as they are, and press continue.
Step 8: Create your ad’s content
First you’ll have to name your ad. Name it something that describes what people will see when they look at your ad. It could be “before after hair pic” “demo video” “client eyebrow image” etc.
For “Identity” choose your Facebook page.
For “Format” choose either carousel (multiple images), single image, or video.
The format you choose has a lot to do with the type of visuals you have to use.
I like carousel ads because you’re able to use multiple images in the same ad. If you just have one image, that’s fine too. If you have a video, that’s perfect!
For the text, use the same description that you used for your boosted post, but make sure to put a different “call to action”. Instead of telling people to comment, tell them to visit your landing page to claim the offer. Make sure to put your landing page link in both the text description, and in the destination URL below.
If you’re doing a carousel ad, deselect “add a card at the end with your profile picture”.
Then choose how many cards you want to show and upload a square image for each card. They should be high quality images of your services or package details.
Add a headline for each card describing the package. I like to use the same description for each card.
Your call to action should be “learn more” because people will want to learn more about your offer before claiming it.
At the end, your ad will look something like this:
Once you’re happy with you ad, submit it and it should be active within a few hours!
Step 9: Monitor and respond to your ads
Once your ads have been accepted, people will start claiming your offer. That's where things get exciting!
Make sure to check in on both of your ads once a day to respond to comments or questions. For each person that comments on your boosted post to claim your offer, make sure that they not only receive a private message, but that you also leave a comment saying that you’ve send them more details.
You’ll also receive notifications whenever someone claims your offer from your landing page, so be sure to follow up with these people to book an appointment.
What to do if your ads aren't working
It can often take up to 5 days for your Facebook ads to really start picking up steam, so give it a few days. If after 5 days you’re not seeing any comments on your boosted post, and you’re not receiving any leads, then you’ll want to check on a few things:
Check your ad delivery. Under ads manager you can see how many people have seen your ads. There might be a problem with ad delivery and not enough people are seeing them. You can update your ad set accordingly.
Check your ad description and images. Are they spelled correctly, have captivating copy and nice images? Update them if they’re not.
Check the links in your ad to your landing page. Are they correct? Do they bring them to the landing page?
Check your landing page. Does it look good from mobile? Does it work properly when you insert your email, and do you get an automated response email?
If you can’t see any real problems, show your ads to a friend in your target group and get their opinion. Is the offer attractive? Does the ad make them want to click or comment?
How to take your salon's Facebook ads even further
If this blog post wasn’t detailed enough, I’ve made a free guide that will show you how to take your salon's Facebook ads to the next level:
How to show your ads to people who have visited your website
How to target your email list with Facebook ads
An easy trick to use videos to improve your Facebook ads
How to set up a chatbot for free that will respond to people who claim your offer
An exact copy of the landing page we used for this client
Download the free guide below to see how to do these things and make your ads even better.
Also, don’t forget that I ran this ad campaign for a client, spending only $210 AUD in ads and bringing in more than $2150 in bookings in one month.
If you know that you want to do the same thing, but don’t have time or patience to do it yourself, get in touch with me here and we can create the campaign for you.