Now that we’ve all processed the Coronavirus crisis, we have to figure out how to get back into posting on social media. Even though your salon might not be opened and you aren’t seeing clients, it’s important to still show up and support them outside of the salon.

I sat down with Jamie Dana for a workshop on what to post on Instagram during this time and why this strategy is so important for stylists.

Jamie is a hairstylist, salon owner, and also educates other hairstylists on how to grow their business using Instagram. Two years ago she gave up her clientele and went full time into education. She educates stylists and salon owners through online programs and social media.

I started off by asking Jamie what she is seeing from other hairstylists, how they are reacting, and what they are doing moving forward. She mentioned that a lot of stylists are feeling confused, and maybe awkward about how to approach this sensitive topic.

My key takeaway from this interview with Jamie was that we need to keep showing up during this time and that it might be more important than ever.

In this interview, Jame is sharing why you should be showing up or what you should be posting on Instagram for the next four weeks, including how to find content to reuse and repurpose to be able to continue to attract new potential clients and serve your existing audience and clients all at the same time.

Things have been really scary in the last couple of weeks. A lot has unfolded in the past week alone and in fact, things are not just happening by the day, but are happening by the hour.

Jamie shared that it’s ok to be feeling a lot of different emotions during this time. We all are!

Whether you're stressed, worried, scared, anxious or terrified, or even maybe feeling frozen and don't know what to do, your feelings are valid and you're allowed to feel the way that you do. No matter how those around you are feeling! Ultimately this has never happened before and none of us really know how to feel right now or what to do. Allow yourself to give yourself a little grace.

We've all had to make really hard and difficult decisions in the past couple of weeks!

At the start of this interview, Jamie actually did a little exercise to help us all breathe and release anything we were holding onto. Close your eyes, and take a few deep breaths. Take this moment to reset, refocus, and get ready to learn about how we can actually work on our businesses instead of just working in them. Take a really deep breath from the bottom of your lungs and hold that breath.

Now, open your eyes. The reason Jamie wanted to do this was so that we could all focus and center ourselves together. Whenever you are reading this blog or watching the interview I highly recommend that you try this exercise out. It really helped!

With every problem comes an opportunity

That is the one takeaway Jamie mentioned that she wants everyone to take out of this video. It’s important to remember that we only need to focus on things that we can control. Try shifting your mindset too:

“I can’t control that I’m out of the salon and not making money, but I can control how I spend my time and what I’m able to do during this break.”

Jamie added that you should focus your mindset and start to shift your mindset from all of the negative things that are happening, all of the things that we cannot control, things that are completely out of our grasp, and start to focus on what can I control in this situation?

Instead, think about what you can control. How can you support your clients in this time!

Things might feel uncertain and scary right now, but you can take this challenge that we've all been given and choose to do something with it, to grow your business in the midst of this storm by simply showing up. And we're going to talk about why showing up is so important.

In this interview, Jamie discusses the three challenges or problems that stylists might be facing that can be turned into bigger opportunities.

Challenge #1 - How do I keep supporting my clients during this time, even though I'm not in the salon?

We are so lucky we get to connect with our clients outside of the salon! In fact, people in general (and specifically your clients) want to see positivity in their lives right now and you are one of the people in their Instagram feed that can still add value to them at this time!

Just because you are out of the salon, does not mean you have to stop connecting with your clients and audience. In fact, we see most clients ever 6-8 weeks (sometimes longer) and this gives you a chance to connect with them even more during this time.

Remember, you have the clients that follow you, but you also probably have some people who aren’t your clients yet and you want to show up for them in this uncertain time and show them how you are different from other stylists and salons.

Three things you need to be doing right now:

Go follow your clients

If you’re not already following your clients on your hair or business page, go do so now. This allows you to comment/like and see what they’re up to with their time off to stay connected with them and build that relationship!

Don’t stop posting

For a lot of us, it's easy just to pull away and say, well, I'm not going to post for the next couple weeks or I don't know what to post. Your clients care about you too and you don’t want to “ghost” them during this time. This is your time to show up for them!

Think about it, if you “ghost” them (like probably a lot of hairstylists/businesses will), you are not staying top of mind to them and you’re not adding value to their lives. If you can continue to show up for them through your Instagram, you will stand out as a positive light in a dark situation. And for those potential clients who their hairstylists has “ghosted” them, they might be out scrolling and stumble upon your page and see how you’re still showing up and adding value, they are way more likely to check you out then the salons open up vs. someone who is not posting.

People are scrolling social media now more than ever. Facebook almost crashed because so many people are using it right now. People want connection, they want positivity, and they want a bit of normalcy in their lives. You can give that to them!

Reach out

Reach out to your clients via DM, text, or email and ask them if there is any way you can be of service or support them during this time. It could be recommending stylist products, shampoos, or even products to cover their roots. It could be sharing a hair tutorial you created on how to style their hair to hide their roots/prolong their grown out cut. You can add them to your reschedule notification list asking what services they might want when you reopen again.

Challenge #2 - I don’t know what to post on Instagram because it feels awkward to continue on with what I’ve been posting

Right now, it can feel like an awkward and sensitive time and maybe you felt like you shouldn’t be posting because it might be too insensitive. Jamie immediately dispelled that myth. We've talked about why you should still be posting on Instagram, but the big question is now what to post.

If you haven’t talked about the situation at hand yet, you should. There is a big elephant in the room and if yo haven’t addressed it yet, that’s okay, but you shouldn’t stay silent. It’s weird to not talk about it.

How you can talk about it:

• Talk about if your salon has closed or not, even if you don’t know when it is going to open again

• Share how you’re feeling about this whole thing. Vulnerability and transparency are so helpful in this time and it allows people to see your heart.

• You could even talk about how maybe you haven’t posted yet because you didn’t know what to post, but you still want to show up for your audience.

Ask your audience what they would like to see from you during this time. Give them poll options to make it easier for them to respond!

Here is an example of a post Jamie did to poll her audience. (This is even how she got the inspiration for the content in this interview!) People were able to read the options, and respond easily!

You can still share hair photos, but the captions are going to be more important than ever. Instead of just posting a blonde balayage and say “blonde balayage” Instead of talking about the hair like you normally would use this time to connect with your audience.

A few caption ideas:

• You could start the caption with something like “is it awkward to share hair photos in a time like this? This is a question I’ve been going back and forth on…”

• Talk about why you love being a hairstylist and miss connecting with clients

Remember, don’t stop posting! This is your time to show up, so let’s talk about ways to come up with content to post even if you feel like you’re going to have nothing self since you’re not in the salon.

Challenge #3 - I don’t have any content to post or I’m going to run out since I’m not in the salon

There are a few ways to find old content that you can reuse to post on Instagram.

Find old photos in your phone you never used. Go on your phone, and heart them or save them in your favorites. You’d be surprised at how many good photos you have never used!

You might be wondering if you can share photos from the same model or client? Yes you can! Jamie highly recommends it because you probably have so many amazing photos that you’ve never shared. Just don’t share the same client or pose side by side!

How to share this content again:

• Re-edit old photos. You can do a new crop to show a closer up.

• Change your editing style.

• Share a before and after side by side.

• A straight vs. curly side by side.

• An inspo vs. hair photo side by side.

This post is from @paintedhair, and it is a great example of how you can re-purpose old photos into new content to engage your audience.

You can also share video clips you never used. Edit them into a full video or share just a clip from a full video.

Dig through your Instagram stories archive to find content that could be re-used as a post. This is a hidden gold mine that people never think about! Go to your page, click the three bars at the top, archive, then you’ll see your stories archive. These are all of the stories you have shared.

Put video clips into a whole video, share a boomerang, or share a video of you talking as a post.

Finally, re-use photos that you are already posted. It’s okay to reuse photos, I’ve done it before on accident and intentionally. It’s okay to reuse, just don’t re-use them close together and change the caption or story around it.

You might be wondering how do you create new content without having to be in the salon? Jamie gave a few tips on this too!

Post photos of your hair or hairstyles. A lot of times our clients want to see photos of us, our hair, and our hairstyles. You can share videos or photos of you doing your hair. Share fun ways of how to hide your roots/change your style without having to get a hair color or cut. If your potential dream client has kids, share photos of your kid’s hair.

You can also share lifestyle photos. So often we think that our Instagram has to only be hair photos. This can be you sitting on the couch, homeschooling kids, or family photos. You can also use stock photos! Jamie also has a stock photo membership called The Social Suite. Share regular and relatable content about how you’re dealing with life being stuck at home. This helps your clients get to know you, so share more of your everyday life. Give your audience a sneak peek into your life so they can get to know you better.

You can share product photos during this time as well. Try to get out of the box of hair and salon photos, and get creative.

You can create videos. Styling tutorials on yourself, mannequin head videos and tutorials, how to use certain products, explaining things about hair or products such as why hair gets greasy or why grocery store shampoo isn’t great, how to prolong your style without having to wash every day, or how to prolong your hairstyle while at home. Encourage your clients to wait until you are back in the salon!

It’s important to keep showing up. By adding valuable content to your page, not only to support your clients, but also if a new potential client stumbles on your page, they’ll see your awesome content and how you’re still active and adding value. They could possibly become a client after this.

If you want to connect with Jamie, connect with her on Instagram @jamiedanahairstylist and on YouTube.