Social media doesn’t just need to be for likes and comments.

Although engagement is great - it shows that people love what you’re posting, that they are getting more familiar with your business, and that your social media posts are being appreciated - most business owners actually want something else. They want appointments.

When I surveyed 80 beauty business owners this was the number 1 thing they said they wanted from their Facebook marketing efforts.

Do you sometimes find yourself wondering what to post on Facebook to actually get appointments?

Do you feel like your social media efforts are often a waste, and you’re wondering if they even make a difference or not?

If so, I want to show you the easiest way EVER to get more appointments for your beauty business on Facebook. This method has worked for myself and for salon owners I’ve coached time and time again.

And it is so under-used because a lot of people don’t even know about it!

My secret? Set up simple Facebook ads promoting your services, and instead of boosting them or making viewers click a link to go to your website, you do this:

Make the post that has a button to “send a message” to book an appointment, and connect it to a super basic chatbot so potential clients can get more info about your promotion and how to book an appointment.

And the best part is, you don’t even need to use a complicated software for this. You can set this up right within Facebook.

I’ve coached salon owners with my program The Facebook Formula For Salons, and they’ve been able to get some incredible results with these kinds of posts:

One facial spa owner was able to get more than 50 clients to message her from her Facebook post
One marketing assistant for a beauty salon was able to get more than $1,400 in bookings for a facial package, spending $140 on Facebook ads for it (that’s a 10 times return on investment)
One mobile spray tanner was able to book in 14 people for spray tans, spending only $40 in ads for that promotion.

See? Facebook posts don’t just have to be for likes and comments, they can also be really good for getting appointments, as long as you set them up right.

All you need to do this kind of post is:

A promotion or package that you’re offering
A video or photos to show off your salon and special offer
Text to promote your offer
A Facebook Ads Manager account. You can go to Facebook.com/adsmanager to set it up

If you’re wondering exactly what you should do for your offer, videos/photos, and text, and how to target your perfect clientele, download my ebook below! I show you A-Z everything you need to set up a successful Facebook ad:

Okay, now let’s get started on setting up your post to get more bookings!

Step 1: Create a “Messaging” ad in the Facebook Ads Manager

The Facebook ads Manager will help you to set up proper Facebook ads that get you bookings, instead of just likes and comments.

Because here’s the thing: When you boost posts on Facebook, you’re telling Facebook that you want engagement on your posts. So Facebook will show those posts to people most likely to engage with them. And all you end up with is this:

That’s great, but what you really want from your posts are actions that lead to appointments, like potential clients sending you a message.

That’s perfect, because in the Ads Manager, you can tell Facebook that your goal is to get messages from your post:

This means that Facebook will show your ad to people most likely to send you a message within your chosen target audience.

Step 2: Choose your target audience

The next step is to choose who you want to see you ad, and where they’ll see it.

You have so many options for who to target with your ads, including:

People who have different interests (like spray tanning or microblading)
People who are in a certain age range (for example women 20-25)
People in different areas of your city (you can target by address or ZIP code)
People on your email list
People who have visited your website within the past few months

You can choose any of these options, or if you want my advice for the best groups of people to target, download my ebook above!

Next, you need to choose your placements, which is WHERE your ad will be seen. If you want to make things easy, choose all placements.

Otherwise, the most common and easy places to show your ads is Facebook AND Instagram. You’ll be able to show your ads to even more people this way.

Step 3: Set up your messaging ad

Next step in the Ads Manager is to insert all the visual parts of your ad, which attract attention, excite potential clients, and ultimately get them to book an appointment with you.

First, insert your photo or video and your text. I recommend videos over photos because they’re more personal and engaging. If you do something like an intro to yourself or a salon tour, that’s perfect. Try to make the video around a minute long or less.

For your ad text, write it to make your promotion as enticing as possible, while also describing what your promotion is and why they should book now. Try to put in some scarcity and urgency, too.

Then, write the headline of your ad that will appear underneath your video or photo. It can be a summary of what your promotion is and encourage action, for example “Book your summer facial special now”.

Then, choose what your button will say. You can make it say “Book now”, “send a message” or many other options.

The next step is the fun part: you get to choose what happens when someone clicks “Send a message” by setting up a simple auto messaging system.

Step 4: Set up your automated messenger to book appointments

This is where the real magic comes in. When someone is interested in booking with you, they’ll press the “Send Message” button, and you can set up some automatic responses to help them book an appointment, with the most commonly asked questions you’ll get from potential clients. They’ll look something like this:

And then, the super cool part is that you can answer their questions automatically with a chatbot, without even needing to type your response out to them:

The reason that this mini messaging bot works so well for booking appointments is that:

Chatbots are interactive, and they’re more interesting to interact with than a website with information about your services
It’s extremely easy for potential clients to ask questions and get immediate responses, without waiting on you to type a response to them
You can keep your bookings directly on Facebook or Instagram, which most people prefer nowadays instead of visiting a booking form or needing to call you.

So, how exactly can you set this up?

First, go to the “Messenger setup” section, create your own welcome experience, and edit the standard template:

Here you can type in a message that someone will get when they press “Send a message”. I recommend you say hi to them and ask them if they’re interested in your offer:

Then, underneath, type out three questions that you know you’ll probably get in regards to your post. In my experience, people will often ask when you’re open or available, where you’re located, and also they’ll ask about what’s included in your offer and the pricing (even though you already stated this in your ad text).

Choose three questions and then also type out your responses. These responses should be short, and also include a question at the end about wanting to book an appointment:

You can also preview how your chatbot will look like in Messenger:

Once you’re happy with your ad and your mini chatbot, press “Submit” at the bottom and your ad will be submitted to Facebook for them to approve, then it can start running.

Step 5: Keep an eye on your Facebook business page inbox

So now you have a Facebook or Instagram ad running, and potential clients can ask questions and get answers from your chatbot. But how do they actually book an appointment?

You’ll need to regularly check your inbox on your business page to respond to questions and confirm bookings. The chatbot can do some things, but you’re sure to get other questions that you need to respond to manually, plus when someone tells you their preferred appointment time, you’ll need to get their information and confirm their booking.

So check your inbox a few times a day, respond to those messages, and watch the bookings come in!

In conclusion

Yes, social media is great for increasing client loyalty, getting engagement, and building awareness in your city. But my favourite part of social media are these little hacks that help you to actually get appointments.

By setting up a simple chatbot and connecting it to your Facebook ads in the Ads Manager, you can help potential clients to easily ask you questions, give them more info, and help them to book an appointment.

By the way, if you want a step by step process to launch profitable Facebook ads, I have an ebook for you! Download it below to learn all about ad text, videos, audience targeting and more!

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