It’s the beginning of December, how cow! Thanksgiving is done, Black Friday is done, Christmas 2021 is coming up fast. You’ve been busy. Crazy busy. I hope through all the craziness you’ve taken some time to look back at everything you’ve accomplished, and everything that’s changed. Because guess what, guys? More change is coming!

A lot more business is taking place online these days, and this holiday season is obviously gonna be different than Christmases past. This is great news for you and for me. This holiday season, a ton of people will be online shopping and browsing social media for gift ideas. That means you need to be advertising where they are - online. And it means I get to talk about my favorite online marketing tool: Facebook Ads!

Facebook Ads are paid advertisements that show up on your audience’s timelines. You can run the same ads as Facebook on Instagram, as well. They get noticed. It’s impossible not to notice them, especially if they’re tailor-targeted to your ideal demographic and have all the key ingredients. The best part is that they don't cost very much! Most of my students spend around $5 a day for their ads.

Imagine spending $5 a day Dec 10 - 25... that's $75. But now imagine you finish off the month having sold $1000 in gift cards, $500 in retail, and with 5 new clients booking in through your ads. These things can happen with ads! The investment is worth the revenue results.

In my course The Facebook Formula for Salons, I go through every little detail about who, how, when and why to target your specific audiences to drive those sweet, sweet sales, which I’ll be relaunching early next year (click here to get on the waitlist!) But just for you guys, because it’s the holidays and I love ya, today I’m sharing a few of my secrets about Facebook ads - holiday edition!

Without further ado, let’s jump into the 5 Facebook Ads you need to run this holiday season!

The ‘Holiday Sneak Peak’ Ad

The Holiday Sneak Peek ad will get your audience excited about all the cool promotions you’re running and exciting things you’ve got planned for December (you’ll get some cool new ideas below!) It’s your chance to reel people in with beautifully staged photos, videos, and offers that will get their motors running to spend at your salon during the busiest season of the year!

The template shown above is an example of a Facebook ad with a holiday sneak peak. In this type of ad, you’ll have room to share all the juicy details you want your audience to know about your holiday promotions. The goal is to drum up lots of excitement by sharing special promotions, contests, or packages you’ve put together for the holidays. In the image shown, the hair salon is running two holiday gift card promotions, and a Winter Pampering Package with a complimentary moisture treatment is returning as the perfect gift for the beauty queens or kings on your Christmas shopping list.

The example above is a video ad (my personal favorite!) by our same example hair salon as above. Video ads convert so well for beauty businesses, so I highly recommend them. Your video ad should be something that will get people pumped up to visit this holiday season - a tour of your beauty space, a fun vid of your staff dancing around in holiday themed clothing, or, like the example shown, a quick video of a staff member putting in highlights. Be sure to include details about your holiday promotions in the text of this type of ad, too - the video will grab attention, and then you can seal the deal with the exciting details of your promos.

Both these types of ads can be shared everywhere, with all audiences, both ‘warm’ (those who have interacted with your socials/websites/ads before) and ‘cold’ (brand new to your salon). That means on Facebook, Instagram, your email list, on your website - get these ads out everywhere you can manage to, so your community knows the amazing offers you have available during the holidays!

The Gift Card Campaign ad

Gift cards are a huge seller during the holidays for all types of businesses, but they’re an amazing marketing tool for beauty businesses in particular. They provide the perfect opportunity for your loyal customers to introduce your beauty business to their friends and family. They give you the promise of future business and the chance to convert new visitors to long-term bookings. Your services are a luxury item, the perfect way for gift-givers to say, “treat yourself” - and gift cards are the access point to that world of luxury!

There are so many ways to promote gift card sales during the holidays, but one of my favorite ways was inspired by Daniela Woerner of Spa Marketing Made Easy. In our interview here, she shared an amazing idea: “buy $100, get $100”. When a customer buys a $100 gift card, they are given 5 $25 gift cards, which they can give to friends and family during the holidays. What a great way to get 5 new clients from one sale! You can then win these new clients over during their ‘free’ visit and convert them to lifelong devotees.

Your Facebook and Instagram ads for your gift card campaigns should be visually appealing, fun, punchy, and personal.

In the example above, the text focuses around the utter craziness of the holidays and that the gift of ‘peace’ and ‘tranquility’ is as easy as buying gift cards for your loved ones from your favorite salon. It’s an inviting offer for those busy shoppers - simple, quick, easy, but luxurious for the person receiving the gift card.

The visual for your ad should be holiday-themed, enticing, and obviously reflect your personal brand. If you’re able to gather your staff for a quick video, do it! People in ads are the best way to grab attention.

You should promote your gift card ads to all audiences. The goal of this ad is either send your audience to your online store for gift card purchases, or to come into your salon space to purchase from your storefront, so be sure to link to more information via your website or Facebook page!

The Stocking Stuffer ad

The Stocking Stuffer ad is the perfect way to promote ‘$20 or less’ salon retail items. If you plan on selling and promoting more of your retail products during the holidays, this is the ad for you!

Inspired by Lush, one of my favorite ways to do this ad is to put together a ‘Gift Guide’ - a collection of your salon’s retail products compiled into a swipeable ad. I recommend you take your own photos of these products (instead of using stock photos) and have some fun with it! A sprig of holly, some wrapping paper, a few christmas ornaments or some dangling, sparking tree lights, and your products together in an adorable, festive visual will make for an eye-popping and jolly ad.

If you have an online store set up, be sure to link it in the ad text so that your audience can start stuffing their stockings from the comfort of home. Otherwise, encourage readers to come in and grab these items ‘while supplies last!’

The Stocking Stuffer ad is the reminder your loyal clients need that you sell great stuff that they don’t often see when they’re just in and out for an appointment. This type of Facebook ad is great for warm audiences, but can also be a nice intro for newbies!

If an online store is an option for you, and you’re just feeling a bit hesitant to set it up because you’re not sure how, this training will talk you through how to set one up! Because, my friends, this year is the year to sell your beauty products online. People are shopping from the safety of their home this season to avoid the crowds, so if setting up an online store is an option for you, don’t be afraid - let’s do it!

The ‘Welcome New Clients’ ad

The ‘Welcome New Clients’ ad attracts cold audiences. Facebook ads are really effective at drawing in new clients if they’re done correctly. A well done FB ad will introduce you and your salon in an inviting and fun way, and offer a neat promotion to new visitors.

The example above is an introduction from a salon in Kensington Market, introducing the staff in both a cute holiday video version, and a cheery text version. The promotion advertised is for new clients to get a $50 gift card redeemable for any ‘holiday hair service’. There’s an aspect of urgency added to drive appeal, as the promotion is only for the first 20 clients to book through the ad.

If you have online booking set up, of course you’ll need to link to that on this Facebook ad - especially if there’s a sense of urgency and scarcity to the promotion. If your shop tends to be slammed during December, you can set up these special ‘intro’ bookings for January or later in the new year.

And you guys know what I’m gonna suggest here, as always: a video is always the best way to introduce your beauty business to new clients on Facebook! Give a tour of your salon, show off a fun hair treatment being done, or even just do a tiny intro video of a couple of your salon staff members. People love watching these videos, and it gives you the chance to really show off your holiday spirit!

The 12 Days of Christmas ad

Okay, this is my favorite one, guys. I loooooove this idea for a series of holiday Facebook ads. Like, who doesn’t love the 12 Days of Christmas? If Christmas is not a holiday you celebrate, you can literally do any form of this countdown, regardless of what you celebrate. The idea is just to have a series of ads that show off your creativity and talent at your salon.

There are so many ways to do this fun promotion. It gets people excited as they count down the days and look forward to each day's reveal of promotions or products! Each day can be a different small promotion, or a product of service highlight.

From ‘12 Days of Nail Art from our Techs’ to ‘12 Days of Updos for your Holiday Parties’, there are so many fun and exciting variations of this type of ad. These ads are perfect for gaining new followers with your holiday-themed beauty inspo.

Some beauty businesses choose to do small giveaways for each of the 12 days, but you definitely don’t have to! A friend of mine, Trish at Bombshell Salon, did a special promo each day leading up to Christmas for a different product/service/package. For example, Day 10 could be, “Buy a gift card and get an extra $25 gift card to give away!”

A series of 12 ads is the perfect way to run a contest for audience engagement. You can encourage your audience to comment on each day’s ads for a chance to win a product or service on the 12th day.

These ads are a great opportunity to engage warm audiences and capture the attention of cold audiences - so share them everywhere! You’ll get the chance to promote your retail products and engage your community in some holiday cheer.

Want to make more sales this season? Try out some Facebook ads!

This is the time to really ramp up your engagement online. Facebook ads are fun, effective, and there are so many ways to do them!

I know, I know...you probably have a ton more questions. How do I get bookings from my ads? How much should I spend on ads? Should I be ‘boosting’ my posts? Is boosting the same as advertising? What results can I expect? What should be in my ads/videos/headlines? Well, my friends, don’t fret. I’ve got your back! Check out my free e-book The Facebook Ads Starter Kit for Salons to the answer to all these questions and more!

Have fun...and happy holidays!