How to sell salon and spa retail through Instagram (the easy way!)
Eunice Montes Hamaguchi is the owner of Bellabar, an organic spa and beauty boutique in Orange County.
Eunice has done an amazing job marketing her spa as a green and clean beauty space, focused on providing all natural beauty services and products.
From humble beginnings partnered with five clean beauty brands, Eunice has built Bella Bar up to consist of 25 brands with solid reputations, and a bustling online shop where she sells so many cool health and beauty products.
Her spa has become known as a “wellness lifestyle” brand on its own, as she carries loungewear, accessories and home goods for fans of comfort and health combined.
Eunice is very particular about the brands she chooses to carry in her online shop: she does a ton of research to make sure that the ingredients list of each product she carries is natural and organic, and will vibe well with her business.
“I use different marketplaces, like Faire. I use Instagram a lot. If something captures my eye, I go and research it. And for me, the most important part of it is the ingredient list. If it's all natural I'll take the time to look more into it. I'll reach out to the brand, find out their minimums and just deal with them directly.”
“For me, it's a lot more than just picking something up. I [will] order some samples and I'll try it out myself to make sure that it works or that I like it.”
Eunice says that trying out each product sample before she carries it is a very important step in her process, because she has another rule about who she partners with:
“I don't bring anything into the store that I personally wouldn't use.”
Because of the great reputation she’s built online for herself, she often has brands sending her free samples and pitching partnerships, but she’s selective in that process as well.
“I get a lot of brands pitching me products all the time and the majority of them are not in line with my values. So I kind of just skip [them]. And I try not to be wasteful, so I don't want to accept products ‘just because’...I'm very mindful when it comes to that.”
Eunice shares her experience building and advertising her spa and online shop using social media in today’s blog post…and she is definitely the person to learn from, considering she’s quadrupled the growth of her business in just a few years WITHOUT USING SOCIAL MEDIA ADS! 🤯
No matter what type of beauty business you’re running (hair stylist, makeup artist, esthetician, waxer, tanning expert), whether you’re solo or part of a team, you’ll want to pay attention to what Eunice is doing…because she’s definitely doing it right!
Here’s how to advertise your online beauty shop organically
Eunice has a very intentional, thoughtful and authentic approach to her spa and online shop. She carries the products and brands she believes in and actually finds useful, but she’s also very keen to know what her clients want from her.
Ask your audience what they want to see and buy
“I do a lot of polls on Facebook and Instagram about products, [asking], ‘What do you want to see today [or] ‘What's your skin concern?’”
She keeps audiences engaged through consistent interaction on Instagram mostly, and Instagram has actually become the way she generates the most revenue online.
And the coolest part about that? She doesn’t even pay to run ads.
“I don't do any paid advertising. It's all organic and through word of mouth. Instagram is probably my biggest revenue generator as far as services and product sales [goes].”
Post consistently
“I do a lot of posts. I mostly focus [on] product education on [my] Stories. So I'll do a New Arrivals post and I'll be talking about all the new products that just came in. Last night I was talking about [how] I'm going to be doing an interview tomorrow.”
Be authentic and real
Eunice naturally engages and delights her audience on Instagram because she believes above all in just being yourself (something I tell you guys all the time!):
“I was showing off a product that I was using and…really the biggest thing [about] being on Instagram is being authentic. You’ll see, I don't have any makeup on [my Story.]. It's just me in my fresh face. I'm not afraid to show my skin. Or when I have a breakout, [saying] ‘Oh my goodness. I broke out this morning. Here's what I'm gonna put on my face to help it. You know? It's just being authentic and sharing what I'm using.”
Provide valuable education
“The thing [about] products and selling them online is that everyone's so different. And that's what I love about Instagram and hate about it. There are so many Instagram influencers that are like, ‘This is what I'm using,’ but just because it works for them, doesn't mean it's going to work for you. So you kind of have to really help educate your clients on that aspect too.
“So when [my audience says], ‘Oh I love it. How much is it?’ And I’ll say, ‘It's yada yada dollars. But what are your skin concerns?’
“That’s how you do that personal one to one connection and are able to really help your client rather than just sell them one product…People appreciate that so much more than just, here's the link, buy it.”
Don’t spend too much time curating perfect content; film when the opportunity is there!
We often get caught up planning out the ‘perfect’ content that we think will interest audiences, but Eunice says she doesn’t sweat that too much, and instead just films when she thinks of it.
“I guess on average I spend one or two hours a day [on content.] It depends. Sometimes I won't even spend an hour. I'll be so busy at work or with clients and things like that. Last night I had just finished making my daughters little Valentine's Day treats, and I [remembered] I had to exfoliate. So I went to my bathroom and [thought], ‘I'm just gonna film it while I'm going through it.’ And that's what I did. It didn't take me any much longer than I would just doing it without filming.”
Using Reels & Stories to sell your beauty products and services
Eunice says that she doesn’t spend any time scrolling her actual Instagram feed these days, and she knows that most other people aren’t doing it either.
So how does she get attention and eyes on her spa products?
“People's attention spans are so short, so that's why Reels are so popular right now. And if you are comfortable being on camera, absolutely do a Reel because your reach is going to be so large and it's reaching people that aren't even in your following.”
“And most importantly, they work - as in, they actually bring people to your shop.”
People love to watch Reels and Stories on Instagram, and if you show yourself using your amazing products that are up for sale, saying, “Swipe up to buy this!”It's an easy choice for people to make.
The “Three Times Shown” Rule to help people make a decision to buy
Eunice has figured out through trial and error that people seem to need to see a product three times, on average, before they’ll consider buying it.
So with that in mind, she features products three times on her Reels and Stories to increase the chances that a viewer will purchase them.
“One of the things that I've noticed is [that] your client has to see something three times in order for them to remember it. [Because they might say,] ‘Oh, this is super cute’ and then they'll forget about it. So you have to keep posting about it.”
You can follow Eunice and learn from her viral success on Instagram @bellabarspa and on her website right here.
