APPYDAYS

COPIED

7 mins

APPYDAYS

Keeping your social media accounts up to date can be a struggle for any busy salon owner. Amanda Pauley explores the free apps that make boosting your presence and creating engaging posts quick and easy

Amanda Pauley

Social Media

Repost for Instagram

What it does: Lets you repost your favourite photos and videos from beauty brands and industry experts on Instagram, while giving credit to the person who originally created the post. It’s a simple way to share the content created by your chosen product houses with followers, helping to raise your profile as well as theirs.

How it works: Scroll through your feed until you see something you want to repost. On your chosen post, click the three dots in the right-hand corner and tap “Copy the share URL”, which will paste the link to your clipboard.

Then, click “Back to Repost” in the left-hand corner where you’ll see your Repost ready to be published. You’ll need an Instagram account to use this app.

Salon owner review: “I share posts from the brands I use in salon – latest news, skincare tips and product award wins. My clients don’t always research my chosen brands so they find these posts really insightful”

Michaela Johnson, owner, Moroccan Rose Indulgent Beauty, Hornchurch

Boomerang

What it does: A Boomerang isn’t quite a video or a picture, it’s something in between – a looping animation. In its simplest terms, it allows users to create their own GIF (graphic image that moves).

It’s great for showcasing your work but also for showing off your business’s personality – from animations of the team cheering with their trophy at an award ceremony to trialling the latest innovations in beauty.

How it works: The app takes fast bursts of photos and stitches them together into a mini video, which plays continuously on a loop. Record something with movement for the best results.

To use, simply open the app, point your camera at whatever you want to take a Boomerang of and press the white circle. Once done, you can share your Boomerang directly to Instagram and Facebook, or save it to share on other social media platforms.

Salon owner review: “It’s one of my absolute favourites. It lets me showcase my work from different angles; bringing pictures of my lash extensions to life. My clients love a cheeky Tuesday Boomer ”

Sarah-Anne Barham, owner, Sarah-Anne’s Beauty, Felixstowe

Salon therapist review: “ I use it for showing off clients’ finished manicures. I’d seen lots of posts from other salon owners, which made me consider using it. It’s a nice way to interact with clients ” Emma Louise Atkinson, beauty therapist, Harpers Hair and Beauty, Harlow

Canva

What it does: Lets you create amazing graphics for your social channels using templates, as well as stock images, illustrations and fonts. It’s great for showcasing beforeand- after treatment photos, creating posters for current product or treatment discounts, and for making beauty memes and inspirational quote posts, removing the need for a graphic designer.

How it works: Canva has templates for everything, from Twitter headers and cover photos to the Instagram square frame, which means you won’t need to resize, crop or check the dimensions of images – basically, no previous web design knowledge is required.

Once logged in, click on “Create a design”, tap “Social media” and then choose from the thousands of design templates on offer. You can even change the background by inserting your own image, amend the text font and colour, and more.

Salon owner review: “ I use it to showcase work before and after with a caption inserted. I also use it to create a sleek-looking post about changes in salon opening times during bank holidays, Christmas and staff training days ” Victoria Smith, owner, Victoria’s Beautique, Fernhurst

Pic Collage and Live Collage

What they do: These apps both serve the same purpose – enabling users to create photo collages using a simple grid template. They’re great for showcasing treatment results or pictures from a salon event in just one image, rather than clogging up clients’ feeds with multiple posts.

How it works: In both apps, you choose from a variety of grid layouts and then import photos from your camera roll. You can also watermark your images, making it harder for others to copy them, as well as adding borders, filters and stickers to really personalise the post.

Mobile therapist review: “I’m not really tech savvy but Pic Collage is easy to use and saves your unfinished work, so you can pick up where you left off later. I also use it to watermark my images so others can’t pass them off as their own”

Katy Moore, owner, mobile beauty business Pretty by Kate, Middlesborough

Salon owner review:

“I use Live Collage to showcase the nails I’ve done. It gives you lots of template options but I tend to use the four-photo one, filling it with images of nail art that are related to one another – like designs that work well with a particular outfit” Erica Turley, nail artist and owner, The Nail Barn, Stone

Hootsuite

What it does: Allows you to schedule posts to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn in advance, from one place, keeping your accounts stocked with great content.

It’s the most efficient way to manage your channels and monitor comments, helping you engage with clients. Scheduling posts at the times when people most often read them, such as on the commute home, will also maximise your reach and gain you more followers

How it works: From the drop-down menu, click on the social media platforms you want your post to be published to – you can choose more than one at a time. Write your post and pick the date and time you want to schedule it, before clicking “Publish”.

Until it’s due to go live, your post will show up in the scheduled list, which shows you how many posts will be appearing on each day, at which times and to which accounts.

Salon owner review:

“It’s simple to use and you can choose whether to auto or custom schedule, which is fantastic when limited on time. You are also able to monitor and reply through the platform, which makes answering clients’ questions much easier”

Katie Barnes, director, Simply Nails and Beauty, Warwick

Flipagram

What it does: Organises your photos and combines them into a fast-paced slideshow set to music of your choice.

It’s great for creating “highlight” posts, such as round-ups of salon events, birthday celebrations and training with big beauty brands, as well as showing off your best treatments or amazing team.

How it works: When you open the app, it will ask for permission to access your photo library as well as asking you to enter the log in details for your social media accounts. Once connected, tap the photos you’d like to use to create the slideshow and then click the checkmark in the upper-right-hand corner.

From there you can review your choices – manage the order the photos come up in and delete or add more sections – before choosing the song you want to play over the video from your music library.

Remember, you only get 30 seconds of music for each video so keep your Flipagram to that time limit.

Salon owner review: “Using an app like this can show the world your work through quick videos that are fun and engaging. I create them using my favourite photos and music. However, the best way to make friends and build your presence is to be a friend, by liking, commenting and re-flipping others’ Flipagrams”

Rebecca Abernethy, owner, Matrix Nails & Beauty, Stockport

OTHER USEFUL APPS