Why a Selfie Station Is a Good Marketing Move for Your Salon

What Is a Selfie Station?

A selfie station is exactly as it sounds. It is a designated area for clients to take photos of their fresh looks before they leave your salon. The station doesn’t have to be a full booth if your salon doesn’t have the space to support one. A selfie station could be something as simple as a clean and branded wall space.

 Why Do I Need a Selfie Station?

If you don’t have a selfie station, your clients are going to document their new hair elsewhere. They’re more likely to leave out which salon they went to for the service if they do this, which is a missed marketing opportunity. A selfie station prevents this from happening as much, as it encourages clients to capture their looks in an inviting, well-lit, and aesthetically pleasing area where their photos will represent your brand. In short, let your clients become your marketers. Below is a list of reasons why your salon needs a selfie station.

Brand promotion

Your selfie station will have your logo on a backdrop, wall, or prop that is shown in every client photo. If a client posts their “after” photos on social media, your brand will be seen and shared with others.

It creates a fear of missing out and makes others want to participate

If a client looks like they’re confident, having fun, and taking quality photos at your salon, others will want to join in. Everyone wants to feel like they have something new to show off and this is a great marketing technique to create that fear of missing out.

It’s a form of entertainment for clients

Taking selfies isn’t always easy. So much can go into catching the perfect lighting, angles, and overall look. It can be hard to feel excited about taking photos of yourself when you’re stressed about how they’ll turn out, but a selfie station takes away some of those worries and puts the fun back into a personal photoshoot.

Client photos give you content to re-post on your salon social accounts

Going back to brand marketing…selfie station photos aren’t just for the client to post. Clients posting their selfie station photos is great for marketing, but so is being able to re-post these photos onto your own account. A selfie station gives you an ongoing stream of content that you can re-post onto your salon’s social media accounts for extra branding. You give your clients space to create content, they post the content and give credit to your salon, and then we re-post it for more branding. It’s a win for everyone involved.

Email marketing opportunities

Collecting client email addresses for newsletters and marketing opportunities can be difficult in a salon. Most don’t want to be bothered when checking in and there’s no time to waste when in the salon chair. An easy and convenient way to sneak email marketing into your salon is by incorporating it into your selfie station. Your client is already taking time for selfies, so they’re more likely to write down their email address if you give them an incentive. A giveaway contest or a raffle are two ideas for this.

It promotes your stylists and how talented they are

It’s important to highlight your stylists because you’re proud of them, but also to showcase how talented they are to potential clients. A selfie station can help with this because potential clients viewing these photos can see the impressive transformations happening in your salon. If they were on the fence about whether to book a service, they’ll be less hesitant after seeing these photos. Photo marketing at its finest.

How Do I Create One?

Depending on your salon space and what you’re willing to invest in, a selfie station can be simple or more dramatic. Here are a few ways you can decorate your designated selfie area to your liking:

LED lights

Not only are LED lights eco-friendly, but they’re a great way to brighten up a space. Wherever you choose to create your selfie station, make sure the lighting is picture-perfect. Better lighting means better quality, and no client wants to take their selfies in a dim or shadowed area. One suggestion is investing in a LED professional ring light.

A clean or creative background

Backgrounds don’t have to be complicated. Maybe your salon has the perfect clean walls to set up a space against, or maybe you need to create your own backdrop with your salon logo. Either way, the simpler, the better. Clean and branded is the way to go. The focus is on the client, not a busy background.

Props

Props are nothing more than fun, branded accessories. The focus is still on the client and the background is still clean, but that doesn’t mean you can’t spice up the photo to make it fun and add some additional marketing. Our favorite examples of branded props are photo frame cutouts, small posters with your salon’s logo and social media handles, cameras/Polaroids, and handheld mirrors.