Online & Social

Top Tips for Producing and Promoting Amazing Salon Before and After Photos

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Top Tips for Producing and Promoting Amazing Salon Before and After Photos

When I was marketing my own nail bar salon, before and after photos stood out as a simple way to make a strong impression online.

What better way is there to show the world the difference that you have made for your clients?

Look at THIS photo from our wonderful client Ceira Lambert which shows off the truly transformative effect of a visit to her salon.

Salon Before And After

Salon Before and After Photos

However…from my couple of years experience promoting a nail bar online, I know that, in order to use salon before and after photos correctly, you have to 1) take great photos and 2) know how to promote them effectively on social media.

Top Tips – Taking Salon Before and After Photos:

Salon Before and After Photos

Lighting

Try to ensure that the lighting in both photos is as similar as possible and that your client is facing towards a light source as shown above. If this is proving difficult (especially as the nights grow darker), you can try to replicate lighting using apps – a simple filter on Instagram or your iPhone camera could do the trick too.

Clean Background

Using an uncluttered background will produce the best before and after photos. Try, for example, having your client stand against a plain wall in the salon.

Show Us Your Smile!

Help your clients with their pose. As seen above, ensure that they are looking straight ahead in both before and after photos and also that you take the photos from the same angle. This will give the most accurate representation of your work. If it is a headshot, try getting them to smile like the lady in the above photos. A good smile means your client looks happy with your amazing service!

Get A Few Angles

Try taking a few different views of your clients to give the best overall depiction of your hard work. Straight on – side profile – behind

Don’t Rely On Just One Photo

Finally, be sure to take multiple shots so that you can choose the best later.

Promoting Before and After Photos Online:

I found the following promotional tips helpful when getting the most from before and after photos:

  • Firstly, consider the potential platforms for the distribution of your before and after photos. Personally, I found Facebook to be the most effective and far-reaching. Pinterest and Instagram are great too. Realistically, I found I was most likely to succeed on whatever platform I personally prefer as that is where I spent most of my time browsing and engaging with others
  • At present, the ‘#beforeandafter’ hashtag on Instagram has over 1.5 MILLION posts. Use this hashtag and see what kind of comments and likes you get. I also found it to be a great way to ask for peoples’ opinions on what new nail art, styles etc. to introduce to my nail bar

Salon Before and After Photos

  • Ask your client (the photo’s subject) to make a comment following their treatment. Something simple like asking them how the treatment made them feel could look fantastic as a quote under their photo. If they will let you, use their name e.g. Debbie just popped into us today for a Shellac… It humanizes the post and turns it from a sales pitch to a story.

Salon Before and After Photos

Naturally, not all clients will be comfortable with having their photo taken. A good way to overcome this obstacle might be to inform them about the Salon Selfie feature on the phorest app. Not only will this feature give your client the freedom to take their own photo but also offer them loyalty points to be used during their next visit! To read more about how YOU can benefit from Phorest’s Salon Selfie feature, Click Here!

So, why not try using before and after photos on the social media platform of your choice today? See how many likes, comments and shares your work gets and let us know how you get on!

Oh and if you are looking to make 2015 the best year yet, why not request a demo of our salon software today? Simply fill out the form below!

Aoife Kelly-Cooney is the Marketing Assistant at Phorest Salon Software. Have a question for Aoife about salon before and after photos? Drop us an email here: marketing@phorest.com or leave a comment below.

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