Booking Tan Appointments via Instagram’s New Feature

It’s no secret that social media offers an excellent way to promote businesses, but Instagram is taking this opportunity to the next level. Instagram will allow customers to book appointments with businesses from the convenience of their app, which means advertising your tanning services will yield better results than ever. If you want to know more about this update and how to utilize it, then this article is for you.

What Is It?

This update is designed so that, with complying businesses, customers will be able to schedule beauty appointments directly from the Instagram app. This might sound a little vague, so here’s what it will look like in the real world:

1. A blogger posts a picture and mentions that their latest tan came from your salon.

2. The blogger’s followers, who love the blogger’s tan, check out your Instagram page and are able to look at other pictures of your business and your satisfied customers.

3. The followers are impressed, so they schedule an appointment for a tanning session and, from just a picture, you now have new clients.

Not only is this model exceptionally profitable, but it’s something you can expect to see frequently. Toward the end of 2016, Instagram estimated that they had approximately 600 million active individual users, and another eight million profiles dedicated to businesses.

Of those 600 million users, some 120 million were following or looking at pictures from businesses. This new update will not only mean that those 120 million will be able to access your services more easily, but many people even expect Instagram to rope in millions of new users. If you want to make the most of these potential customers, then you need to revitalize your Instagram marketing.

How to Use the Update

One of the best ways to encourage customers to promote your business is to offer them discounts for posting pictures and tagging you in them. They get a discount on their next tan (and the opportunity to take a great selfie), and you get free advertising: it’s a win win!

Additionally, you’ll want to make sure you’re updating your Instagram profile regularly, at least once a week. These can just be simple pictures: maybe of your salon, your staff, etc. Having plenty of pictures to look at will not only keep potential clients on your page for longer, but they’ll feel more comfortable visiting a new place if they have some idea of what to expect. Check out more of our social media tips for salon owners here to optimize your biz on social!

Ready Your Cameras

This is a massive update and should be rolling out within a matter of months, so start building your online brand. Instagram is about to be the hottest place to advertise your tanning services, so you’ll want to get started ASAP!