Starting Your Beauty Career with Social Media

Does the idea of working in a cubicle for 8 hours a day terrify you? Do you want to use more creativity than deciding what color highlighter to use? Do you want to be done with school and be on your way to your career in a few months? If you're shaking your head yes right now, then a beauty career may be perfect for you. Cosmetology, nail technician, facial specialist, barber, makeup artist, even tattoo artist are some of the most sought after professions right now.   With a few clicks of a mouse you could be on your way to your dream career.

The first step in beginning your beauty career is to find and enroll in school.   In most places it is against the law to perform beauty services without a license and could result in big fines and being bared from ever getting your license. But how do you find the right school?

First, Google the schools in your area and be as area specific as possible. If you live in Miami and don't plan to move, don't search all schools. A random search of "beauty schools" will give you schools from L.A. to Alaska.

Now visit the websites of the schools in your area but keep in mind the school's website is a commercial. Get the basic information, classes offered, cost of tuition, etc. Remember, the pictures you see on a school's website are at best, staged to make the school look good and at worst stock photos that aren't even of the school.

Once you have found some schools you are interested in, search them on various social media sites. Facebook, Yelp, youtube, etc. Does the school have a social media presence? If not, why not? If they do, be sure to check out the pictures, videos and comments. These photos will give you a true reflection of what the school really looks like. Is the school clean, do the students look happy, do the students look like you and your friends, do you see yourself at that school? Are there positive or negative reviews of the school online? It takes time and effort for someone to write a review of a school, so keep in mind that what you read is from the extreme examples, the happiest and angriest of students. No one writes a review to say everything was just ok. You can get a very good feel for a school from its social media presence.

Once in school it is now time to get to work on your dream. What is your ultimate goal? Do you want to own a barbershop? Be a celebrity stylist? Freelance makeup artist? Whatever you choose, come up with a name (Sally's Beauty Salon, Barber Mike, Nails by Nancy) and get a free email address with that name from gmail, yahoo, hotmail, aol, whichever you prefer. You may want to consider getting your name from as many free sites as possible. This will prevent someone else from getting your name and if someone gets the email extension wrong when trying to contact you, you will still get the email.

Next, go to as many social media sites as possible (Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter, etc.) and set up business pages. These pages are free and easy to set up. Be sure to keep this page separate from your personal page. Keep this page strictly professional; do not include pictures from your crazy night out, nothing offensive or controversial. Avoid politics and religion completely on this page. No matter how passionate you are about something, it doesn't belong on your business page. It's not worth losing a potential client because you voted for someone else. Also, never use online abbreviations (lol, omg, etc.) or slang. This is your business's page and needs to be kept professional at all times.

Even though you may not have a physical business address yet or even a license, you want as many people as possible to know what's coming. To begin with, post interesting articles, quotes or beauty tips that your fans and friends will find interesting. Try to give them something of value. As you progress in school and begin to work on clients, take as many pictures as possible. Before and after photos are extremely popular and give a good reflection of your work. Always ask permission to take photos and post them and respect your clients' wishes.

Next, get testimonials. Ideally, have your clients and friends go directly to your page and review your work in their own words. At minimum you can post quotes about your work from your clients. "Maria gives the best blow dry."  This may feel like bragging and awkward at first, but if you don't tell anyone how good you are how will anyone know?

The best way to get testimonials and show your work is via video. This can be very simple since video cameras have become extremely affordable and many phones now have a video recording feature already built in. A short 20 to 30 second testimonial by your client describing their experience is priceless. It allows the viewer to see your work first hand and people trust and enjoy viewing videos. Keep the video short, sweet and to the point. If you have editing skills, you can add some text and graphics but it's not necessary. Post the video to your pages and youtube and spread the word online that you have a new testimonial.

With the assistance of social media you can be on your way to an exciting, fulfilling and rewarding beauty career in no time. Just like a blow dryer, brushes and clippers the internet and social media sites are an essential tool to a successful career, so get online and get started today.

Editorial provided by Justin Nepola, Kaizen Beauty Academy.