5 Things To Learn From Texture Influencers
1. Engage Your Audience
Audience engagement is like superior customer service. A successful blogger knows the importance of connecting with followers and always letting them know when they’re appreciated. Although time consuming, replying to emails, comments and messages is essential to building a relationship with your clients, and encourages them to turn to you for texture advice and product recommendations.
2. Solve Problems
Clients want content that delivers a benefit like how to use a product, demonstrates how to create a celebrity-inspired look, or executes a new industry trend. You don’t need a professional studio to deliver powerful imagery and share valuable information. You can create and post your own professional beauty advice without worrying about professional lighting! Make it personal and be sure to always mention your salon name, location and how to book a texture consultation.
3. Stay Relevant
It’s important that you not only produce tips and how-tos to share on your or your salon’s social media outlets or during a consultation, but that you stay relevant to your followers by providing current information. They’ll look to you as being “in the know” and will think of you for special occasion styles, visit your site or pages for what’s trending, and listen when you recommend a new style, an updated finish and product recommendations to help them get the look.
4. Collaborate
Collaborating with popular YouTube personalities, celebrities and brands is a way to instantly introduce yourself to an entirely new network of people. Simply commenting and introducing yourself and your salon-based solutions is a great way to start. Maintaining an authentic voice is crucial and will allow you to increase your own following organically. Keep the emphasis on what you know and experience as a salon professional. Share more about the techniques you use, less about specific brand preferences. Promote yourself as an authority.
5. Promote Yourself
As you increase your texture expertise, be sure you are telling the world about it! If you decide to post YouTube videos or texture tips on a blog, use other forms of social media to get your content out there. Share teasers of your latest YouTube video on Instagram or a sneak peak of a new texture product on Facebook. Even sharing your favorite tips from other texture sources can help position you as a resource for your clients. Just remember to add your professional voice to explain why you are sharing it, and to include a call to action to come for an appointment, consultation, or personal product demo and recommendation.
Influencers
Francheska – HEYFRANHEY
Francheska of HeyFranHey started her Tumblr after being diagnosed with a health condition. It was her journey to become a healthier person inside and out that propelled her to speak about beauty from a holistic approach. After healing her body through nutrition, fitness and natural/organic products, she wanted to share her knowledge with those willing to listen.
In addition to making her posts relatable and easy to incorporate in everyday life, Francheska attributes her success to speaking from an honest place and solving a problem. Her advice for people interested in YouTubing is to find out what’s missing in the marketplace and determining: how you can contribute to that open space.
Jenell Stewart – KINKYCURLYCOILYME
After a big chopping in March 2010, Jenell Stewart of KinkyCurlyCoilyMe decided to embrace her natural hair. With no friends or family members who were natural, Stewart found joy in blogging about her journey and created KinkyCurlyCoilyMe as a way to track her progress and share it with others.
The actual name of the website is a derivative of the textures that appear in her own hair. Within the first two years of blogging, Jenell transitioned her blog into a natural haircare site for women in need of hair education and support. Stewart has been featured in Essence and on BlackEnterprise.com, VibeVixen.com, SoloDovePR, CurvyMagazine.com, Essence.com, BlackHairMedia.com, RollingOut.com, JuicyMagOnline.com, NewsDay.com, Examiner.com, TribeCalledCurl.com and CurlyNikki.com. Stewart has also contributed to NaturallyCurly.com.
Whitney – NAPTURAL85
Whitney, known as Naptural85 on YouTube, is a graphic designer, vlogger and blogger. Whitney started her YouTube channel in August 2009 with an upload of her “Natural Hair Journey”—her transition from relaxed to natural hair—which was intended to thank the YouTubers who’d given her the inspiration to go natural. But people told her that they were inspired by her story and encouraged her to upload more. The rest is history! Five years later, Whitney is still sharing her journey and has expanded her channel with daily vlogging videos that chronicle her life as a wife and new mom.
Alison – MODERN MRS. HUXTABLE
In 2013, Alison got her start on YouTube with her channel Modern Mrs. Huxtable, aimed at advocating for positive female role models as well as educating women on the secrets to healthy, long hair. She is dedicated to sharing her results with others and using her background as a university instructor to inform and educate other women on how to reach their personal hair goals. Alison spearheads an initiative to share female empowerment messages and encourage positive, well-rounded depictions of women like that of the iconic Clair Huxtable from The Cosby Show. Alison focuses on uplifting women in areas such as self-esteem development, finding purpose and creating sound value systems.
Gina – HAIRSPIRATION (UK”>
Gina of Hairspiration has been blogging since 2008. She blogs about natural hair, beauty and lifestyle. She is an advocate of green brands and small business and is currently in the process of “cleaning up” her makeup bag. Gina has been featured on numerous websites, including Essence.com, Ebony.com, Fashion Bomb Daily, Style Pantry, BGLH and Ebony Glam, as well as in Pride, Marie Claire, Grazia, Jones and Blackhair. Based in the UK, Gina has a background in fine arts and has spent the past nine years working at Aveda and other high-end hair salons, where she has gained useful knowledge in hair care, beauty and trends. By day, Gina is currently working as a freelance PR consultant and sometimes columnist.
Sarah – WATERLILY716
Sarah started her channel to provide education about curly hair basics and to help others learn how to care for and love their natural curls. A-soon-to-be teacher and self-proclaimed hair junkie, Sarah realized several years ago that there weren’t a lot of girls with her looser-curl hair type making videos or sharing advice. From that concept, her channel evolved into what it is today.
Jessica Lewis – MAHOGANYCURLS
Jessica started vlogging on YouTube in March 2009, sharing her natural hair journey with women around the world in hopes of inspiring them to love and embrace their hair. Jessica has been featured on LA Talk Live radio, CurlyNikki.com, NaturallyCurly.com and many other social media platforms and is currently a natural hair blogger for Essence.com. Over the years, Jessica has drawn the attention of many women worldwide.
Shanti and Antoinette – AROUND THE WAY CURLS
Shanti and Atoinette are the best-friend duo behind Around the Way Curls. The two created a community for women to connect, encourage and inspire one another. Around the Way Curls is an online publication that infuses pop culture and issues of women’s interest with an emphasis on the beauty, originality and spirit of naturally kinky, curly hair. With hair as the catalyst, Shanti and Antoinette work to redefine beauty and to recondition women not only to embrace their natural state of being but to value their individual uniqueness and overall worth.
Nora – SHALIMARCAT
A medical student and model with a passion for beauty, fitness and health, Nora of Shalimarcat made the decision to embrace her natural texture six years ago after two years of relaxing, blow drying and straightening. Nora was inspired to create her first video when she entered a giveaway on Naptural85’s channel, at the time her favorite YouTuber. Filming was so much fun that she thought, why not create her own channel for wavy hair? At the time, the majority of the channels were geared toward women with tighter texture patterns.
This article was written by Chandler Rollins for Texture!
