What the Instagram algorithm updates and new verified tiers mean for hairstylists
I’ve seen a lot of conversations happening online about Instagram algorithm updates and Meta’s new verified tier system. Some misinformation has been spread that is eliciting fear out of the hair community, so I wanted to help clear the air because this is not something I believe the beauty community needs to be stressed about.
Just a heads up, I recorded this episode on May 15, 2024 so this is the most up-to-date information I have access to, but let’s be honest all of this could change in a matter of weeks because if we know anything to be true about Meta— they love to be unpredictable.
If you happen to be unaware, Meta recently announced an expansion to their paid verification tiers. I feel like we all saw something like this coming when Instagram first rolled out the ability to pay for the blue check mark. Some people were excited for the feature while others instantly pointed out the flaws knowing that anyone could pay for this feature that had the money—no longer making it something exclusive or sought after.
Regardless of how you feel about the blue check mark specifically, I genuinely don’t believe the verified program is trying to become some status symbol to attain like it was portrayed in the past… although I don’t think they’ve done a very good job of communicating that to their users based on how much confusion and misinformation is being spread.
Before we start dissecting how this is going to effect your personal business and a hairstylist behind the chair, let’s break down the facts:
First of all, the lowest level of paid verification is named their Business Standard plan, starting at $14.99 per month. This level includes:
The blue check mark— something you can only receive if they can prove your legal identity matches who you are portraying online.
Impersonation protection— this means they will be shutting down accounts that are pretending to be you and they keep an eye out for those accounts and notify you if they happen to find them.
Chat support— to communicate directly with a real person when you’re having an issue.
What they call an “enhanced profile” which they describe as the ability to add pictures to the links in your profile ( although somehow I can’t seem to access this feature with my own subscription yet)
Search optimization— This doesn’t mean you’re going to gain a bunch of reach over other unpaid accounts, but it does seem like it essentially helps verified users to boost a little higher in the SEO results when someone is typing your name or business in the search bar on Instagram.
To be completely honest, the vast majority of hairstylists do not even need the base level subscription. My personal perspective is that if you are not someone who is generating a ton of traffic to your social media, you don’t have 10k followers or more on IG, and you’re not trying to be an influencer or educator that heavily uses the platform to make money from avenues outside of your physical salon location, there is no need for the added benefits.
Now, you might have noticed that I have personally opted into this base tier of the meta verified program on my main account, but this is purely because I have had several instances of impersonation and accounts stealing my content as an educator. Although you can still battle those issues without being verified, the added chat support has helped me resolve issues 10x faster than I would going through the traditional reporting process. Just last month I utilized the chat when I found an account that sole my profile picture, my bio, took screenshots of all of my posts and copied my captions, and as soon as I talked with the meta chat, a real person got on a phone call with me and removed the account within an hour. This experience was as smooth as it could possibly be and 100% made me feel like I was getting the return on my investment for this subscription. As much as I hate subscription models, this one is like insurance for my account that I want to protect as a main source of income for my online education business.
I don’t believe I would have opted into this program if I were solely focused on my business behind the chair because in my own business the majority of my clientele finds me though Google, my website, and even Facebook more often than they discover me through Instagram.
Deciding if the added protection for your account is worth it for your own business is going to be a completely personal decision, but I don’t think stylists should feel pressured to opt in especially if your only motivation is some kind of blue check mark clout or an attempt to have greater reach.
There are 3 more tiers to the verified program, *just under*
Business Plus for 49.99/month
Business Premium for 149.99/month
Business Max for 349.99/month
Basically… they aren’t cheap.
Some of these tiers include
Being able to add links to a limited number of reels per month.
Being a “featured account”
Themed colors for your IG DMs
Added impersonation protection for employees
A 6 month content review with Meta when you opt into the highest tiered option. Ironically I expect several of the social media gurus who do invest in this teir to share all of the information they find out publicly anyways because that’s what they are already doing online as meta has been testing out this feature the past several month.
Although I do think being able to add links to reels would be an interesting feature to help promote things like education or online retail products, I truly don’t think the added benefits of any of the higher tiers would make a return on their investment as an independent stylist..
Even when it comes to what they refer to as being a “Featured Account” this is not something that is boosting content reach in any way, but rather simply suggesting you as an account to follow within the feed in the same way I’m sure you’ve noticed suggested accounts being showcased to you while scrolling or after following another account before.
It would be naive to say that Instagram’s algorithm doesn’t hold a lot of power in who your content gets in front of… but it’s highly unlikely that if you are creating genuinely good content that people enjoying seeing and gaining value from that any of these changes would prevent you from seeing success and growth on the platform.
The majority of users are following people because they stumbled across your account organically and they loved the content they saw on your page.
At this point no one cares if you have a verified badge of not on your profile, it’s doesn’t make your business seem any more legitimate than an account without it. And at the same time Instagram still needs to maintain its relationship and benefits with its free users because that’s the only way their platform stays relevant and they continue to make money.
Even recently, Instagram announced it would be increasing reach for smaller accounts while simultaneously limiting the reach of repost accounts. The way they are implementing this means that massive accounts that repost stylists work, will no longer be getting all of the engagement and benefit on the backs of those stylists, but those talented stylists will be promoted even more as the original content creator.
I will note that this update will affect some salon owners who have a separate salon instagram page used to help promote their stylists work. Simply reposting your stylists work will send off red flags to the new algorithm updates, but the best way to work around this is to encourage your stylists to add the salon account as a collaborator to their posts that they want to be showcased on the salon page. Technically speaking, screen grabbing and reposting your stylists work without their permission can be considered copyright infringement so by utilizing the collaboration tool your stylists are both consenting to the content being shared to the salon page while mutually benefitting them by boosting their content to the salon followers as well. Honestly this will only help both you and your stylists more by encouraging followers to support their personal accounts—because we all know that clients are coming to your salon for that particular stylist not your salon name—and it’s saving you time as the salon owner because a lot of that content is now being even more seamlessly generated for you and you don’t have to come up with a new caption. It only takes on click of a button to decide if you want that specific post approved for the salon page or not. To help your salon account grow ethically and more effectively, I would focus on adding original posts such as educational carousels, or generating content from a salon photoshoot or by creating your own in salon content to showcase your team and break up the sea of hair pictures. You could even offer to include your team as collaborators on those posts if they would like those showcased on their own feeds.
In a lot of ways these updates are going to benefit small town stylists and stylists with smaller accounts the most. We don’t need to be feeding into the fear online because a lot of the noise is clickbait designed to fire you up instead of offering valuable advice for your personalized business structure.
The best piece of advice I can give you today is to stop constantly stressing about bending your marketing strategy to the algorithm. You will spend more time trying to keep up with the latest trend than you will being able to commit to a long term strategy that actually works. The most successful accounts are those that have a healthy balance of utilizing new features while maintaining a long term consistency in whatever strategy they choose.
We don’t need to be giving any single social media platform power over our business success. Although Instagram is the most commonly promoted for business marketing, diversifying outside of the platform is going to make a greater impact on both the stability of your business as well as the conversion of viewers into paying clients.
As I mentioned earlier the majority of my salon clients do not come from my Instagram, and my successful 6 figure small town salon business was built long before I grew a following over there.
I encourage you today to stop letting the outside noise distract you from how you’ve already seen growth in your business. Utilize the proven methods you already know provide you the results you’re looking for, and don’t feel pressure to change things until they are proven to be ineffective. You don’t have to live in a constant state of stress in order to have a successful and thriving business as a small town stylist.
If you’re curious to learn more about my own marketing strategies that built my salon business into what it is today, check out The Small Town Marketing Method at caseytaylorstylist.com/marketing and use code PODCAST at check out to save $25 off.
- Casey Taylor
Sources:
https://www.facebook.com/business/tools/meta-verified-for-business
