How Esthetician Students Can Build a Following While Still in School

Building an online community while you’re still an esthetician student is one of the smartest moves you can make for your future business. When you graduate, having a loyal and engaged audience ready to support your services can give you a head start in launching your career. The key is to start now, even before you feel "ready," by leaning into your unique personality and experiences as a student.

In this guide, we’ll dive into actionable steps to grow a following while in school, focusing on authenticity, education, and connection.

1. Share Your Journey: Build Hype Around Your Growth

People love a behind-the-scenes story, and your journey as an esthetician student is the perfect narrative. Sharing your day-to-day life in school not only makes you relatable but also builds excitement for your future.

Ideas to Share Your Journey:

• Day in My Life Content: Post videos or photos of what a typical day at school looks like, from practicing techniques to studying skincare science.

• Before & After Skills: Show how your skills improve over time by sharing before-and-after photos of techniques you’re practicing in school (with permission).

• Your Why: Talk about what inspired you to become an esthetician and what you’re most excited to offer your future clients.

💡 Tip: Use Instagram Stories to post quick updates about your day, and save them in a “Student Life” highlight on your profile.

2. Lean Into Personality Content to - Helpful for later developing your unique sales messaging

Your personality is your brand. People will follow you not just for your skills but for you. Building a community starts with making your audience feel like they know you, so don’t be afraid to show your authentic self. This is also a great way to understand your why. Why you are becoming an Esthetician as well as understanding who you like to interact with the most. This can help develop your unique value proposition aka what you bring to the table as well as your unique sales messaging. We’ll talk about this more below in tip #3.

How to Showcase Your Personality:

• Show up daily on your stories and use engagement stickers to start interacting with your community as it grows.

• Post relatable or funny skincare memes and graphics that align with your sense of humor.

• Talk about your challenges and victories as a student. For example, “I finally nailed this facial technique today!” or “Learning about chemical peels has me so excited to help clients in the future.”

💡 Tip: Go live on Instagram or TikTok to chat about your experiences, “study with me” videos are fun because there’s less stress to interact, or just share your excitement about being an esthetician-in-training.

3. Get a feel for the local industry

Identify your competitors and see what they are doing well, what they aren’t doing, and how you can fill a gap in the skincare needs of your local community. A successful esthetics business doesn’t offer one of everything. They niche into a specific need or service and become the go-to in their town for those services. Once you have a loyal client base on one focus you can then expand outwards and they will follow.

4. Educate Your Audience

Even as a student, you have valuable knowledge to share. By posting educational content, you can position yourself as a go-to resource for skincare advice, which builds trust and credibility with your audience.

Educational Content Ideas:

• Skincare Basics: Explain fundamental concepts, like the importance of sunscreen or how to layer products correctly.

• What You’re Learning: Share insights from your classes in simple, digestible ways. For example, “Today we learned about different skin types, did you know oily skin can still be dehydrated?”

• Quick Tips: Post short, actionable tips like “3 reasons to cleanse your skin at night” or “What to look for in a moisturizer.”

💡 Tip: Join The Esti Content Club to share visually appealing skincare graphics that are easy for your audience to save and share.

5. Engage and Build Relationships

Growing a following isn’t just about posting, it’s about connecting. Actively engage with your audience to create a two-way relationship that makes them feel valued.

Ways to Build Engagement:

• Reply to Comments: Thank people for their comments and answer their questions thoughtfully.

• Use Interactive Story Stickers: Post polls, quizzes, or sliders to encourage interaction. For example, “What’s your go-to skincare product: Cleanser, Moisturizer, or Sunscreen?”

• Ask Questions: Encourage your audience to share their thoughts by asking questions in your captions.

💡 Tip: Engage with other accounts in your city, like wellness or lifestyle brands, local influencers and micro-influencers, or potential clients. Commenting authentically on their posts can attract new followers to your profile.

6. Build Anticipation for Your Launch

Even though you’re still in school, it’s never too early to start building hype for your future business. Share your excitement about what’s coming next and give your audience a reason to stick around.

How to Create Buzz:

• Countdown to Graduation: Share updates as you get closer to completing school, like “Only 3 months until I’m a licensed esthetician!”

• Future Plans: Talk about what you’re most excited to offer when you launch your business, whether it’s facials, waxing, or personalized skincare consultations.

• Celebrate Milestones: Share big wins, like passing exams or mastering a new skill.

💡 Tip: Don’t skip your local hashtags. It might be tempting to use hashtags like #estheticianstudent but you want to make sure you are growing a community of potential clients! Lock into popular hashtags in your city.

7. Stay Consistent with Content Creation

Consistency is key when it comes to growing an audience. Posting regularly helps you stay top-of-mind for your followers and makes your profile feel active and welcoming.

Tips for Staying Consistent:

Batch-create content ahead of time to make posting easier during busy weeks. This will get you used to batching content when you are a working esthetician and have less free time.

Use a content calendar to plan out your posts, including a mix of educational, personal, and engaging content.

Here’s an example posting schedule for the week:

• Monday: edu-transformational graphic

• Tuesday: treatment content

• Wednesday: talking reel

• Thursday: edu-transformational graphic

• Friday: a day in my life reel - gather clips throughout the week and spice together and then use voiceover.

• Saturday: treatment content

• Sunday: skincare meme one week and questions post the other

  Now if you were to sit down and plan your content for a month you will need:

  • 8x edu-transformational graphics (can be made ahead of time and scheduled)

  • 8x treatment content

  • 4x talking reels of 30-50 seconds long (can be made ahead of time and scheduled)

  • 4x a day in my life reel

  • 2x skincare memes (can be made ahead of time and scheduled)

  • 2x question posts (can be made ahead of time and scheduled). See my example below.

  • Here are some ideas for you: “If you could “fix your skin” overnight what’s the once concern you’d like to see gone.” “When it comes to your skincare whats one product or step in your routine that still confuses you?” “What’s your ride-or-die product?”.

Now all you have to plan and post throughout the week is your treatment content and day in the life reel.Schedule posts using tools like Meta Business Suite so you can focus on engagement.

💡 Tip: If you’re struggling with content ideas, join a program like The Esti Content Club to get access to monthly templates and ideas tailored to estheticians.

8. Invest in Yourself

As a student, you’re already investing time and money in your education. But don’t forget to invest in building your online presence too. The skills and habits you build now will pay off when you launch your business.

Resources to Consider:

• Social Media Tools: Join The Esti Content Club or The Waxers Content Club and stay consistent and growing your community from day 1!

• Educational Programs: Programs like The Spa Owners’ Sales Academy can help you develop a marketing and sales strategy that sets you apart from day one.

Starting to build your community while you’re still an esthetician student is one of the best things you can do for your future business. By sharing your journey, leaning into your personality, educating your audience, and engaging authentically, you’ll create a loyal following that’s excited to support you as you grow.

Remember, the goal isn’t just to gain followers, it’s to build relationships and a sense of trust. When you graduate, you’ll have an engaged community ready to book your services and cheer you on.

Start today, share authentically, and let your passion shine. You’ve got this!