“Follow” the Leaders

As we planned MODERN’s August issue, which features new and rising talent, it would be impossible to not focus greatly on social media as that is where talent, these days, is first noticed by the masses.

Although our Ones to Watch section skews heavily toward Instagrammers—as is the nature of this visual industry—our editorial team scoured all the platforms to put together our social media “must follow” list.  Although this list isn't complete, it's a good sampling of the work, advice and education that can help you "make it big." (Want to catch the eye of a MODERN editor? Make sure to follow @modernsalon and hashtag #modernsalon.)

While we were judging Goldwell’s Color Zoom competition with social media king Guy Tang, he taught us about Periscope, the Twitter-powered app that has gained millions of users for its engagement/entertainment factor. (Consider it the FaceTime app that lets users live-stream from their phones while viewers comment and engage in real-time. Learn more on page. We didn’t want to miss out on the fun so we joined right away. And when we got a notification that updo and bridal stylist Heather Chapman (@heatherchapmanhair) was live, we were able to join the stream and tell her, and her army of fans, that she was our cover artist. It was an emotional and exciting moment for all of us!

As with all social media communities @modernsalon is active on, we love being able to be a fly on the wall in your salons, at the events you attend and the hair-humor that makes you laugh. But we also love being able to connect directly with you, #regramming your before and afters and giving you the platform to share your work with the world of professional beauty.

In addition to the learning you’ll discover on our channel, @modernsalon, we’re also able to speak directly with our readers on important topics—most recently, online bullying.

We know you love and appreciate the recognition from MODERN’s editorial team—there’s nothing like getting thousands of likes, comments and shares from our community’s like-minded creative artists. And while we don’t discourage constructive feedback from our followers, we are taken aback by the “beauty bulling” that sometimes happens in the comments section.

There’s no doubting social media is the most modern tool for inspiration, color formulas, haircut and styling details, and celebrating contemporary artists, but it can also be all-to-easy to forget there is a real human on the other end of that post who is excited to have been featured out of the hundreds of thousands of photos hashtagged #modernsalon. Please use your “professional voice” when commenting. You won't like everything—we get that!—but do your part in adding some beauty.

And if you see us join a Periscope conversation, say “hi” to us! You never know, we may have some good news to share!