Love it or hate it, more contractors are boarding the social media train. They’re posting regularly, interacting with potential customers, and winning new contracts. What’s stopping you from promoting your business on social media?
“I don’t have enough time for social media,” you’re thinking. “It doesn’t work, anyway.”
Let’s get one thing straight: Social media does work for contractors. Maybe just not like you think it does. With the right strategy, social media marketing can generate tangible results, and ultimately, put more money in your pocket.
How? Think about it this way: Your competitors are competing for customers on social media, and you need to stand out from the crowd to show potential customers exactly why you’re worth hiring. In other words, just having a social media presence isn’t enough. You need to step up your social media marketing strategy to fuel conversions.
The good news? No matter what your social channels look like, it only takes a few simple upgrades to grow your followers, interactions, and engagement. Here’s how to get started.
Why are you on social media in the first place? If your answer is “because everyone else is,” it’s time to re-evaluate your goals. You already know that social media marketing can be valuable for your brand, but what do you want to achieve?
The concept of SMART goals isn’t new, but it can help you set (and achieve) your social media goals. SMART goals should be subjective, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound (think: “We’ll increase our Facebook interactions by 25 percent by the end of the fourth quarter.”)
If you’re not sure where to start, think about your broader business objectives. Are you trying to book more appointments? Drive more repeat customers? Sell more AC units? Once you’ve pinned down your business goals, you can set social media goals to match.
And remember: Social media goals aren’t the same thing as your social media strategy. Instead, think of goals as a piece of the larger strategy puzzle. The right goals can help you:
This is a big one. Your customers want to learn more about your brand before they hire you for their next home project. Social media puts a face and voice to your contractor business, and you need to use it wisely.
The content you post on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and other platforms should show prospects who your company is and what you’re all about. When it comes to building trust, social media is the most effective platform to show prospects your good side.
Your social media posts might include pictures of past projects, but they should also speak to your brand values. Do you use sustainable materials? Are you a family-owned business? How do you go above and beyond to provide exceptional customer service? Figure out what sets you apart from the competition and run with it.
News flash: Following a content calendar isn’t just something “extra” that your business should do—it’s an important ingredient for social media engagement. If there’s a common thread between the top brands on social media, it’s that they all post consistently.
Chances are, you’re already juggling multiple social media channels. And if you’re not staying organized with a content calendar, you’re going to have a hard time maintaining your posting cadence on every platform. When you line up your monthly social content, you won’t have to scramble to write last-minute posts. It’s that simple.
When you follow a content calendar, you’ll have the tools to optimize posts for every platform. That means maximizing engagement, scheduling upcoming posts, and avoiding the same content over and over again. It’ll take some time to set up, but our clients tell us that content calendars are well worth the effort.
Need help setting up your content calendar? Check out our content marketing tips to save time, money, and peace of mind with content creation.
Social media has become a customer service platform. Instead of calling your business or waiting hours (or even days) for an email response, your customers are turning to social media for help. How can you shift your focus toward customer service?
Each day, take a few minutes to answer customer questions on social media. When you use social media for customer service, you’ll funnel more users to your accounts. You can answer simple questions online (“how often should I replace my AC filters?”) and encourage customers to call your business for more complicated questions (“how much will my landscaping project cost?”).
The best part? It’ll publicly showcase your efforts, which can boost your company’s reputation, especially if you’re doing a good job. Just be sure to stay active, be consistent, and always treat your customers with respect.
Social media can help you build a loyal community of local customers, but you’ll need to interact with them regularly. At the end of the day, having 100 followers who regularly engage with you is infinitely more valuable than 10,000 followers who ignore you.
Instead of focusing on your follower count, build relationships with your audience through active engagement. Here are some easy tips that only take a few minutes each day:
Every channel caters to a different audience, so tailor your posts accordingly. For example, you’ll want to keep LinkedIn more professional with B2B-focused content. Meanwhile, you might host Facebook Live streams to give followers a behind-the-scenes look at your process.
Following the latest social trends can be tricky for contractors. You don’t want to stray too far from your regular posts, and you want to keep your content as relevant as possible. But between new memes, trending hashtags, and industry news, you should leave room for time-sensitive trends in your content creation.
While it’s important to put a professional face forward, tapping into the latest trends can help you show off your brand’s unique personality—and that might just be the final push someone needs to pick up the phone and book an appointment.
Don’t be afraid to humanize your brand with fun content. Just avoid anything controversial and make sure your posts stay relevant to your brand.
If you’re not getting a good ROI from social, you’re probably not tracking the right metrics.
Just like you’re already tracking Google Analytics data, you need to treat social media with the same scrutiny. There are tons of social media analytics tools out there to help you identify your best content, tap into performance trends, and break down your social media presence.
Ultimately, your social media goals will determine the best metrics to track. For example, if you’re trying to drive website traffic, pay attention to the amount of referral traffic from social media. Make sure to check in with your key metrics regularly to fine-tune your social media strategy.
Your customers are constantly bombarded with news stories, status updates, and marketing promos. If you want to capture their attention, you need to stand out with scroll-stopping visuals.
To make your posts visually engaging, ditch the snore-worthy stock photos. Instead, post pictures and videos that will help you connect with your target audience on a deeper level. Even if you’re not a graphic designer, you can easily customize social media post templates to set your brand apart.
Of course, your visuals shouldn’t end with graphics. If your budget allows, consider hiring a professional photographer or video production crew for your next job. This way, you can create professional customer testimonials and behind-the-scenes content of your process—which can help build social proof and trust.
Sure, it’s easy to make simple changes to your social media. But to successfully strengthen your social media presence, you need to be consistent.
Inactive social feeds look bad for brands. They damage customer trust and wreak havoc on your online reputation. Instead of letting your posting cadence slip away, you need to promote your business with consistent content.
Even if you’re short on time, social scheduling tools and automation can make the process easier. And if you’re having a chaotic month, it’s perfectly OK to repurpose old content as long as it’s still relevant, informative, and useful to your target audience.
You’re busy running your business, working in the field, and managing your crew. Social media probably isn’t your top priority. Don’t worry, we get it. Social media requires time and a learning curve, and you might feel like the costs outweigh the benefits.
Truth is, social media marketing is the tool you need to grow your contractor business. And in today’s 24/7/365 always-on digital age, you can’t just sit back and hope for the best. It’s time to put an end to inactive channels, irregular posting, and low engagement.
You deserve a social media strategy that works for you. Give us a call to ignite your social media presence with data-driven marketing solutions.
