Let’s look back 10 years. Social media was in the early stages of relevancy and had not yet taken over the hearts (and souls) of billions of people across the globe. Maybe you had a personal Facebook page that you checked once a week, but you never thought it would be a “requirement” to create a Facebook page for your business, let alone have an active presence on that account. You likely held off, or maybe you created an account but rarely posted on it. You saw it as a “fad” and didn’t buy into the hype.
Now let’s fast forward to 2020. Every contractor in your service area has Facebook pages, and the best ones are posting multiple times a week. That social media fad quickly turned into a billion-dollar industry – $36.14 billion dollars was spent on social media advertising in 2019, and in 2020 it’s projected to reach $43.54 billion.
By now you realize that it’s important to have an active presence on social media. The problem is, you don’t know what you should be posting, how to post, and when to post! You’re busy enough running your business, now you have to learn how to run a social media account? Because of this dilemma, most of the contractors that come to us for help want us to run their social media accounts. In fact, it’s almost always one of the first services they inquire about.
As the title of this blog post suggests, we now steer our clients away from outsourcing their social media to us or other agencies. Here’s why:
The content you post on social media should be authentic
Social media is all about building trust and authentically connecting with your audience. People want to see you, how you treat customers, the quality of your work, your company culture, how well you maintain your job sites, and they want to see how active you are in the local community.
Outsourcing your social media to a company that isn’t with you every day, interacting with your customers and team, makes it incredibly difficult to post authentic content. Sure, you can take the pictures and send them to your business partner to post on social media, but this will likely be even more time consuming for you. You’ll have to take the pictures, explain the context, then send them to an agency that will have to then take multiple steps to actually get it on social media. Why not eliminate the middleman, save yourself time, and post directly to social media? You may be thinking, “I don’t even know how to use social media and I’m not a marketing person!”
This leads us to our second point…
Social media is not as complicated as you might think
It is easy to overthink social media. It’s viewed as this complicated, expansive technology that only young people can use effectively. The truth is, Facebook is one of the easiest and most intuitive marketing tools available to you. They spend millions of dollars to make their product easy to use – especially for small businesses. All you need to do is take a couple of pictures, write a couple of sentences, then press post. You don’t have to be a graphic designer, writer, or photographer.
The best way to learn and understand how to use social media effectively is through trial and error. It may be discouraging at first if you’re not seeing the engagement you would hope to, but over time with consistent posting, you’ll slowly build up an audience that enjoys seeing what your business is up to throughout the week.
Keokee has several clients that have taken social media in-house and they are absolutely nailing it (no pun intended).
ArDan Construction is active on Facebook, Instagram, Houzz, and YouTube. They consistently update their followers about current projects, put on webinars, and promote their partners. ArDan Construction is solidifying its status as a thought leader in the Scottsdale and Phoenix communities. As a company started by two brothers who love the construction industry, you can read their friendly, confident, and knowledgeable vibe in every video, post, and story.
Specktacular Home Remodeling is another fantastic example of a family-owned company not shying away from showing their faces and their brand to their community. If you follow them on social media, you are welcomed into the Specktacular Home Remodeling family with open arms and ample knowledge. They consistently provide value to their followers, positioning themselves as an SME (subject matter expert) in the Portland area.
Our DIY Recommendations
We’ve given you a lot of reasons to take on what sounds like yet another full-time job – so it’s only fair to provide tools and tricks to make running your social media accounts the easiest and most fun part of your day!
Schedule your content. That’s right, you can schedule content to automatically post weeks or even months in advance. Facebook allows you to schedule content right from your Page, if you’re looking to schedule content for Instagram, Twitter, or other social media channels then you will need a social media calendar tool such as Hootsuite, Sprout Social, Agorapulse, etc.
Follow the 70-20-10 rule. 70% of the time you will share your own content that adds value to your audience. No sales pitch, no hard sell, just content that adds value. 20% of the time you will share content within your industry that adds value for your audience, again – no sales pitch. By sharing content within your industry you may find that you are able to grow your network and have your content shared by others. 10% of the time you will make the sale.
Always include a call to action. A call to action is an explicit instruction asking your followers and viewers to execute an action such as: like this post, share this post, tag a friend, click this link, etc. According to AdRoll, asking your followers to perform an action can increase your click-through rate by 285%. If a Facebook post is seen to have high engagement rates it will get more visibility and potentially generate increased interest in your page. Be specific with the instructions you would like your fans to follow.
Have fun with it. Social media is the place to let your personality show. Candid shots of your construction crew, showing off new t-shirts or hats with your logo on them, pictures or videos of your team volunteering at a local charity you like to support – all great examples of posts that show your followers who you are. As you know, a client inviting you into their home or business is extremely personal, and giving them insight into who you are throughout the sales process can lower the barrier between you and new business.
Social media is a must-have in 2021. Your friends, family, and most importantly, your potential customers, are all on social media. It’s the cheapest and most effective way to market yourself and it’s not as hard as you think to learn. So pull out your phone, snap some photos, and start posting!
