If there’s a place where you can organically find and communicate with your audience, it’s on social media. Facebook, for instance, is a common platform with 2.8 billion users as of March 2019.
But social media is a place where contractors seem to just spin in the sand and get no traction.
At the simplest level, all contractors should think of using social media to pass a 'background check'. No matter where a lead comes from, whether they just found you in a lead marketplace like Homeadvisor, or came to you by referral, nearly all of them will do a little background check of sorts. That's the point early on in the sales process when the potential customer checks you out and wants to see that your operation is a 'real business', with the resources to get things done and a genuine concern for customer satisfaction.
Having an active Facebook page with authentic content is key to passing this background check. You don't have to go overboard with it. 1 post a week is more then enough, but content is key. Cute dog pictures, and recipe shares won't work. You need authentic content showing the inner operations of you company.
Relationship Marketing... A Step Into Paid Social Media Advertising (on Facebook)
Note: Relationship Marketing is a broad topic extending outside of social media. More on it is covered in this post.
How cool would it be if your new leads seen your content on Facebook minutes after hanging up? What if your past customers constantly see your posts and subsequently have a place to engage with you?
This will pre-position your company for sales, and perpetuate referrals / repeat business. It's powerful and very few contractors are doing it.
Implementing this requires requires running paid ads. Ultimately you must get your audience of leads and past customers identified asap (remember you want your leads to get into the system a few seconds after hanging up the phone), and then structure set campaigns in the ads manager.
Always having fresh content to keep your audience engaged is key -- nobody like to see the same post twice. At this level you should be creating 3 new ads each week, and subsequently having them dripped to your public wall for the bonus of organic exposure and social proof.
The Authentic Images That Win On Social Media.
Before we jump into examples, it is important to understand the biggest factor behind success on social media as a contractor... AUTHENTIC IMAGES.
Cute dog pics and recipes won't boost your bottomline. Take a look at this framework training video to learn what types of images WILL.
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All companies below follow The Market Domination Method, a full circle training program which includes building out relationship marketing and lead generation campaigns with Facebook Ads. Get pricing & Learn more here about the Market Domination Method.
Gulf Coast Aluminum
First and foremost, I have to include Gulf Coast Aluminum. It’s a pool cage restoration and screen enclosure service that I co-founded in 2011. It operates in and serves the major cities of Southwest Florida along the expanse of Punta Gorda, Fort Myers, Naples, and Marco Island.
Relationship marketing via Facebook is a major part of our business framework. It's how we connect with new people, stay in touch with old customers, and basically keep our business top of mind for our audience.
Here’s an example of a boosted post for an informational blog article that has been running for quite a while. Sharing content from our website is one of the ways we keep up our social media content. The post statistics are a tangible indication of how well people have interacted with your post. In this case, these numbers indicate the actions people took upon seeing our post. Aiming to keep these numbers up, especially the comments, is how you can make sure your page is getting enough engagement with people.
Alternatively, we also run posts with more engaging visuals like a video. As of this writing, this post with a video on it has gained 276 reactions, 46 comments, 59 shares, and over 3 thousand link clicks.
A video engages people more than photo ads because it can keep them entertained for longer.
Bird Family Insulation
Bird Family Insulation is a unique service contractor in Georgia, especially focused in Atlanta.
Comfort issues brought about problems with insulation can arise from any part of the house. Bird Family Insulation has qualified trained and skilled employees to install, repair, and remove insulation in various parts of the house.
A similar strategy to Gulf Coast Aluminum is performed on the rest of the contractors’ Facebook pages in this list.
This post is an example of the type of content in HPS' content marketing framework, but essentially it aims for the same effect as our information blog post that you saw, which is to open communication and bring people to the website. This one just promotes the latest blog post that they have published on their website, which has a lot of interesting projects as conversation starters in the comments.
By showing the people involved in the company’s projects, trust and authority is built to the audience they have on Facebook and confirms their professionalism.
Here is another post that has garnered over 200 total reactions. It’s another post to drive people to a previous blog post.
Between the picture and the caption, those who encounter this will be enticed to click the provided link at the end of the post when after you click ‘See More.’ And once they enter your website, they'll be more integrated into your business.
Concrete Hero
Concrete Hero is a well-established concrete repair contractor in the suburban areas of Northwestern and Far West Illinois. They’re known best for their excellent customer service and polished work.
Their mantra, “Redefining the Concrete Industry”, is a company ethos related to how they treat every customer and project — with respect. It’s a rarity in the concrete industry, which is why the company is loved for its care for the simple courtesy that any service provider should have.
Customer service is probably one of the best ways to solidify your market’s trust and respect for your business. Content marketing is just a big bonus for this company, but it attracts as many local customers as their impeccable service does.
If not a post for a featured projects blog post, the second-best social media content to run is informational articles. This develops your authority on the subject and makes you a leader in your industry, whether locally or in general. This article establishes Concrete Hero as the authority in the concrete in your house that makes it appealing for selling.
Though reactions were scarce, this post generated over 4 thousand link clicks, which brought people to the company website.
Sometimes, you can express your business or branding on social media but people still won't know your actual services. Directing them to pages with more in-depth descriptions of your services will make your Facebook audience more knowledgeable of your offers.
Doctor Electric
Just from the name, Doctor Electric already clears out any confusion about what their business is about. They offer “easier, better, and safer electrical service.”
This is something that all people need but can’t do on their own. From the onset, they’ve got a sustainable business that isn’t likely to stagnate. However, content marketing is still needed for fairly common business.
The abundance of need for this kind of service isn’t enough excuse not to maximize the possibilities that customer relationship from social media can bring.
This post, which comes with a discount for people who would avail a certain kind of service, is a good way to capture attention. In terms of appeal, the text could have been broken up in a better way so that people would immediately notice the discount.
Most people like your page but ignore your posts. Sometimes, you need an enticing offer to make people finally notice your business. Either way, this strategy of relating to a recent event connects you with your audience and customers more.
In a similar fashion, this post also hits people where they can resonate. With the enumeration of pain points and frustrations that they encounter related to Doctor Electric’s services, they don’t have to mention much about their business or services to ignite people's curiosity.
Terra Garden Solutions
Terra Garden Solutions is a contractor company for services that protect your lawn area. They are headquartered in Naples and serve surrounding communities.
Greenery and foliage are abundant in Florida. Terra Garden Solutions make it easier for homeowners to manage their grass and plants, and prevent pests from ruining their outdoor space.
Their services include mosquito and pest control for your lawn and plants, flea and tick protection, and plant fertilization.
The people who follow Terra Garden Solutions are likely people who care about their lawns and outdoor foliage. This post would immediately attract their attention and make people curious of Terra Garden's services.
As for sharing content on Facebook, Terra Garden Solutions does so by using enticing photos of well-kept gardens or incorporating cute animals like this post. Because who can resist seeing these adorable creatures? It’s a smart tactic that targets people’s affinity for animals.
Custom Remodeling Specialists LLC
Custom Remodeling Specialists is a plumbing contractor but also delivers other home improvement services like home renovations for the bathroom and kitchen, flooring, and powerwashing, among many other services.
They operate in the local community of Poplar Bluff in Missouri. Since the projects of the company generally take longer and are considered large-scale, the projects take longer to finish. This means there are less projects to feature on a weekly basis.
To counter the lack of finished projects, their page shares progress updates of homes they’re currently working on. This makes sure their presence is still felt on social media.
Giving discounts to people who sign up to their mailing or contact list is a fitting strategy for their kind of business. This post about a 15% discount definitely raises some interest as you can see with its over a hundred reactions.
This definitely entices your Facebook audience to your business more, especially when they know they can get so much out of your service.
Hōm Group LLC
Hōm Group is a fairly new contractor company compared to the rest of the companies on this list. It’s a home improvement contractor company that delivers custom shelving and wardrobe units, decks and docks, engineered hardwood flooring, and full-scale remodeling.
It’s still building out its contacts, trying to gain the trust of customers, and acquiring leads. However, it’s already doing quite well on the social media marketing front.
First and foremost, social media marketing won’t work if the service itself is not living up to expectations and promises. With some projects done, Hōm Group utilizes Facebook to showcase the work they did for past customers.
With a good photo of this hardwood flooring Hōm Group installed, people are driven to the blog post where the rest of the information about the project can be found. Thus, more and more people will know their name and their services.
Since they don’t have a solid following yet, Hōm Group uses witty captions to capture people’s attention. And it’s working! Humor connects people, and it's a good strategy to let your business be known. This post got quite a number of reactions, which is big for a company with not a lot of audience yet.
Contractor companies could gain a lot of benefits from implementing relationship marketing on social media. It only adds extra execution on their part but eventually, the gains outweigh the costs.
These contractors are good examples of how to maximize social media content ideas and strategies for better business awareness, presence, and customer retention and satisfaction. Some have done it longer than others, but in general, these relationship marketing strategies are applicable even to small business who’ve been here for a while or new ones that are just introducing their name to the market.