When growing your contracting business, social media plays a bigger part that you may realize. It’s truly one of the best tools there is to gain trust and brand loyalty—and it’s about so much more than just using Facebook or Twitter.

A solid social media presence helps you reach out to new customers and influence their buying decisions—through not only the commonly known social media sites but also Yelp, Google Local, and Angie’s List. When you need help developing a solid strategy for social media marketing for contractors, look no further than our team. In the meantime, read on as we uncover 3 key factors to online growth through social media.

1.     Understanding Your Influence and Learning Opportunities

Many business owners don’t understand their own ability to affect a buyers’ journey through social mediums, such as Facebook. In 2019, Facebook reported that they had 2.5 billion monthly users and 1.95 billion of those users can be reached by ads. Targeting your posts and ads on Facebook to your service area means reaching people who may not have heard of you otherwise.

Review sites are another medium to take advantage of. We mentioned above how social media presence includes your presence on sites like Yelp, Google Local, and Angie’s List. Positive online reviews are the ultimate way for word-of-mouth marketing to help you gain and retain loyal customers. In fact, even your well-thought responses to negative reviews help with this.

Of course, you can’t buy reviews—well you could, but you’d be heavily penalized—but you can make some smart moves to help your contracting business earn reviews. How so?

• Give your customers a heads up! Let them know you’re on the popular review sites. We can even help you get a link to your Yelp business page up on your website.
• Use review widgets on your website and build up a reviews page on your site.
• Respond to reviews—even negative ones. Actually, especially negative ones. Speak to your Marketing Coordinator about this if you’re already an iMarket client — we have plenty of strategies to share.
• Share testimonials from happy clients on your website.

Understanding your influence means knowing where you are most likely to be seen and strategizing your blog and social content to account for that. Our team can provide invaluable resources for contractors to nurture leads through their social influence.

And let’s not forget one of the most powerful components of social media marketing--learning about your audience. Social media is an incredible listening tool, to help you understand your audience, their interests, and what they are looking for in a home service company. Whether through a Facebook community or one of your review sites, you can learn from the feedback and engagement you see.   

2.     Scheduling Your Posts

Knowing when you will post and what you will post is vital. You don’t want to throw just anything up on your social pages without a tactical plan. There’s a time and place for everything you post—and some content will perform better than others.

An editorial calendar is a great idea, and working closely with an experienced marketing team will ensure that whatever you post falls under best practices and provides value to your customers and leads. Social media provides you with alternative methods to help you reach your business goals. You can even use your quarterly goals, for example, to shape your social scheduling. 

3.     Engaging with Your Fans and Followers

Being responsive galvanizes your bond with your customer and it increases your leads. People love using the Internet. Make sure you’re staying social on your social media. Respond to customer replies on your posts, re-share user-generated content, and always try to send a timely message back to your customers.

It’s important to ensure that you’re taking this experience offline, too. Your online presence reflects your real world connections online. It’s an excellent idea to ensure that you have a sound basis for this reason.

Get your staff involved, too! Whether you work with our team to develop a social media strategy or go it on your own, let them know the standards and expectations that you have surrounding your social media. A quick guide of best practices can go a long way. Round up a one-sheet that details your ideal post lengths for each website you’re using, pinpoint an ideal tone, and identify any themes (hashtags, profile photos, ongoing campaigns, etc.) you wish to see throughout all your social media sites.

Social media is vital if you want to have a flourishing business. This aspect of your company not only maintains customer relationships, it also helps them grow throughout time. Finding your path on social media is what’s going to make all the difference in your company. When you give this social media the right time, care, and attention, you’ll see the positive impact on your business in no time. 

Want help with your social media strategy? Contact iMarket Solutions today. We are Dedicated to Contractor Success!