Social media is a fact of life these days – and it’s not going anywhere, so if you haven’t already, it’s time to start making use of this outlet for marketing your residential home service business.
Websites like Facebook, Google Plus, Twitter, and LinkedIn can be powerful tools to help you take your business to the next level. If you want to find make your phone ring, make more money, and gain more personal freedom, social media marketing is an essential modern resource to help you do so. And best of all, with some planning, it’s one of the easiest marketing techniques out there. But for HVAC, plumbing, and electrical contractors, social media marketing may not come as naturally as your technical skills. That’s okay – it just means you need to know how to get started.
Start by determining your goals. Do you want to position yourself as an expert in your industry? Are you trying to help customers in your target market find your business? Do you want to build personal relationships with your customers, or find an easy way to offer discounts and specials? Do some research – each social network has different features that make it ideal for certain purposes. For instance, use of hashtags on Twitter makes it easy for customers to find you – you can hashtag your services and your location, such as “#HVAC” and “#Atlanta.” Facebook and Google Plus are great for building a business page and growing fans and followers – you can post links your customers might find interesting, ask them questions, and promote customer loyalty plans or special discounts. LinkedIn is great for answering questions and positioning yourself as an expert in your field – look for opportunities to join groups or “Answers” discussions.
It’s important to know where your target audience spends the most time online. This will vary by location, age, and economic status – so knowing your market is crucial to social media marketing success. And you must be careful not to spam your customers – make an effort to engage with them, but don’t be annoying about it. That means the majority of your posts should be helpful to customers, not self-promotional – an 80-20 percentage is a good rule of thumb to follow.
Be sure you, as the business owner, are not managing your social media accounts yourself – assign someone else on your team to do it, or hire a professional. You need your own focus to be on growing the business, not handling the day-to-day management of tasks like social media.
Finally, make sure your social media and other HVAC marketing efforts all work well together. Every piece of marketing should integrate and help you grow your company.
Social media marketing is just one of the keys to growing your service business. Do you need more help getting started on the steps to taking your company to the next level? That’s why I started ServiceKey. Register for one of my FREE strategy calls, or my $23 Million Dollar Contracting Business Blueprint Workshop and Boot Camp today, and learn all the secrets I’ve used to grow my own business, and why I know they’ll work for you. Reserve your spot now!
Mike Agugliaro, “Business Ninja”
Founder of the $23 Million Dollar Service Blueprint and Service Warrior Business Mastermind
