Are you a plumber or heating engineer who wants to up their social media game? When it comes to marketing your business, knowledge of social media is invaluable. It’s essential to be open to every option to really become a front runner in the trade.
Many customers will search for you on social media, firstly to ensure you are a trustworthy source but also to view the quality of your work. It is more important than ever to ensure your online presence is up to up to scratch and to demonstrate your professionalism
In this blog we have created a simple social media guide to help you start engaging with your audience and reap the rewards of using social media for your business.
How Social Media Can Benefit Your Business
Love it or hate it, social media has become a huge part of many people’s lives and it can impact your business too. On a daily basis, thousands of people are turning to social media for recommendations, advice and looking for services. If you are yet to take advantage of social media marketing, now’s the time to get started.
Build Credibility & Trust With Your Customers
Social media is great for making yourself more visible to your customers, however it can also be viewed as a portfolio to show off your best work. Customers are more likely to trust your business if they can see “behind the scenes”, so putting a friendly face to your business may be appealing to potential customers.
Replying to questions your followers have asked on social posts is also a great way to show that you know your stuff. Demonstrating your knowledge will make your social media connections more likely to reach out to you for advice and services should they need them.
Knowing Your Audience
Social media for businesses is all about knowing your customers’ wants and needs. Knowing the people you want to engage with will help you determine which social media channels will benefit you most as well as informing you of the best time of day to communicate with them.
For example, deciding whether to target individual customers or businesses will determine if you should be posting on social media during or after working hours. How old are the customers you’re targeting? Studies show that the largest share of Instagram and Facebook users are between 25-34 years old. However, individuals aged 35-44 are also regular Facebook users whereas the younger 18-25 age bracket prefer Instagram. Asking yourself questions about your customer base will help you fine-tune your message across social media, achieving a better overall impact.
Increase Brand Awareness
Creating engaging and creative content around your business will allow your audience to feel as though they can connect with you and know exactly what your brand is all about. This means they will keep you in mind when they are looking for your service.
You can use visuals such as imagery or video to grab your audience’s attention on social media. Take a look at any of the trending topics across different channels and, if suitable, tailor your content to be relevant both to your brand and the current topic of interest to help you reach more people.
Collaborate With Other Businesses
Social influencers are people within your trade that have a large following and high customer interaction. If you are working with a specific company, why not tag them in your social media post? This could encourage them to share your post or even write about the work you have done together on their own channels.
Engaging in conversations with these accounts may also help increase your following amongst those who are looking at similar users or profiles. For example, if you can share advice or solve a problem, those followers may come to your page for advice in the future.
How To Use Instagram For Business
With over 1 billion active Instagram accounts, it's easy to see why this platform has become one of the best marketing channels for growing businesses. By creating a business account on Instagram you can add contact information to your account as well as see insights on how your posts and stories are performing. There is also the option to advertise on Instagram, boosting your post in order to reach more people.
As Instagram is a photo sharing social media platform, it is important to create quality visual content and be creative. Using hashtags is a great way to get noticed by people who are searching for these specific topics. However, be aware that spamming your posts with irrelevant hashtags is not likely to increase your number of followers. Remember — it’s not always the number of followers that counts, it’s how engaged your followers are.
How to Use Facebook for Business
Today, more than 1.6 million people on Facebook are connected to small businesses. Making your Facebook business page a service page is a great way to provide transparent pricing for your customers. Updating your Facebook regularly with recent pictures and information on the work you are completing is crucial as, if a customer visits your profile and sees that you haven’t been active in a few months, they are more likely to search for someone who has posted more recently.
Scheduling your posts for around 6-9pm will allow you to reach more potential customers as the most active times on Facebook tend to be from 7-10pm when most people have finished working for the day. Engaging with your audience is essential on Facebook to show that you are a trustworthy business. Therefore, replying to all messages and comments on your posts is one of the most important elements to consider when using social media for your business.
How to Use Twitter for Business
Twitter is a great way to have a bit of fun with your business’ social channel. A top tip is not to create generic tweets all the time that you wouldn’t bother reading if they were on your feed. Instead, get involved! Relevant hashtags like #TradesTalk is a great way to join in with conversations and show off your personality.
If you’re wanting to demonstrate your work, Twitter is the perfect platform to do so. Retweeting your customers’ posts that recommend your business is a great way for you to showcase your work while also providing a testimonial to inspire future customers.
The Fundamentals to Succeeding with Social Media
- Show off your personality — Don’t be afraid to have a bit of fun with your social media platforms. Tell your followers who you are and what you do. By portraying a little bit of your personality in your social posts you’re more likely to be remembered by potential customers.
- Be reachable — Make sure that you answer all messages and comments on your posts as this will help potential customers know that you are trustworthy. It will also mean that your posts will be seen on more users' feeds.
- Don’t be overly corporate — If your social media page isn’t engaging you won’t reach as many people. It shouldn’t be all work and no play. Not all social media users are there to receive adverts — many people are there for news, ideas and entertainment so don’t forget to have a bit of fun with your feeds.
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