3 Essential Social Platforms for Home Improvement Companies and How to Use Them
There are a few kinds of businesses that lend themselves to social media particularly well. Any company can leverage social media to increase consumer engagement, but anything food, pet, or home related tends to provoke more social interaction.
Because of this, landscaping and home improvement companies need to capitalize on the benefits that social media can grant them as a component of their overall internet marketing strategy. People already want to share and talk about your products and services online, so you don’t have to be as creative as some business to get consumers to engage with you.
Having a strong social media presence can lead to better search engine rankings, an increase in referrals, and will help you to establish a reputation as the industry expert. These three social platforms are the best tools for home improvement companies to achieve these results:
1) Build Your Audience on Facebook
Everybody is on Facebook. Regardless of the demographic that you are targeting, they are there. For almost all small home improvement businesses, if you only have time to focus on one platform, Facebook would be the one that I would recommend. Take time to plan out your home improvement marketing strategy before starting to build your online presence. This goes for any and all industries- take the time to research ideas for your plan of attack before beginning. For example, if you are in the construction industry, research things like "Social media ideas for construction companies" before getting started.
Your plan of attack:
Upload photos of your work to albums, post engaging status updates, and share your expertise with your audience on a daily basis. Use Photoshop or Snagit to create before/after images for status updates. Add text to your images that give your network valuable tips. Share some of your knowledge. Ask your audience questions. Ask for your current customers to share your page with their networks. Reward your evangelists. Most importantly, don’t post too often (1 per day is optimal), and don’t be annoying or sales-y.
2) Attract New Customers on Pinterest
Pinterest has taken the female 25-45 demographic by storm. Women are using it enthusiastically and compulsively to bookmark and share images of their dream home (and recipes to try, and favourite Kate Middleton outfits) for future reference. The images posted on Pinterest contain a link back to their original source, so there is potential to drive a massive amount of traffic to your website by participating on this platform. In fact, Pinterest is now driving more traffic to websites than Yahoo.
Your plan of attack:
Pin all of the images from your website onto your business account’s board to start. Pinterest’s search function isn’t that great as of now, and it is difficult to find people by location that you might want to engage with. To circumvent this, look for local retailers or restaurants that have an account, and follow their followers. Pinterest etiquette dictates that they should follow you back.
3) Promote Your Business Using Instagram
Instagram is a must-have platform for your business when it comes to online reputation management and search engine optimization. It is a wonderful place to connect with influencers to build your brand, for example if you are in the home improvement industry, it would be the perfect place to reach out to and create relationships with home improvement Instagram influencers. You can learn from other companies and educate your business on social media tips, such as when to post, what to post, how to interact with customers online, and how to maintain a brand image and overall marketing strategy based on your industry, for example building a home improvement marketing strategy.
Your plan of attack:
Create your Instagram business page. Create a calendar of how often you want to post and the content you would like to post. Share all of your relevant content- such as blog posts, tips and company culture images. Ensure to do your research before just jumping into building an online presence, for example, if you are in the building industry, look up "Social media marketing for builders," and build a solid plan before getting started.
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