For many people, social media conjures up image of memes, cat videos, and lots of wasted time. On the other hand, social media is where people share their stories, look for ideas, and seek unbiased feedback from other people who are not trying to sell them something. In other words, people use social media to make buying decisions and its use is increasingly important in the roofing contractor world.
Should roofing contractors use Social Media?
The simple answer is yes. People who buy from roofing contractors are using social media to compare contractors, to understand how they treated their previous customers, and to get ideas for their own homes and roofing options. So unless you want to miss out on local conversations about what's new in roofing then you need to engage with your audience using social media.
Social media is also a great way to stay connected to your existing customers and to get them to help you tell your story. These real-life, authentic, customer stories, often driven by lots of photos and videos, tell your story better than almost any marketing tactic you could use. Why? People trust other people who are just like them to a much higher degree than they trust an unknown company marketing to them.
78% of people surveyed say that social media posts about companies influence their buying decisions.
What social media platforms should I consider?
Facebook
- Huge population of your potential buyers
- Visitors can see your company information and see what others are saying about you
- Great platform for images and videos and even live events as well as blog content
- Contractors can target an individual's specific interests
- Low cost ads that can be very narrowly targeted
Learn more about getting started with Facebook.
- Younger audience
- Contractors can build out a profile with story highlights
- Great place to post project photos and videos and make daily updates
Houzz
- Show your full projects
- Great place to connect with people actively looking to update their homes
- Can create idea books for your business
- Active forums where you can share answers to questions and connect with members
Setting up an account on Houzz.
LinkedIn
- Great place to build your professional credibility
- Create company page and each of your employees can have a page
- Largest network of business professionals
- LinkedIn messages are opened at a much higher rate that regular email
- Can hold live events
- Great place to share stories, photos, and videos
Build your LinkedIn Business page.
- Visually interesting and great place to share photos
- Home and office design focus
- Large search engine for images
How to be successful using social media?
First of all you need to get started. Sounds easy but it can be overwhelming to take that first step. Pick one of the social media platforms and set up a profile and begin to build out your pages.
Next, ask your team to share job content with the person you've asked to handle your social media account. Photos using a mobile phone work very well to get started. You do not need professional photos to post to social media. In fact, they can hurt your credibility because they are not authentic. People using social media want the real you so just be natural and tell your story.
Post regularly. Seems easy to do but you have to stick with it. Social media is a means to communicating about what is happening now. You need to keep the content current.
Be human and show the real you. Shoot simple videos of your team on a job site talking about the questions home and commercial building owners are asking. If someone asks you a question then you can be sure lots of other people are asking it too.
Share information about any events you are holding or participating in. Show your audience that you are connected to the community.
Talk about common concerns like pricing, timing, quality, longevity, durability, aesthetics, long term home/building value, savings, etc. You know them all because you've heard them all before. But your audience hasn't. Share what you know.
Engage with your audience. Never let a comment go unanswered. Good or bad always reply, and reply quickly and honestly.
Track and monitor your progress. Share good stories with your team. Take pride in the good customer feedback your team is earning. Also, make sure to watch the metrics and adjust your goals and expectations as you understand what success starts to look like for your business using social media.
Stick with it, the long game wins with social media. Building a presence takes time but the rewards are worth it.
There are many benefits to launching social media pages for your business including connecting with your customers, driving leads, giving people a place to interact with you, growing the relevance of your website and engaging your own team (yes, many of your employees would love to share stories about their work on social media).
Sharing is the currency of social media.
Do not be afraid to tell your story, answer questions, and give people a reason to reach out when they need a new roof - just like the roofs they see you install by looking at your social media accounts.
More Marketing for Metal Roofing Contractors Articles
- Marketing for Metal Roofing Contractors
- Marketing for Metal Roofing Contractors - Local Optimization
- Marketing for Metal Roofing Contractors - Your Website
About McElroy Metal
Since 1963, McElroy Metal has served the construction industry with quality products and excellent customer service. The employee-owned components manufacturer is headquartered in Bossier City, La., and has 14 manufacturing facilities across the United States. Quality, service and performance have been the cornerstone of McElroy Metal’s business philosophy and have contributed to the success of the company through the years. As a preferred service provider, these values will continue to be at the forefront of McElroy Metal’s model along with a strong focus on the customer.
Topics: Marketing for Contractors
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