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.
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.
Learn more about getting started with Facebook.
Setting up an account on Houzz.
Build your LinkedIn Business page.
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.