Facebook is the Goliath of social media. If you want to know where the vast majority of your customers hang out for a couple of hours a day, then look no further. They are on Facebook.
Of course, the tricky bit is not finding where they are. The tricky bit is getting their attention and ultimately their business.
I will mention now, as I do in all my social media based blogs that Facebook or any other social platform should not be your sole focus for marketing. It should be part of a larger strategy where you incorporate all sorts of methods and use multiple platforms.
The basics:
Before we start, you should all make sure you have the following:
- A business page
- A clear call to action on that business page. For example, call us, email us or visit our website
- A description of the services you offer
- Video or images of some of your RECENT work
- At least one reasonably interesting case study, testimonial or article about your work.
Now let’s move on to the more interesting stuff!
Keep it native
What does this mean? Well, think of it like this. Every social media platform has its own style and culture. Whilst Facebook is probably one of the most versatile platforms (we’ll talk more about that later), it still has its own identity.
People act a certain way on Facebook, that they perhaps wouldn’t on LinkedIn or Twitter.
The idea of ‘keeping it native’ is to interact with people in the way that they want to be interacted with.
The basic premise behind this is that nobody goes on social media to look at adverts. They go on social media to be social. To have a little bit of fun and maybe see something cool.
Keep a professional image but engage like a human who understands the culture of the platform.
Nobody likes talking to a faceless corporation. People want to feel like they know you and your company like a friend.
Be authentic
Authenticity and congruency are key to being successful on social media. This may sound complicated, but it boils down to the simple phrase ‘just be yourself’
If you’re funny, be funny.
If you’re serious, be serious.
Boring? Be boring!
There is nothing worse than seeing a miserable old bloke on social media trying to make a bouncy high energy video like a teenager because he thinks that’s how you have to do things.
If you’re a miserable old bloke. Act like a miserable old bloke. To be honest, most people would probably find it quite funny watching you being grumpy.
The other reason to be yourself is because if you pretend to be something you are not, you will almost certainly run out of ideas for content. Which brings me neatly on to my next subject…
Post regularly
Facebook is a noisy place. If you want to be seen, you have to get out there on a regular basis! One of the keys to this is:
Document, don’t create.
People often struggle to think of ideas for content and say things like ‘I couldn’t post 3 times a day. I could never think of that much content’
Well, once you are acting like your true and authentic self you don’t have to ‘create’ content all the time. You can literally just ‘document’ your daily life.
Go behind the scenes
One of the best things you can do now you’re ‘documenting’ is to go behind the scenes. People love to peek behind the curtain and to see the world through someone else’s eyes. Show people what you do.
Use your posts to not only show off your work, but also to educate potential customers on the skills involved.
To do this, use the full versatility of Facebook!
As I mentioned earlier, Facebook is one of the most versatile platforms available. There are very few restrictions on the types of media you can share. Try to use all of them!
Text posts, photographs, video and live streams. Use them all to make sure you reach every type of person.
Engage, engage, engage
One sure fire way to get noticed on Facebook or any other social platform is to engage. A LOT!
Every day you should be aiming to engage with 50-100 posts across social media.
This means, liking the post and taking time to put a thoughtful and positive comment on it. Remember, it’s not uncommon for people to get hundreds of likes on a post. But it is rare for people to get lots of comments. So, if you consistently keep popping up in peoples posts with thoughtful and helpful comments, you are going to be remembered and you are going to stand out.
Ok, finally here are some quick ideas I’ve compiled to help your grow your network and reach more potential customers:
- Reach out to other local trades and ask them to do the following: Go on to your business page, go to the community section and click to invite all their contacts to like your page. Then offer to reciprocate. This can hugely increase the reach your posts will have.
- Ask friends a family to do the above too!
- Run a competition with a prize of your choosing, where to enter people must share and comment on one of your posts or invite all their friends to like your page. This could reach an untold amount of people!
- Join local Facebook groups and comment in them regularly.
- Join trade groups, not just for decorators, but other allied trades such as plasterers.
- Offer a Q & A service for anyone looking for advice on painting and decorating.
- Give free advice and tips on your trade. Show them your tricks of the trade when you’re on a job.
- Post good quality photos of your work. If you don’t know how to take photographs very well or edit them. Get on to Youtube and spend half an hour watching tutorials. That’s all it takes, and it’ll make a huge difference.
- Don’t be afraid to recycle content. If you had a successful post 6 months ago and you have loads of new connections now, repost it. Or if you’ve written a blog post, take key points out of it and post those bits separately further down the line.
- Can you partner with local businesses or influencers? Does your local coffee shop have thousands of followers? See if you can partner up to boost each other on social media. Or offer them discounted rates for any decorating they might need, if they post your details and work to all their socials.
- Set up a group on Facebook. Make a local group where people can come and discuss painting and decorating or ask you questions. Whatever it might be. It’s worth a go.
- Use Facebook to learn. Don’t forget in amongst all the noise and memes there is some really valuable insights to be found. Whatever the topic, you will be able to learn on Facebook. So, make sure you take time to do this too.
Let me know your tips for growing your business on facebook and share them with the community!
