In the spotlight: Facebook

As the current lockdown has resulted in many of you postponing your jobs until further notice, the extra time at home may provide you with the opportunity to carry out tasks you would not normally have chance to prioritise.

A recent study carried out by Plus Net has found that 55% of 23-38 year olds rely solely on the internet for finding a tradesperson, saying that online reviews and a social media presence are the main things they look for when researching professional services. On average, this demographic spend more than any other homeowners on tradespeople per year, therefore it is more important than ever to utilise free social media platforms to help spread the word about your business and showcase your work to potential customers.

When creating your Facebook page, there are a couple of methods you can use to increase the likelihood of your page being displayed when potential customers come to search for your service.

Fill in as much information about your company as possible.

There are several fields that you will be asked to complete when creating your page, including a company address, contact number, website address and description of your company. The more information you fill in, the more trustworthy your page appears to both Google and Facebook, which therefore makes it more likely to be visible to potential customers.

Importance of the ‘About’ section

As this is the snippet of information that will appear alongside the title of your page in Google search results, it is important to include the key words associated with your business and services in the first 135 characters to ensure that your page shows when customers search for the service they require.

Continuous use of ‘keywords’

Keywords refer to what people are likely to search for when looking for your service (eg. roof windows, extensions, loft conversions etc.). Not only is it important that these words feature in the ‘about’ section of your page, but you should also be using them in your posts, as well as in the captions of the photos and videos you upload. The more frequently these words appear independently across your page (therefore not in the same post), the more likely your page is to appear when potential customers search for these services. Visit this website for more information on how to fully optimise your Facebook page.

However, in order to ensure that the above methods are effective, the content that you post on your page needs to also be engaging and consistent.

Using Facebook insights

In order to ensure your posts are seen by as many of your followers as possible, this useful tool allows you to gage when your audience are most active, which means you can schedule your posts to be distributed at the most optimal time. This feature also enables you to understand who the individuals are that are interacting with your page (gender, age etc.) as well as the content they find the most interesting. Using this information, you can monitor their engagement and plan further posts according to what they like to see.

Post regularly

Not only is it important to post regularly to keep your current followers interested, but if potential new customers come across your social page and only see posts from a year ago, they may assume that you no longer offer your services and may therefore look elsewhere. This doesn’t mean you need to post every day, but posting a couple of times a week will keep your page up to date and make sure you don’t lose followers. To ensure that you have the ideal balance of posts, make an informal plan to outline when events may be occurring (eg. public holidays, local events) as well as when you expect big projects to be completed in order to schedule these into your plan. This will allow you to keep your posting consistent, as well as guaranteeing you won’t miss out on any important dates!

Vary your content

Although it is important to use your Facebook page to demonstrate the services you offer, the best way to build a relationship with your followers is to try varying your content by including non-promotional posts that allow them to get to know you and your business. To do this, think about posting images of your employees on site or taking part in events (such as charity fundraisers) to entertain your audience and encourage them to engage with your posts. It’s also likely that the customers you are working for are interested in/affected by events near you, so let your page serve as an informative platform by re-posting information that you think your audience might value. To maintain this engagement, ensure you’re posting a variety of images and videos, as well as links to pages and articles, so that not only are you showing your followers the great work that you offer, but also providing content they enjoy viewing.

Host competitions

One of the best ways to get people to engage with your posts is by holding a competition. This may involve asking your followers to answer a general knowledge question, or posting a picture and asking them to ‘caption’ it, but providing a fun way to interact with your page will encourage followers to share your content and as a result, increase your following.

As you can see from the example below, using a simple competition on the VELUX page resulted in a significant increase in engagement from their followers.

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Alternatively, you could use this method to generate content for your website and social pages. This could take the form of asking previous customers to post photos of their finished job on your page and the one that receives the most ‘likes’ is the winner. By making it a ‘popularity’ contest, more potential customers will be driven to your page, as those who enter will ask their friends and family to like their photo. This method also boosts the number of customer testimonials on your page, as those who enter are likely to accompany their picture with a caption. This allows for potential customers to not only see your work, but also hear the feedback from your previous customers, making them more likely to use your business in the future.

Ask your audience to do something

Finally, in order to encourage your audience to interact with your content, you need to decide what you would like them to do when they read your post. This may involve a simple task such as liking, commenting or sharing your post or it may be to visit your website or contact you to arrange a consultation. Once you have decided what action you would like them to take, make sure you are explicit in asking them, for example ‘To find out more about our projects and how we can help you, visit us at…’

To encourage your followers to visit your website, it may be effective to only provide a snippet of information in your post. This means that if they want to find out the rest of the information, they have to go to follow the link eg. ‘Follow the link to see how we transformed the below into a bright and airy loft space…’ or ‘Visit our website to see how you could win a …’ By giving them a teaser, they will have even more of an incentive to visit the link you provide, so try to be brief in your posts.

Although it may seem like there are a lot of factors to take into consideration, getting into the habit of employing these simple methods when posting on your Facebook page can make a huge difference in your engagement levels and in return, your future leads. Everyone’s audiences will be different however, so play around with the techniques outlined above and see what your followers respond to best.

Let us know if these tips and tricks have been useful and show us how you have integrated them into your social plan by posting in the VELUX Certified Installer Facebook group.