With an astonishing 80% of Australians now on social media (Sensis), a presence on the right platform offers a very effective tool to promote your business. It can project an image of professionalism and help potential customers learn more about your business and easily contact you for work.
Getting underway may have once felt overwhelming, but not anymore. Dahlsens has curated all the information you need to build and manage your social activity with the confidence of a teenager!
Pick the perfect platform
The two platforms with the most promise for builders and trades in Australia remain the biggest, Facebook, and the fastest-growing, Instagram.
Originally a website and now also an app, Facebook boasts over 15 million users in Australia (Social Media News). It’s essentially a timeline to share news about your business, direct to potential customers in your area.
Primarily a photo sharing app for smart phones, Instagram is rapidly growing in popularity. Its audience is obsessed with beautiful imagery and design, making it an ideal place to share photos of projects, homes, new products and style inspiration.
Build your profile
Facebook and Instagram have detailed instructions that walk you through opening a business page. Simply Google ‘create an Instagram business page’, for example, and you will find links to help.
What you’ll need:
- A logo for your profile picture
- A cover image for Facebook
- A description of your business
- Some content to use for posts
Make sure your page is professional. For help, there are plenty of design agencies who can set up your Facebook page from as little as $200.
Hashtags
Use hashtags # with your posts. These are a search tool that people use to find related content, often put at the end of a post. If you were to search Instagram for a hashtag, all posts with that hashtag would show up, for example: #builders or #hamptonsbuildstyle.
Image inspiration
Remember, posts don’t always have to be written. A picture paints a thousand words on social media, so get snap-happy with progress shots, before-and-afters, house plans, job sites, design ideas, product features and more. Video is also extremely worthwhile – consider completed home walk-throughs or drone footage for 360° house views.
Consistency is key
No matter what you’re posting, it needs to be regular. Facebook has tools to help you be more consistent with your posting, including allowing you to schedule posts for future publishing.
Build your audience
After you’ve got a few posts under your (tool)belt, it’s time to build your audience:
- Invite your family and friends to like or follow your page
- Run a contest that gives people the chance to win a prize if they like your page
- Promote your social media pages on your website and email signature
- Ask customers to review your business online to help build credibility
Social advertising
Businesses can advertise on Instagram and Facebook for a fraction of the cost of traditional media. Ads appear as a post in someone’s feed and can be targeted to specific audiences and/or regions. Thanks to local area advertising on Facebook, businesses can target those within a certain radius, such as 30km. You can also target ads to people with specific interests such as ‘home and garden’.
Monitor engagement to make sure it’s working
Check up on the success of your social media activity by reviewing the number of your followers, the number of ‘likes’ or clicks you’re receiving per post and any enquiries that are stemming from the platforms. ‘Insights’ on both your Instagram and Facebook pages can help you with this. Remember though, it’s not all about the engagement. Prospective customers will be silently using your pages to review your business before contacting you.
Now you’re underway it’s time to post!
Here’s some inspiration:
- Business updates, house plans or designs
- Staff member profiles
- Local sponsorships
- Training, meetings or business development activities
- Display home promotion
- Customer testimonials, polls or surveys
- Share new products or trends from suppliers
- Special offers and service guarantees
- Events using the ‘create event’ tool
- Completed projects, before and after photos
- Inspiration images that will appeal to your ideal clients
LinkedIn is social media for business professionals and gives you an opportunity to showcase your business on a different level. Similar to Facebook, businesses can create a profile, post updates and connect with other professionals. A well-designed LinkedIn profile is particularly helpful for making connections within your local building, trades and design community.
