With well over 2 billions users, we would say that Facebook is a safe bet for your business. In fact, more than 80 million small businesses around the world utilize the Facebook platform to promote their services and share their message, a large portion of these being businesses in the home services industry.
If you’re in plumbing, roofing, contracting, HVAC, painting, concrete, or any other branch of the industry and you are asking yourself, “Does my business really need a Facebook page?,” the answer is “yes.” It does.
Social media engagement is, by far, one of the most effective digital marketing tactics of today’s age, but it can be practically ineffective if it is not well-maintained. Facebook, being the leading platform, can be especially useful but also especially tricky, which is why we put together this list of top Facebook mistakes made in the home services industry:
No Facebook or Lack of Presence
The number one mistake you could make regarding Facebook as a home services business is, obviously, not having one. Yes, maintaining a Facebook account is a bit of a time commitment, and yes, word-of-mouth is still a good way to find business, but neither of these reasons are good enough for you to skip out on Facebook.
Or perhaps you have an account, but you’re inactive on it. Again, that’s a big mistake.
The benefits of Facebook are only as good as the effort you put into it. In order to see results from your page, you have to be present on it!
Incorrect Set Up
So, you are on Facebook. Fantastic! But is it set up correctly?
Time and time again, we see this common mistake: business owners have set up an account for their business, but they have done so incorrectly!
Most often, we find that they have set it up as a personal profile rather than a business page. If you were to search for more than 30 seconds, we guarantee you would find at least two or three accounts that are companies with personal pages rather than business pages.
Why is this so important?
Facebook developed the business page with specific and useful features, such as places for contact info, a Call to Action, addresses, reviews, and so forth. These things are an absolute necessity if you want to get any leads from your Facebook page at all, because they emphasize all the information a potential customer would need so they don’t have to go digging for it. (Just make sure they all have the right info!)
If you think you may have trouble setting up a Facebook business page (and doing it right), check out this step-by-step guide.
Low-Quality Content
So often, those in charge of running a company’s Facebook page, whether it be the owner or another team member, don’t take the time to produce quality content. This may be unintentional, but it is what it is.
The content that you put out on your social media pages does affect the way you are perceived by prospects, which is why having specific, original, and tailored content is so imperative.
There is a reason social media sites are called “platforms.” Platforms are spaces from which you share thoughts, ideas, visions, or specific messages. Take advantage of your Facebook platform!
(Pro tip: Copying and pasting long passages of text from a blog post or elsewhere does not qualify.
The purpose of creating valuable content is to provide your prospects with something worthwhile, which will build trust with them and attract them to your services by showing them both your expertise and your professionalism.
Lack of Visual Appeal
Having a poor visual presence on Facebook is a bad idea for many reasons. One is the obvious: People want a visually appealing experience on your social media pages. Often, especially among the younger generations, quality of appearance online is directly associated with quality of work.
This is true of your branding as well. Likely, if you have been in business long, you already have a logo and color scheme of some sort. Use it!
Be consistent with your branding even on your social media accounts. You don’t have to be a graphic designer, but learn to create simple images and graphics to use, or delegate it if you need to. It’s not as difficult as it may seem, and it will benefit your business greatly.
Finally, and I cannot stress this enough, have a good, clear profile photo! This is the first thing Facebook users see when they search your business, and it matters. A blurry image of your office or a job you did a couple years ago just does not compare to a clear image of your logo. Be as professional as possible.
Poor Communication
Did you know that Facebook tracks your response time on messages sent to your business through your business page? Well, now you do.
If you go to any business page on Facebook, it will tell you their average response time for a message, and if someone sees that that average is around 3 days, are they likely to send you a message asking about one of your services? Probably not. And you want those kinds of messages! Respond well and respond promptly.
Utilize both messaging and comments as a way of engaging and communicating with your prospects and existing clients. You can do so by asking questions, encouraging conversation, and keeping things personal. Make everyone on your page feel valued, and you will be glad you did. Personalization in modern digital marketing makes all the difference, and you can read more about that here.
Few Reviews
Just like on Google, Facebook has a section of your business page dedicated entirely to reviews of your company and the services you offer.
This can be a blessing or a curse, but hopefully you have an incredible company with amazing services to offer, and you get hundreds of 5-star reviews; so for you, we’ll call it a blessing. But it is only a blessing if you actually have people leaving you reviews.
We know this can be tough, because it may feel like too much self-promotion (what is marketing anyway, right?), but don’t be afraid to ask those who are connected with your Facebook page to leave you great reviews if they have utilized your services.
More often than not, people you ask are more than happy to take a few minutes to leave a review, they likely just hadn’t thought of it. This will make you look good, and it will make them feel like a contributor.
Lack of reviews: No good. Makes you seem inexperienced. Lots of reviews: Excellent! Makes you look well-qualified!
There are several more little mistakes you could be making, but if you avoid these six big ones, you’re on the right track to having a high-quality, lead-generating machine of a Facebook page.
If you need some more ideas for increasing Facebook engagement, here is another great resource you may want to check out: https://blog.hootsuite.com/increase-facebook-engagement/
If you think your social media strategy and overall digital marketing strategy could use an overhaul (if you could use more leads and more business), we would be happy to sit down with you for a free strategy session and see what we can do for you. Schedule a session with us today.
