Used well, social can positively affect your business by deepening customer relationships and adding new customer connections. Yet, many contractors fail to take advantage of the opportunities because they get stumped on what to post. Here is the second of a multi-part series that will present dozens of social media posting ideas.
Posts That are Community Related
Community posts position your company as the ultimate local business. Your goal here is to become a news source for the community by providing information people may not easily find on their own. It is also an opportunity to engage the community and recognize community leaders and organizations.
1. Local Traffic Updates – If one of your technicians encounters traffic issues and calls it in, share this on social media. Even though GPS programs show traffic, most people do not use GPS for normal commutes.
2. Community Events – Post notifications about upcoming event within the local community. Post them well in advance and remind people closer to the event. You might also post a community events calendar weekly or monthly.
3. Local School Events and Awards – Post about events at the local high schools, middle schools, and grade schools in your target market area. When local students win awards, post congratulation messages.
4. Local Teacher Profiles – Consider working with the schools in your target market area to profile local teachers as a teacher of the week or month.
5. Charitable Donations – If a local group is raising money, post about it. Let people know how they can contribute. If you create an affinity marketing program where you make donations to charities based on purchases, post information about that.
6. Company Donations – Many contractors work with local distributors to give away a furnace every year to an indigent homeowner. Use social media as one source to collect recommendations and to communicate progress in the giveaway. Of course, post pictures of the winner and the winner’s story.
7. Donation Contests – Every so often, run a promotion where you donate a sum of money (e.g., $500 to $1,000) to one of three charities that gets the most people to like your company page and indicate which charity is preferred in the comments. Get buy-in from the potential recipients so they will push the promotion with their patrons. Encourage everyone to share the promotion to give their favored charity better odds of winning (hat tip to Dave Squires).
8. Pink Trucks – Following the lead of Ben Stark, contractors across the Service Roundtable begin wrapping one truck in their fleets pink and donating a portion of the truck’s profits to a cancer charity. If you have a pink truck, post pictures of it monthly. Try to get supporters of the charity in the picture with company personnel.
9. Home Shows – When you are going to participate in a home and garden show or other similar event, post information about the show and invite people to come out and meet you. Consider offering a special giveaway to anyone who comes by your booth and mentions the social media post.
10. Disaster Recovery – After a natural disaster, post consumer information about restarting equipment.
11. Elections – Remind people to vote before every election and link to pages where they can find polling information. Remind them about early voting, if applicable.
12. Service Club Activity – If you belong to a local service club, like Rotary, Lion’s, Optimists, Kiwanis, or Civitan (and you should), post about club activities on your company page, noting your involvement.
13. Local News Stories – When you find a local story interesting from a local television station or newspaper, link the video or article. Stay local. If the topic is controversial, simply ask what people think.
14. Community Tips – Do you have inside information on the local community? Share it!
For more marketing information, visit the Service Roundtable at www.ServiceRoundtable.com. The Service Roundtable is contracting’s largest business alliance with thousands of members across North America and Australia. To test drive the Service Roundtable for one month for just $10, text “TEN” to 797979.