Yes, social media seems like it’s EVERYWHERE, with many of us using it to connect with family, friends, co-workers and for other social reasons. However, did you also know that it can be very beneficial to use social media for advertising your business? Many of these benefits are free and easy to do, and don’t require a marketing budget to reach your goals.
The amount of time adults use social media across all platforms is now higher than ever — 95 minutes per day. In addition, the adults using social media today encompass many age brackets and demographics, where a decade ago social media was really seen as a mode of communication for teens and college students. Many local parenting groups and neighborhood association pages have constant posts asking “Does anyone know a good landscaper?” or “Does anyone have someone they would recommend to install a sprinkler system?” Because of these types of easily attainable interactions with customers, social media platforms have really become the go-to location for successful advertising.
Below we outline 5 of the most powerful benefits of using social media advertising:
1. Building brand recognition
- Increasing visibility in local markets (use location services to identify where you are), national markets (use industry hashtags to get in the game and get recognized)
- Increase traffic to your website
2. Sharing that you are an expert
- Become part of the conversation! Make connections with vendors, wholesalers, trade organizations, and other professionals in the landscape industry
- Stay on top of industry news and re-share it with your customers via your business page
- Be as visible, or ideally more visible, as your competition
3. Building relationships
- Blog, answer customer questions, offer incentives/coupons easily
- Ability to use Call-To-Actions (CTAs) and click through links/buttons to get customers to engage with you immediately when they see what you offer
- Reputation management
- Emergency communications (weather related closings, etc)
4. Targeted Messaging
- Ability to choose, target, and direct your messaging to the people you want to reach
- Especially important if you are a full service company. You can post about sprinklers one day, and grass seed options the next day. Frequent posting is common place to social media users, and this style of messaging allows you to reach consumers with different needs all at the same time
5. Easy To Do
- Post quickly from a smart phone or tablet on the go at a job site, or in your truck when you have a few extra mins
- Social media posts don’t need to be long. They can be photos, links to articles, promotional flyers, etc
- Easier way to get testimonials instead of trying to get customers to go through the multi-step process of Angi List or Yelp. Once they comment on your post, their testimonial is yours to keep!
It can also be helpful to learn the different platforms that are out there and their primary uses, so you are focusing your social media advertising in the right place.
The top two social media platforms for businesses:
While it may seem that Facebook is still primarily used for seeing pictures of friends on vacation, it has also become a big player in the social media advertising world. Make sure your Facebook business page is up to date with current photos, and contact information for your company. Some Facebook demographics to keep in mind:
- 41% of all Facebook users are ages 45 and older, 31% of all Facebook users are ages 25 to 34.
- 6% of Facebook users identify as male, and 43.4% identify as female. And male users ages 25 to 34 continue to make up the biggest demographic of Facebook users.
This platform can be a great place to share before/after photos of a job site, to re-share a post from an industry organization, or to update customers on seasonal promotions you are running. In addition, Facebook is a fairly casual platform and you can include business posts that show some behind the scenes of the company, or fun work posts of your team on the job. And if you are looking to spend even just $10 or $20 you can Boost a post to reach an even wider audience.
What was originally created as a platform for job searches and resumes, has grown into a leading social media platform where industry experts share content, network with others, and build their brand. Some LinkedIn demographics to keep in mind:
- 43% of users are female; 57% are male.
- 1% of all LinkedIn users worldwide are ages 25 to 34.
- In the USA, 40% of American Internet users ages 46-55 use Linkedin.
Overall, it is better to pick one or two social media sites and fill them often with quality content, rather than having poorly updated business content across too many platforms. LinkedIn can be the perfect place to connect and learn from other industry peers.
For landscape industry professionals’ selling to other businesses additional platforms such as Twitter, Instagram, or TikTok may not be as useful, however they can be beneficial when selling to consumers and homeowners.
Finally
Whether it’s marketing support, social media account audits, or design support, Central is the right partner for your business. Our highly experienced Marketing teams has decades of experience to help you identify best-practices and implement initiatives that deliver results. We’re ready to help you grow!