Social Media for Tradies And Builders

What will top five percent of builders and trades businesses be doing on social media in 2022?

Gone are the days where people would check their local paper and pick the first business that had all the A’s at the beginning of the business name. These days we might have seen your van driving around our suburb and we type it into Google if we remember it. Or more than likely we type the trade we need and our suburb and see who pops up in the Google Map Pack .
After that I might go to your website and your social media platforms to just check you out and get in touch that way.

Statistics About Social Media

98% of Australian internet users aged 16-64 still use a conventional search engine, over 1 in 3 users turned to social media to gather information about brands they were considering, so we want to make sure you’re there when they check.
Potentially there’s a perception you’re not really serious, or that you’re old fashioned, if you’re not there.

In January 2021, Australia had 20.5 million social media users with social media penetration in Australia is currently at 80% so when we hear trades and builders say ‘my customers aren’t on social media’, we know we can call that out as bs.

And as for video? TikTok was the second most downloaded mobile app in Australia last year – unsurprisingly, after Zoom. So people are watching, and continue to watch and build brand loyalty on video.

Video is more widely expected across social media than ever before. From 15 second snippets on Instagram stories and reels, to 30 seconds and a minute on Reels and Tik Tok, to longer 5 minutes plus on YouTube (more instructional style than brand building). The sky’s the limit with how you can use video in your content mix.

Which platforms work for tradies?

Facebook is still the leading social media platform with the most advanced features for marketing your brand. With 1.8billion users each day, and over 300 million stories  being consumed on the platform daily, it’s a critical part of the mix.

Instagram is a great option for targeting a slightly younger demographic, especially if you have a lot of great images to showcase your business. Instagram stories are even more popular and allow behind the scenes and interactive questions and polls to engage your audience. 

Twitter is one of the best platforms for customer service and sharing your opinion about topical headlines,  and LinkedIn is particularly useful for businesses in a B2B capacity.

But the single most important platform you should be using is your Google My Business. You can also be posting photos, links to your blog posts and videos here as well. The more activity on your Google My Business, the more you will start to rank in the local areas

You choose – where are your audience hanging out? 

How to make social media work for your tradie business

It’s a mistake to think about social media as having to bring you leads.
Your website and the SEO that you are investing in, should be be bringing in most of your leads. Social media is a place where your brand is on show and works as building trust and is part of the conversion factor.
Social media is where people can find out whether you have a team, what sort of work you do, whether they like the look of you. And all in a heartbeat. You don’t have long to create that important first impression, so how can you do that with your social media content (blogs, posts, photos with captions, and more importantly – videos)?

Keep it simple

Don’t overthink think it, here’s some questions you can turn into multiple posts:

>What do people complain about most about your industry? Show them how you have addressed that

>why should they choose you and your business over the competition?

>how are you making it easy for them to contact and work with you?

>Who’s in your team?

>What work have you completed that you can showcase?

>What’s something quirky about you or the team?

Social media content is all around you every day. Choose everyday moments as they show your brand at work the most. For example tell stories, show before and after images, explain processes, show you interacting with customers and the team.

That’s just a few ideas, but the more you create, especially short videos, the better

Keep the customer in mind

What do they need from you? Who are you talking to that’s going to book work with you? Think about the difference between a homeowner owner and a property manager. Their needs are different, so keep that in mind with your content.

Have fun. Be Mindful

Have fun showcasing your work, your team, your brand. Be proud and involve the others where you can. Some customers might be really happy to be quoted or on a little video testimonial.

At the same time, make sure you’re sharing some guidelines about what can and can’t make it to social media whilst you’re at it, to avoid breaches of confidentiality or safety.

Keep it consistent

Use a scheduling app such as Facebook Creator Studio, or Hootsuite, MeetEdgar or AgoraPulse. All will make it simple for you to keep your posting consistent and mean your time is better organised. If this is still overwhelming – Look at using a VA to do all your socials for you. You can read our VA article here

Over to you

Social media really is an imperative rather than a ‘nice to have’. Focus on the tips above for your content marketing and get started or improve your posts for better reach and to build your brand’s story.

Remember if you don’t have a Trades & Builders Business Mentor, you can reach out to us here.