Have you ever posted content on social media for your business and didn’t get engagement?
Have you posted for years and just got nowhere?
There are a few reasons why this might happen, but let’s go over one of the main ones: a misconception that is a killer.
I was talking to a small business owner the other day.
We were discussing the type of content to post on his Facebook page for his masonry company.
He said: “you posted a picture of a fire pit. We don’t do those, so I don’t want you to post that, we just do driveways”
That makes sense, doesn’t it?
Why would he want to give people the impression that he does a service, when in fact he doesn’t, and why would he want people calling him up, asking about firepits, wasting his time?
Very logical explanations, but it is missing a key point.
It is not so much WHAT you post, but HOW you frame/describe it. Let’s look at a right and wrong way to go about this:
1. If the picture of the firepit said “check out this firepit we just did”, that would not work, obviously.
2. If the picture of the fire pit said “fire pits are a great way to add warmth, light, and cooking capabilities to your property”, that would be fine.
Why it is fine to post things that you don’t do
People who are in the market for firepits could also be in the market for a driveway, so in this case it is relevant, and allows you to get interest from a wider audience. A person who does driveways could get interest from people who want pools, outdoor kitchens, and other things he doesn’t do. Therefore, it is in your best interest to have posts about similar things in your industry, so you can get that attention.
But… he may still argue: I only do driveways, so I ONLY want to promote driveways, I want all eyeballs seeing one thing, so they only think that ONE thing when they see my logo/business.
What happens when you only post photos on social media of your services
There is a problem with that: Would you follow/engage with a business on social media that always just had photos of driveways? Every post: a driveway. You might for a week, and then you’d be bored and unfollow.
Why? Because social media is social, it is a party. There must be variety.
Therefore, one has license to post anything about their overall industry, or related industries. For landscapers this means anything about construction.
To only make posts about your services puts your social media campaign in a straight jacket and will only get you so far, and will cause your audience to tune out because it is boring.
Now, there is one more thing…
Lots of Variety
Let’s say you take our advice and you start posting things, products, services related to your industry and you have a bit of variety.
That is great, BUT it is still not enough variety to maintain the interest of your audience, and it will become too predictable, so here are some additional types of content you can post, to maintain interest:
- photos of the staff, the office, vehicles, workers doing work
- photos of happy customers/clients/patrons
- before/after photos
- links to articles with useful information
- quotes related to your industry
- questions for your followers to answer
- screen shots of reviews
What about the people bothering me about a service I don’t provide?
If anyone comments, messages or calls you, and asks you if you provide X service, you can either:
1. Refer them to someone who does (have a referral partnership)
2. Change the conversation to find out their needs to see if there IS something you can do for them. Every conversation is an opportunity to build rapport and get a sale.
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