Episode 002: Social Media - Why Do It?

Don: Let’s get started. Welcome back to the Digital Marketing for Contractors podcast. This is a podcast for contractors in the home improvement industry who are working on improving their digital marketing for their business. This podcast is hosted by Fat Cat Strategies, a digital marketing agency based in Raleigh, North Carolina. We work with home improvement contractors all over the country to help you crush your lead goals and take your business to the next level. My name is Don, and I’m one of the account managers here at Fat Cat Strategies.

Janet: And I am Janet. I am the founder and managing partner of Fat Cat Strategies.

Don: Today, we are going to dive into the always interesting topic of social media. Janet, I know this is one of your favorites.

Janet: Oh, Don.

Don: Yeah, exactly. That was the reaction I figured I would get. Social media is an interesting part of the digital marketing mix. We all know it is a significant part of digital marketing. Contractors know their customers and potential customers are in the social media spheres, using it and checking out their business there. But from a business standpoint, there’s a lot of confusion and frustration about social media—what to do with it, why it’s necessary, if it should be done, and what exactly to do if you’re going to use it. There’s a lot of confusion and frustration over the role social media should play in business and marketing. Let’s dive in. Janet, when you’re talking to a client or potential client, what do you hear them say about social media when they’re first asking questions?

Janet: I really hear two ends of the spectrum. On one end, there’s the groan I did at the beginning of the podcast: “Oh, what is this? I don’t want to do it.” That’s one end, and I’d say 80% of our clients fall into that category, especially the owners, maybe not some of their staff. On the other end, I talk to prospective clients who have unrealistic expectations about what organic social media can do for them in terms of lead generation. I feel a professional responsibility to unwind that expectation where they think, “I’m going to post some before-and-after job pictures,” or they’ve been misled by someone in the digital marketing world who promised them, “You can pay me $200, and I’ll optimize your Facebook page and generate all the leads you could ever need just from Facebook and Instagram.” We’ve never seen it work that way with organic social.

Don: The second time you said that, I think it’s good to clarify: when you say organic social media, what do you mean? What other kinds of social media are there?

Janet: Organic is when you post content on your business profile about your business.

Don: And it’s free. It doesn’t cost you anything to do that.

Janet: Technically, yes, it’s free, but your time isn’t free.

Don: A hundred percent.

Janet: So, yes, it’s free in the sense that you’re not paying the platform. Organic versus paid means organic is free content you post, while paid involves boosting a post or running a paid campaign. We’re not talking about paid today. We’re focusing on the content you post to your business profile, most likely on Facebook and Instagram.

Don: One thing I hear from clients is the general consensus that it’s a hassle. They feel it’s a time sink for them or their business.

Janet: Exactly. For the 80% who groan and ask, “What is this? Why do I have to do it?” they feel like they spend a bunch of time posting something professional, hoping it will help their business, but feel like they’re posting into the void and don’t know what they’re getting back out of it.

Don: Yeah.

Janet: That’s where I hear the most frustration. I mean, our clients, when we’re on a call with them, we’re talking about a whole bunch of strategies and different things. But at the end of the day, the question is, where are my leads?

Don: Yeah.

Janet: And if you’re spending time on organic social media, posting before-and-after pictures, pictures of your crew and your truck, and showing what you do and the communities you serve, but you don’t see any leads from it, that’s the source of the frustration.

Don: Yeah, absolutely. I hear that a lot. The results are hard to measure when it comes to social media. I mean, what is a like anyway? What does that mean? How does that help my bottom line as a contractor? What good is that actually doing for me? Those things are legitimately hard to measure, even on our end, using all the digital marketing tools to calculate those metrics. It is hard to figure out what benefit this actually brings. So let’s talk about that. What’s the benefit? Why would you do it?

Janet: Why would you spend any time doing it?

Don: I’ll share with you the big idea I talk about with contractors when explaining what we do for social media and why we do it. The big idea is that social media is not primarily about lead generation, but it is important to your overall lead gen strategy. Again, social media is not primarily about lead generation, but it is important to your overall lead gen strategy.

Janet: So it’s like a supporting actor.

Don: Exactly, a supporting actor. Here’s how I compare it: It’s like buying a car. This is a big purchase. You’re going to spend a lot of money on it. It’s important.

Janet: It’s got to be reliable, get you from A to B.

Don: You need it to last a significant amount of time. You want to ensure the money spent is worth it. You’ll look up that car and the business selling it, but you’ll also use third-party sources like a Carfax report or Kelley Blue Book. These help you determine if the car is safe, reliable, and if you’re getting a fair price from the dealer. You’re using other sources outside of just the car and dealer to decide if it’s a good purchase.

Janet: To help you build confidence. That’s what you’re getting at. You want to look at this car and buy it. It’s going to carry your family, take you on vacation, and get you to work. It needs to be reliable, safe, and maybe stylish. So, you’re looking to build confidence in the decision you’re trying to make.

Don: Absolutely. I tend to tell contractors that social media for you is really playing those same kinds of roles in helping you build confidence. You’re looking to help potential customers make a confident decision about spending a significant amount of money on whatever remodeling or home service project they’re jumping into.

Janet: So maybe it would help us, in the service of this podcast, to talk about what would make a homeowner insecure. I can tell you, I own two homes and have probably done more home remodeling projects than anyone I know. We bought a house built in the 1950s and then bought a second home in the North Carolina mountains. We’ve remodeled kitchens, waterproofed basements, built a sunroom, ripped a deck off—name a home remodeling project, and I’ve probably done it. I’ve put two roofs on the house and even installed a metal roof. So, in both cases, we started with fixer-uppers and spent years on sequential projects. I feel like I can talk not only from the perspective of helping contractors build their business but also from being on the buying side many times.

Don: So what has helped you in terms of building confidence and being able to make some of those decisions?

Janet: If we go back to pre-internet days, which weren’t that long ago—in the 90s, if you needed a new roof put on your house, you had to ask your neighbor, “Hey neighbor, a pine tree just fell on my house” (by the way, true story), “and I’ve got holes in my roof. I need a roofer.” Back in the day, that would have meant asking, “Do you know anybody?” It was the Yellow Pages and personal recommendations. There was a lot of risk, even with the Yellow Pages. You might start with the Yellow Pages but then ask, “Do you know anybody? Who do you know that’s trustworthy?” You’d have to give them a deposit and then trust that they’d come back. Unfortunately, there is a lot of mistrust on the homeowner’s side in the home improvement space because there have been bad actors. And you guys listening, you know the bad contractors in your area. You don’t want to be one; you want to demonstrate to your prospective customers that you’re not a bad actor.

Don: Exactly. In my mind, the role that social media plays is like a modern version of the Yellow Pages. Instead of looking up someone in the Yellow Pages, you’re going to Google roofers near me. You’ll get a list of roofers and won’t know which ones to trust. Your neighbors may not have had a pine tree fall on their house and may never have had to replace a roof, so they can’t help you. You’ll look at a couple of websites, reviews, and then their social media page. You’ll check their Facebook business page to see if it’s a legit business. Is it more than one guy with a truck? Are they going to take my deposit and disappear? You’re looking for signs of reliability.

Janet: Has anybody given them negative reviews? Have other people shown that this business is reliable, or are they getting two and three stars because they don’t show up on time or leave customers feeling frustrated? Everybody uses social media for those things, especially for large purchases like home improvement contractors.

Don: Right. So what we’ve seen as really successful content on the social media side, when building trust and confidence, is simple stuff. You can post a picture of your staff wearing matching polo shirts inside your office, celebrating your office manager’s birthday. Just that picture alone communicates a lot. It shows that you have an office.

Janet: You’re an established business.

Janet: You are an established business that opens its doors every day and has people who have agreed to work for you. Yes, that’s more than the classic “Chuck in a truck” we all know about, who rolls up in a tattered old truck, tries to take your money, and then vanishes. I think that’s the role that social media plays. It shows you’re established, real, local, and part of the community. We have several clients who are exterior contractors, and we’ve heard some colorful language from amazing business owners frustrated with storm chasers. That’s probably beyond the scope of this podcast, but you’re trying to establish that you’re not going to take someone’s money and run.

Don: Yeah, absolutely. You’re trying to establish yourself and your business as trustworthy, so a customer can confidently choose you. The point of this episode is understanding why to do it. If you don’t do it consistently, customers will see that and choose someone else they feel they can trust more. The challenge is figuring out how to display trustworthiness through social media. You need to make sure that you are establishing yourselves on social media as a trustworthy business.

Janet: So, Don, when you say “post consistently,” what’s your definition of consistent?

Don: I think it’s two things. First, posting consistently on the same platform. There are so many social media platforms out there: Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Pinterest, and hundreds more. You don’t need to be on all of them. You need to be somewhere and be there regularly. It’s not as good to post on Facebook one week, LinkedIn the next, and Pinterest the following week. It’s better to pick a platform and stay with it.

Janet: I would add to reduce your stress and anxiety, pick a small number of platforms. Don, you mentioned TikTok, and yes, it’s popular, but is it where a bathroom contractor or someone installing James Hardie siding needs to be? Maybe eventually, but not yet. Spend your time wisely.

Don: We recommend Facebook for a few reasons. It’s the largest platform, and through posting apps, you can post to both Facebook and Instagram simultaneously, getting two for one. Also, you want to choose a platform that matches your customers’ demographics. Most home improvement contractors target the 45-plus demographic with disposable income for large purchases, and by and large, that’s Facebook.

Janet: Exactly. They’re on Facebook all day, looking at pictures of their grandkids. I can say with authority that my mom, dad, aunts, and uncles, who have grandkids, are making decisions about their homes and are on Facebook constantly.

Don: Yes, absolutely. The first part is picking a platform to be consistent on. The second part is picking a posting rhythm you can maintain consistently. It’s not about how often you post but that you do it consistently. If you can only manage to post once a week, then do that. It’s better to post once a week than to post three times one week and nothing for the rest of the month. Consistent activity shows your potential customers that you’re reputable, active, and maintaining a presence. 

Janet: Don, you said once a week. I’ve talked to enough contractors who say they’re busy and can only manage twice a month. If we’re talking about demonstrating that you’re alive and well, many free tools allow you to pre-schedule posts. You can sit down for one hour a month and make two posts. That’s not a lot to ask, and it keeps your business posting regularly. What’s detrimental is when a contractor gets excited, posts a lot early on, and then stops for two years. Your business picks up, and you’re busy, but those word-of-mouth referrals are going to your seemingly abandoned business page and thinking, “I don’t know if this guy’s still in business.”

Don: Suddenly, red flags go up.

Janet: They haven’t posted since 2019, and it’s 2022. That’s the last thing you want to induce in your potential customer’s mindset. You don’t want them to find something that makes them question your business’s viability.

Janet: What’s going on with these guys?

Don: So that’s the idea.

Janet: Do you want to talk about what kind of content contractors should post?

Don: Sure. I think this is fun, and we could probably take a real deep dive into this in another episode. But I think it just needs to be content that shows off who your business is. Obviously, you want to post pictures of the work you are doing. Taking good job site photos is important, and by good, I mean it shows the completed work you’ve done, or maybe even before-and-after pictures, without ladders, buckets, or paintbrushes in the frame.

Janet: Or your thumb over the camera lens—things like that. You want good quality pictures. Often, people feel that if they don’t have professional-quality photos, they shouldn’t post anything, or they think they should just use some manufacturer photos that look pretty and fancy. There’s a place for manufacturer photos, and they can be helpful, but we see that real-life, real job site photos always do better. People can tell it’s real work that you’ve actually done. As long as it demonstrates quality work that people would be pleased with in or outside their home, it communicates a lot more than a manufacturer photo, which people know has been Photoshopped and well-lit, creating skepticism as much as it creates “ooh” and “ah” factors.

Don: So, I think what you’re honing in on is authenticity and quality.

Janet: Yes, use those manufacturer photos. For example, there are different grades of products: wood, casement, vinyl, etc. You could make posts to showcase the variety, like, “My company installs Marvin windows and offers many choices,” but you need to mix in real photos. People can tell the difference between an authentic photo of a job you’ve completed and a professionally photographed and Photoshopped image that anyone could have posted. Homeowners want to know if you’re legit, in business, local, and if you’ll be around to solve issues six months down the road. Authenticity and quality should be your focus. Keep those in mind, and make sure to move that bucket out of the frame before you take the picture.

Don: Yes, please, for everyone’s sake.

Janet: We’ve seen so many pictures from contractors with so many buckets.

Don: Yes. So, I think quality work photos are great. I also recommend posting content about your business and the people who work for you. Let your community see who you are. Show that your office manager just celebrated a 15-year anniversary or a three-year anniversary with your company—these are social media gold. It communicates that you are real people, which Angie’s List, Home Depot, and other national brands can’t do. It shows you’re a local business, and people love to support local businesses. The more you put a face to the name of your business, the more people will want to support you.

Janet: Yes. We talked about project photos and staff photos. If social media is about building trust and brand recognition, then if your trucks or vans are branded, or if you use yard signs on job sites, take pictures of that. Wait for a sunny day, take a good shot of your yard sign in a customer’s front yard.

Don: Get that logo in there.

Janet: Exactly, get that logo in there. Show your trucks and vans. Be proud of it and show it on social media. It tells the story that this is a local business operating in the local community. If you’re involved in community activities, like manning a table at a local 5K charity run, that’s also great content.

Don: Yes, absolutely. We could continue talking about this for a while, but we’ve given you a good starting point on using social media to build trust and brand awareness. If you have more questions about how to use social media effectively, we’d love to hear from you. We have a resource called Dominate Social Media Marketing, which is full of tactics that every small business should use to level up their social media game. You can check it out at fatcatstrategies.com/social. Download the resource right there on our page.

Janet: We’ve loved talking to you today and look forward to being with you soon for the next episode of Digital Marketing for Contractors. We’ll see you then.

Don: Digital Marketing for Contractors is created by Fat Cat Strategies. For more information, visit fatcatstrategies.com.