Making the most of your social media as a tradesperson might seem like a redundant task...
However, with a little bit of effort, using social media as a tradesperson can be a powerful tool to promote your business, a space for you to have fun and a great way to stay relevant.
Normally, if you open up a website and scroll down to the bottom, you’ll spot social media icons. As standard, whatever size the business, there will probably be Facebook, Instagram and Twitter links there.
If a business is super on top of things, there might even be Youtube, Google+ and Linkedin.
If you’re a tradesperson with a website, whether you built it yourself or had someone build it for you, it’s likely that website has your social media links integrated into it too.
And for good reason! As a tradesperson, you’ll be aware that word of mouth is a key way your business gets promoted. Social media offers you the chance to promote yourself – through posts and conversations – further than your current offline network.
So what are our top tips for making social media work for you?
1) Understand the context of the platform you’re posting in
Different social media platforms are useful for different things. Collectively, your presence on different platforms can help to flesh out your businesses online presence.
At Shake and Speare we utilise Twitter, Instagram and Facebook the most.
Twitter is an excellent platform for talking to people and building relationships.
Facebook is useful for keeping a page with information related to your business – especially if you haven’t yet got yourself a website. Make sure your page includes your location, opening times, contact details (including links to your other social media!) and services.
Instagram can be good for keeping and advertising a simple portfolio of your work for your clients to see.
2) Post regularly!
This is important for two reasons:
1) Because just like that ad that McDonald’s ad that you see over and over at the bus stop and on the TV, ultimately causing you to head in and order whatever funky new burger they have on offer, consistent posting ensures that your businesses name is regularly being seen and ingrained in your followers thoughts
and 2) frequent posting = frequent engagement = your content reaching more followers as it pleases various algorithms
On top of posting regularly, there are also certain times it is best to post, in order to reach the most people.
These times are normally weekday mornings – so try to aim to be active on your social media around then.
If you can’t or don’t want to be active on social media in the mornings, or you just want to take your social media game to the next level, you can schedule content ahead of time using Hootsuite.
3) Build and nurture relationships
It’s easy to forget sometimes, when you zone out and just find yourself endlessly scrolling, but social media was designed to be social.
Like people’s content, reply to people’s questions, tell people that their video/random thought/baby photo is cool, vote in people’s polls and use the @ feature liberally (…well, not so liberally you creep people out).
A couple of Twitter tips to get you started:
- In order to private message someone, you must both be following each other
- You’ll get more response to tweets with images in them (if you don’t have an image, check out Twitter’s inbuilt GIPHY feature)
- Retweeting other people’s content gets them noticed. Retweeting other people’s content and adding a comment gets you both noticed.
Building a network of connections is a valuable business tool and an excellent way to get your name out there.
4) Brand yourself (if you think it’s in your wheelhouse).
Just like posting regularly, a bit of branding can cement your business in the minds of your followers.
Come up with a snappy social media handle and once you have, create a simple logo, using Photoshop or Canva in order to obtain the most memorability (or if you have some budget, The Vinyl Guys do excellent branding work).
For instance, the wonderful electrician Karen Boom on Twitter (pictured left) operates under @Shes_ElectricUK, and has a simple blue and purple logo that mentions her handle – easy to remember, to spot on your Twitter feed and thus an effective piece of advertising.
At the bare minimum, make sure your profile is not left as the standard egg.
5) Stay relevant – lean in to the hashtag
This might not be a tip you particularly favour but it’s time to get over your hatred of the hashtag and embrace them.
Hashtags allow you to add your voice to many ongoing conversations and widen the reach of your content.
For instance, in the world of tradespeople Twitter, topics you may find people posting about include: #stampouttooltheft, @tradestalk‘s #tradestalk tuesday Twitter chat, #stickerswap and more.
Of course, if possible, social media as a tradesperson shouldn’t be the be all end all of your online presence!
If you’re just dipping your toes into the digital world, try getting yourself set up with a one page website and put yourself on the map with a Google My Business account.
The start of your online journey with Shake & Speare
This may be just the start of your digital journey. If you’re running your own business you’ll want a whole host of other medium too. Especially your own website.
If you’re interested in learning more, then we recommend checking out our websites for trades page.
We’re always open to a chat, and if you’d like to meet up then consider the beers on us!
Our Latest Projects
Have a look at the sites of some happy customers.
Boiler Installation
Demolition and Scrap
