Social media has grown to be an important part of marketing  for contractors because of its versatility in advertising, interacting with customers and amplifying your brand story. 

Whether you’re just starting to grow your social media presence or already skilled in social media marketing, here are 10 best practices to keep in mind when creating a strong social media plan.

1.    Have a brand identity. You need to know who you are, what you stand for to ensure that people will have a reason to follow you, and what value you will provide to them both online and offline.

2.    Understand your annual marketing goals. Without an overall marketing plan, you aren’t able to create a meaningful social strategy that will align with your goals. Social media success means nothing if it’s not also leading to the success of your business overall.

3.    Determine your social media goals. What are you trying to accomplish? What does success look like? SMART goals (specific, measurable, action-oriented, realistic, timebound) ensure that you don’t waste your effort and money. Start with a few goals each quarter to keep up the momentum.
•    Realistic goal example: Increase our Instagram followers by 10% (from 100 to 110) by the end of quarter.
•    Unrealistic goal example: Create a viral post within a week. It takes time to ramp up a social presence.

4.    Choose the right platforms. In the home service industry, Facebook is the default platform to be on. It’s still one of the largest social media platforms with a multi-generational audience. Other platforms, such as Instagram and TikTok, can also be valuable if you dedicate adequate time to managing the platform correctly and the potential results align with your marketing goals. For example, TikTok could be a useful platform to increase your marketing awareness since brand visibility is the primary outcome. 

5.    Identify content. A quick way to plan for content is to identify “content themes” or categories which can help in your curation and development stage. Content theme ideas could be: DIY, Community Spotlight, Offers, Employee Highlights Customer Highlights and Contests. Rotating your content and themes will keep posts from getting stale or overused. Remember to use the rule of 80/20 – this means that 80% of your posts should provide value or entertainment to followers, while 20% of the posts can ask for something from the follower (such as offers).

Look back at what was posted in previous years to see which types of posts have worked; build off previous successes instead of starting from scratch. Figure out which types of content your current audience connects with so you can build on your existing foundation. 

6.    Find a “social media champion.” Once you have your social media marketing plan, you need someone to implement it. Having a third party manage social media can help you get a “heartbeat” – a pulse that simply shows customers that you’re active. But having that internal social media champion will help turn your “heartbeat” into an actual “heart,” where followers can authentically experience your company and its culture, avoiding generic content.

7.    Know the budget. A social media budget covers a variety of tactics, including ads, boosted posts, giveaways, content editing software, and creative assets.  You will need to account for anything that creates original content, ad spend to gain brand awareness, generate leads or promote posts.

Note: This budget should not cover all expenditures for social media. For example, you should include any community efforts highlighted on social media in the larger marketing budget.

8.    Plan and create ahead. Make a monthly calendar that includes all posts layered with the messages from the marketing plan to ensure consistency in messaging. 

Curate and write posts for the upcoming month and then plan the themes and rotations for the next two months. And don’t simply copy and paste posts across each platform. Highlight the same topic, adjusting the content to match which platform you’re using. Also, avoid writing posts too far in advance since things can change, and adjustments may be needed.

9.    Invite and engage. It’s a good idea to include a way to get people to follow and begin to engage with your content. A strong call to action that’s repeated throughout outgoing communications is essential. Build your audience by ensuring that you link active social media platforms to your company’s website, including inviting people to follow you in emails and invoices and encouraging employees to follow the profiles.

Remember, once you’ve invited people to engage with your company, it’s equally important to keep providing consistently engaging, relevant, and meaningful content. 

10.    Track. As momentum builds, watch your analytics and adjust based on significant data. Remember to track each goal and determine whether you’ve made progress. Marketing is worthless if people aren’t seeing it.

Nick Rau serves Nexstar Network members as a Digital Marketing Coach. He ensures they spend their time and money effectively to build a strong digital brand and presence. Contact him at nickr@nexstarnetwork.com or follow him on LinkedIn.