You may see social media predominantly as a place to connect with family and friends, watch hilarious kitten videos, and maybe keep up to date with current affairs. As a tradesperson, you may not have given much thought to how you could be utilising it to grow your business…

So let’s take a look together at how your business can find it’s well deserved place on someone’s newsfeed?

Your Digital Portfolio

Social media pages are a perfect place to share before and after transformational photos of successful jobs you’ve completed! Think of your page as your online portfolio, available to potential clients any time of day, conveniently located in their newsfeed between a photo of their school friend’s wedding and their colleagues latest workout stats.

Keeping your page up to date with your latest projects demonstrates the quality and care you take on each job can be a great way to showcase your skills. In this day and age, people are far more likely to trust photographic evidence of your work than your word.

Whether you’ve perfectly tiled a bathroom wall, completely remodelled a kitchen, or fixed a nasty case of damp in someone’s home: Make sure you take lots of photos. These can then be shared (with your customer’s permission, naturally), along with a caption explaining what the job was, how you approached it, and any other information that might incentivise a prospective client to reach out.

Collect Reviews

Yes – I’m talking about reviews again: Something social media is brilliant for! Not only can you post your own photos of your work, but you can encourage your customers to post their own content sharing the great results you helped them achieve. People take recommendations and social proof very seriously, so seeing existing, happy customers will make them far more likely to book you for that big, upcoming project!

You can also encourage reviews by including your social media handles on your invoices and talking to your clients in person, explaining to them how much you’d appreciate their feedback! People are far more likely than you think to share a review if you simply ask.

(And don’t forget, BestOfHastings can now gather all your reviews in one place, helping you to showcase your reliability and build a great reputation locally!)

The Face Behind The Business

As a tradesperson, one of the biggest parts of your business is you, believe it or not! People want to know who’s behind the business, so posting snapshots of ‘behind-the-scenes’ moments in your daily work and life can really help people build that like, know and trust factor. Whether you get out for an early morning run before meeting clients, or you cook up a fantastic feast at the end of the day, feel free to share a little of yourself with your online audience. This personalised content is invaluable as it will help you build a personal brand and create a connection with your audience.

Get Creative

2020 has seen the boom of TikTok and Instagram reels, leading to a huge surge in the popularity of time lapse or project-based video clips. Heck – people are bored, okay?

Whether it’s a pool cleanup, a perfectly plastered wall, precision painting, water running so smoothly it looks frozen or two pieces of wood fitting together perfectly. When it comes to visually satisfying videos, people are loving it!

These tasks might seem mundane or boring to you, but to many they may provide a blissful moment of watching something work out perfectly; a moment that creates a sense of peace and calm. Who knows, you might just go viral and reach millions of people!

An Online Business Card

We live in a contactless society and business cards are slowly being phased out as people want contact details at the touch of a button. Make sure to keep your social media platforms up to date with your latest contact information so people can get in touch for a quote or book you in for a job. It also makes referrals nice and simple, as your clients won’t have to rifle through their purse or wallet or contacts on their phone to find your details to send to friends, family and colleagues to recommend you for work. They’ll be able to contact you there and then for a streamlined process to bring in even more business!

So, what are you waiting for, it’s time to put your trade on display!

 

Thank you to our guest Blogger Chantelle Davison – Choice Words By Chantelle