Social media marketing for landscapers might seem like it’s way off the beaten track.
You’re creating beautiful gardens all day. How important could a social media marketing strategy really be? Do you really have the time to prioritize it? What has it got to do with you?
Well, if you don’t take advantage of this new technology you could be missing out on loads of leads. And the chance to present your brand with personality and charm.
Don’t lose valuable opportunities! Here’s how and why to make a success of social media marketing for landscapers.
Older Advertising Techniques are Becoming Less Effective
TV and radio are not dead. If you’re paying for local ads through either of these channels, they can still be really effective.
However, they’re more suited to targeting a slightly older demographic. As people retire and spend more time in their garden themselves, you might find it harder to pitch for work among this age group.
Younger professionals with good salaries, meanwhile, are time poor. Their gardens aren’t as well kept as they’d like, and that’s where you come in.
The trouble is, they don’t watch as much live TV or listen to the radio so often.
Social media marketing for landscapers can be a great way to get these people interested in your services. For example, 88% of 18-29 year olds, and 84% of 30-49-year-olds use Facebook. That’s a huge market waiting to be tapped!
Social Media Marketing is Still Underrated
Several experts on the subject believe that social media marketing is still underrated. This means that there’s less competition, as marketers are less convinced of its benefits.
But less competition means more opportunity to get your brand in front of your target audience. Time to take advantage of other people’s slow pace.
While things are quiet – particularly in a space like landscaping services – get out ahead of your competitors. By forging strong relationships with customers now, you’re also setting yourself up for plenty of word-of-mouth recommendations in the future.
If you wait too long, other people will get there first, so at least make sure you have monitored accounts on the main social media networks. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest are good starting points.
And YouTube, if you have the time to make videos, can also be a great platform on which to share your thoughts.
Presenting the Brand on Social Media
The way you present yourself online reflects on your entire brand. And though you can delete a post, you can’t delete a first impression.
Social media marketing for landscapers needs to present the company as reliable and trustworthy to win over customers.
Let’s say you run a specialist tree removal service, like Pevach Corp. Choosing the right language will convey to customers that you’re a diligent and responsible service.
Coming across as a bit more of a ‘fun’ brand might be suitable if you’re a landscaper specializing in creating play parks for kids. Otherwise, you want to hold a tone of voice that comes across as knowledgeable and authoritative on the subject.
That’s not to say that you shouldn’t be friendly. But people are trusting you with a big job. Just as if they were hiring a responsible handyman for their home, they want to know that they can trust you.
They don’t want to hear your jokes or have you come across as too informal. So keep everything on the straight and narrow.
Interacting With Customers
Different types of social media call for different approaches.
Landscapers might find that Twitter isn’t particularly effective as there are too few characters to convey a decent message. And on Twitter, it’s quite possible for small businesses to get lost in the ‘noise’.
However, Instagram and Pinterest are great ways to share your latest work. People love pictures of gardens, probably more so than reading about them.
These two options give you plenty of good ways to share pictures and clips of your clients’ new landscapes.
From here, make sure you’re sharing these posts widely via other social media platforms like Facebook. When people comment, be sure to reply and start a conversation – you never know where it might lead!
The great thing about this is that it’s easy to do wherever you are, using a cell phone. All you need to do is respond to a few comments while you’re eating your lunch. Simple.
Interacting With Customers
Your customers want to know they’re hiring the right people.
They may search for local landscaping businesses on social media. If they can’t find you, they won’t hire you. If they message you and you don’t respond, they’ll probably pick a competitor.
Engaging with them from an early stage of their research process gets you a foot in the door. They’re not all going to hire you, but giving them a favorable impression from the get-go is a great start.
Social media is also useful for letting people know that you’re knowledgeable. As part of any digital marketing strategy, blogging can be really helpful to share your thoughts and
So if you write a piece on “10 top landscaping trends for 2018”, people looking for a new garden are bound to sit up and take notice. They value your knowledge and experience, and this makes them more likely to call you in.
Mastering Social Media Marketing for Landscapers
Social media marketing is really easy to pick up, which means that it’s easy to reap its benefits quickly and successfully.
It may never be the core focus of your business’ marketing strategy. But paying decent attention to social media can increase your revenue massively.
Having a high-quality website to point customers to for more information is also a good idea in the digital world. Learn all about how to create one here.
Good luck with your social media efforts. Your landscaping business should pick up plenty of happy new customers in no time.