“You can never go wrong by investing in communities and the human beings in them.”

– Pam Moore

The benefits of social media goes without saying, but the time and effort involved with social media keeps some field service businesses from investing in social media or doing a good job at it.  In fact, a recent report showed that 34% of small businesses have no social media presence at all and 35% of those who do never respond to customers comments online. More often than not, it’s probably because business owners are overwhelmed by the thought of maintaining a social page or worse more than one.

However, it’s possible to keep up a good presence and cadence on social media for your business even with just 30 minutes, once a week.  You just need to be strategic. Take the kind of social media posts below — they don’t take more than a minute to do at a time yet go a long way in extending relationships with customers. Side note: if you’re first wondering which social media channel is right for you, don’t miss our great post on that here.

1. Before and After Photos

Social media is the easiest way to promote and show off your work, so you should absolutely be using your social channels to do so. One of the highest converting images on social media are comparison photos. Think about how many transformation or before and after photos you’ve liked — people love to see results! What’s great is these photos can work across many types of field service businesses. Take a page out of this business’ book:

Enfort Homes, who builds and renovates high-end homes in the Greater Seattle area, regularly shares its home transformations on Facebook and Twitter and gets plenty of engagement from their followers.

Tip: Creating a before and after photo is easy with the abundance of collage maker apps (LiveCollage and PicLab are two that are free). 

2. Promotions

Your followers on social media are already engaged customers. Offering sweepstakes, discounts or coupons will encourage them to keep an eye out for your page. Promotions are also a great way to get new leads and social media followers. If you run a great contest or discount, many of your followers will likely tag their family and friends in the post. Some businesses also consider fan-only incentives as a way to reward their loyal customers:

Ecoverde Maids, a cleaning services company from Washington D.C., frequently runs discounts for their repeat customers. They also take advantage of “Refer and Friend” promotions to get new leads.

Tip: To create a promotional graphic like this, you can use a free, easy-to-use tool like Canva.

3. Customer Reviews and Thank You’s 

Did you get a stellar review on Yelp, Facebook or Home Advisor? Reviews are one of the easiest things you can promote on your social media pages. They also give you another opportunity to show appreciation to your customers. Take this example:

Wahl Family Heating, Cooling & Plumbing in Carnegie, PA has a great social media feature called “#Testimonial Tuesdays” to share their customers’ feedback.

Tip: If you’ve built some great brand recognition for your field service business, you’ll want to monitor social media for reviews and feedback, like this business below:

Len the Plumber, who services the Washington D.C. metro area, is great at following Twitter for shout-outs from his customers, in addition to people who comment on his commercials.

4. Tips and Tricks

Posting valuable content is key on social media, so make sure that you’re sharing helpful ideas, news and advice around your industry or business. Your followers will appreciate the information and doing so will also help position you as an expert and keep you top of mind for the next time they need you (or when their family member or friend does). Remember the tips and things you share don’t all have to come from you. It’s as easy as sharing content from your favorite websites, blogs and social media accounts, like this business did:

Access Heating & Hair Conditioning in Meridian, ID does a good job of sharing good information from trusted websites and sources.

5. Polls and Favors

Social media is a great way to source information from your fans. You can simply ask a question to your followers in a Facebook update, or if you’re on Twitter, use polls, which are really easy to set up. A painting business could ask their followers for their opinion on the latest color or home trends. An HVAC business could survey their users on the best temperature to sleep at night.

Some field service businesses take it a step further and ask their followers for help, like getting their vote in a local contest or an online round-up. If you’ve given superior service, chances are your customers would be more than happy to take a second to that. We also like this example:

Extreme Electrical Contractors, located in St. Louis, has had success in asking customers to share photos of their truck on social media. It’s a clever way to get their fans involved and to get their brand out in their area.

Final Notes

Don’t have the time each day to dedicate to social media? Sign up for a free social media scheduling tool and set aside 20 – 30 minutes once a week to schedule out your posts. I likeBuffer, which works with all social networks and allows you to schedule 10 posts at a time at no cost to you.

You should also remember that a business’ social media presence doesn’t have to fall on just the business owner or one person. Employees and techs can get involved by taking before and after photos, contributing to tips and content or by simply asking customers to follow the business on social media.

Want to share any tips on how you manage your social media presence for your field service business? We’d love to hear them! Leave us a comment below.

Last modified: November 28, 2016