Social media is changing the way businesses sell products and services. Building a footprint on social channels has become paramount, as more and more consumers take to these digital platforms when searching for solutions to satisfy various needs. When it comes to differentiating yourself in the sealcoating industry, the following tips can help you connect with customers and fellow professionals, increasing long-term business success.
Find Your Niche
Carve out a niche that suits your business by highlighting qualities that make your company unique. The Pavement Coatings Technology Council (PCTC), for instance, is known as a trusted source in the industry. By sharing industry insights, posting sealcoating tips and publishing contractor resources, the council’s online profiles reflect its reputation. Follow suit by evaluating your own strengths. If you often do business with repeat customers, leverage testimonials to showcase strong client relationships. If you pride yourself on being a family-owned operation, share why generations of experience gives you a competitive edge. Posting content that aligns with your identity will help customers associate those qualities with your brand.
Define Your Audience
Determine the audience you want reach — whether it’s customers, prospects or industry professionals, then tailor content to appeal to that audience. If you are targeting fellow contractors, consider providing sealcoating tips. If you are more focused on attracting customers, consider sharing testimonials. Tailoring content to your audience makes it more valuable to your fan base, which has the added bonus of encouraging them to share your posts with their networks, helping ultimately extend your reach. Further boost your reach by using a paid strategy to target people who are not already fans of your page. Through the ad managers within your social accounts, you can set parameters for the individuals you want to see your content – identifying audience by age, occupation, location, gender and interests. For example, because local property managers are more likely to invest in sealcoating than the general population, target people with this occupation who live in your zip code for an efficient way to reach a potential customer base.
Establish a Plan
With topic and audience in mind, create a monthly content calendar to track which platforms you’re updating, posting cadence and planned content. Don’t forget to leave room for flexibility! Stay alert to trending topics so you can contribute to real-time conversations. Diversify your profile by incorporating industry articles, multimedia content and shareable resources among your text-based updates. The PCTC leverages downloadable infographics, visual images, video content and published columns to keep viewers’ attention over time – contractors can use PCTC’s strategy as an example when developing their own social media strategies.
