Carl is completely right, there are loads of benefits that your business might see from social media...
I guess the key is using Facebook "correctly". What I'd recommend is looking at players in your industry that are using Facebook and try to learn from what they're doing...
I discovered one Canadian remodelling company on Facebook, but they don't seem to be getting much engagement: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Encore-Remodelling-Design/192968494203304
Maybe they need to work on it more!
Using Facebook for your business
Most brands that have success on Facebook do so by being entertaining or adding value to people's Facebook experience.
For example, rather than just posting stuff about your business all the time - you could post a DIY tip every few days. It's still relevant to what you do, but people will also enjoy reading and engaging with stuff like that.
Initially, it'll probably be friends and family that follow your page, but they might share that page with people they know - and your reach will begin spreading.
The more engaging you are on Facebook, the more people will learn about your business.
Then you can start getting people interacting with you and spreading the word about your business for you.
Look how many shares this DeWalt post attracted: 77! That's 77 people sharing this image with all their friends.
And then, as Carl suggested, you could throw in a few testimonials from customers, you could put up photos of your best work, etc...
More and more businesses are moving away from traditional marketing channels and using Facebook and Twitter to connect with their audience.
So many people use Facebook, that it just seems to be a logical way to connect with customers.
It also doesn't cost anything (unless you want to buy adspace).
How ads can help your business
Speaking of ads... As much as I think Facebook is something that could help your business, I wonder whether buying ad space on Google might be a better option for you.
The process would be pretty simple:
- Throw together a basic website with some samples of your work and your contact details.
- Buy some ad space through Google AdWords. You buy ads on Google by bidding for keywords that you want your ad to display for. So, for example, you might want to bid for "remodelling" or other terms that people interested in your service might be looking for.
- You only pay every time someone clicks on the ad and lands on your page. I think you could easily buy clicks for less than ¢0.05 each.
- You can filter your ads so they only show to people in a specific location (meaning you wouldn't waste money paying for clicks from people in different locations).
- You can set a limit to how much you want your ad budget to be each day, so there's no danger of suddenly racking up a big bill by accident.
- Wait for the phone to start ringing.
The key will be working out what search terms are worth showing ads for.
If you know that people who need remodelling services generally look for a specific word or phrase on Google, then you can cash in on potentially thousands of customers a month.
For example, if I type in "remodelling chicago" into a search engine, the first link (with the highlighted background) is an ad.
Imagine if your company's website was up there, that could mean a lot of clicks (depending on how many people are searching for remodelling chicago).
It might not be very many... In which case it also wouldn't cost very much money to run.
In my opinion, this is something you should definitely try out.
There doesn't seem to be much competition for the keyword "remodelling", so I don't think you'll have to pay very much in order for your ad to display at the top of the page.
And by making it location specific, you'll be targeting people who are specifically looking for remodellers in your area.
If you need any assistance setting up a Facebook page for your business or want to talk more about using Google Ads, just let me know and I'd be happy to help out!
