What Social Media Platform Should Your Home Improvement Company use?
Remember when Facebook was the hot platform in which every home services business needed to be on? When companies used it as the best free way to market to their potential customers? Well, things have changed. What is still very true is that whether you're company is in the interior or exterior home remodeling business, you need to be connecting with your potential, current, and previous customers on a social media platform.
The tough part is making sure you're actually reaching your target customer and to make sure that what you're saying is interesting and useful to them. With the many social media platforms out there, how do you know you're on the right one to reach these customers?
Before you read further, take a moment to first define who your target customer is. Seems easy, right? Don't overlook this one. Make sure you are fully aware of the age range, family sizes, cities you're likely to find them (near you), their lifestyle, and so on. If you're changing this target, read this related article: How to Attract a New Type of Customer.
This one is kind of a must-have. It's a do-it-all social media platform with over 1.4 billion monthly users in which companies will find a little bit (or a lot) of their target customers.
Facebook is a place in which all sorts of updates are acceptable. Long stories pasted right into the post area, quick snippets, articles, images, videos... and so forth.
The caveat with Facebook is you need to pay to play. Facebook only delivers up to 10% of a company page's posts to their followers. Up to 10%! In many cases, it's less than 5%. So when using Facebook, set your expectations (and budget) to spend at least $3-$5 per post. These dollars are spent to promote your posts to get into people's news feeds and in turn allows people to see your post, like it, share it, and occasionally, people will love it enough to like your page. Keep in mind, liking your page doesn't mean they will see your posts. Even those that have liked your page still fit into the category of: only up to 10% of your posts will be displayed. Read this related article: 3 Things You Didn't Know About Your Facebook Business Account
B2C companies are most comfortable on Facebook. There are two major reasons why B2B companies aren't as comfortable. First, likes by business pages don't count toward your total number of likes. So a company can have 800 likes by a business and 10 likes from pages of actual people. Facebook will display only those 10 likes. This can be discouraging. Second, advertising capabilities on Facebook favor people. In other words, it's challenging to set up targeting to reach business pages.
Who is on Facebook (source: Pew Internet):
77% of women and 66% of men are on Facebook.
Age:
- 82% of online adults ages 18 to 29
- 79% of those ages 30 to 49
- 64% of those ages 50 to 64
- 48% of those 65 and older
Income:
- 73% of those who earn less than $30k/year
- 72% of those who earn between $30,000-$49,999/year
- 66% of those who earn between $50,000-$74,999/year
- 78% of those who earn $75,000+
Still not convinced you need to be active on Facebook? One if five online views are on Facebook!
Over 304 monthly active users are on Twitter (compare that number to Facebook!). From a first reaction, you might think that Facebook is a clear winner. The big sticking point with Twitter is that about half of all users follow brands, (compared to about 16% of Facebook users). And we don't mean just click "follow" and forget, we mean about half of the users talk about and engage with brands. This is the platform to get serious followers.
Twitter is best for short, quick messages. Hashtags are more critical on this platform than any other since they promote quick statements without using full sentences (since Twitter has a 140 character limit) and because they became part of trending news (when applicable).
Who is on Twitter (source: Pew Internet):
21% of women and 25% of men are on Twitter.
Age:
- 32% of online adults ages 18 to 29
- 29% of those ages 30 to 49
- 13% of those ages 50 to 64
- 6% of those 65 and older
Income:
- 21% of those who earn less than $30k/year
- 19% of those who earn between $30,000-$49,999/year
- 25% of those who earn between $50,000-$74,999/year
- 26% of those who earn $75,000+
Instagram is the picture version of Twitter. It's best for quick snippets of images to get a message across. The hashtag style of short, quick communication is also appropriate. Instagram is the go-to platform for teens.
Who is on Instagram (source: Pew Internet):
31% of women and 24% of men are on Instagram.
Age:
- 55% of online adults ages 18 to 29
- 28% of those ages 30 to 49
- 11% of those ages 50 to 64
- 4% of those 65 and older
Income:
- 26% of those who earn less than $30k/year
- 27% of those who earn between $30,000-$49,999/year
- 30% of those who earn between $50,000-$74,999/year
- 26% of those who earn $75,000+
Unlike the other social media platforms, Pinterest is much more gathering inspiration than it is to communicate. An image-like database, Pinterest is the go-to for ideas on decorating, building, creating, and anything in between.
Who is on Pinterest (source: Pew Internet):
44% of women and 16% of men are on Pinterest.
Age:
- 37% of online adults ages 18 to 29
- 36% of those ages 30 to 49
- 24% of those ages 50 to 64
- 16% of those 65 and older
Income:
- 24% of those who earn less than $30k/year
- 37% of those who earn between $30,000-$49,999/year
- 41% of those who earn between $50,000-$74,999/year
- 30% of those who earn $75,000+
Houzz
Every home services professional needs a Houzz account. There's no question here. With over 25 million unique visitors a month of which 90% are homeowners, and 72% are ages 25-54, Houzz is the dream site for professionals in this industry! Read more on Houzz here.