Facebook’s secret weapon: Paid advertising for small businesses.

Facebook’s main advantage for small businesses is its ability to distribute marketing messages to targeted audiences in specific geo-locations -as specific as the county people live in!

Say you prefer to work in a specific town or want to get jobs in that up and coming wealthy neighborhood, Facebook allows you to distribute ads to those homeowners right in their Facebook news feed!

But, like everything, there’s a strategy behind it and an order you should follow to ensure a successful marketing initiative.

STEP 1: Set up Your Facebook Page

Facebook pages are for businesses and therefore, get business services like access to advertising and page insights/metrics. Create a Facebook company page and don’t make the mistake of creating it as an individual person.

Your contact information is crucial. Website, phone number, opening hours, location, etc. let’s the client know where to call and when to call! (For instructions on how to add these to your page and more, press here.)

Build your brand. Make your company logo the profile picture and make your cover photo a photo of a project you’re particularly proud of (creates a wow effect as soon as they hit your page). Whatever you do, DON’T leave these blank.

Press here to create your hardscape Facebook page.

STEP 2: Fill Your Page with Content

Photos do the selling. Fill your page with photos of completed jobs (beautiful, clean homeowner-friendly ones) to show what you’re capable of. Progress photos work really well, so do time-lapses and 3D renderings but before & after comparisons are absolute GOLD! Photos of your work are the greatest way to catch the client’s eye and make it worth contacting you. 

STEP 3: Spread the Word

Invite Your Personal Facebook Contacts to Like Your Page. When your close family and friends like your company page, a post will appear in their own friends’ newsfeed, which will earn you more exposure. The goal is to then get the friends of your friends to visit your page, fall in love with your visual content (see point 1), and become customers or refer you to someone they know who needs hardscape work.

For instructions on how to invite friends and family to like your page, press here.

STEP 4: Get Reviews Written on Your Page

Ask past and Current and Current Customers to Write a Review. By doing so, your clients’ friends will be notified of the great review, and then visit your page. Chances are that they fall into the exact same demographic as your client, which is exactly what you need to secure more sales.

Reviews also allow you to prove to potential clients that you’re a top quality contractor.

STEP 5: Boost Posts and Select Your Targeting

What is boosting? Boosting is investing money into your Facebook post. It’s the best way to get your name in front of more potential customers, acquire new Facebook page likes and, consequently, more sales.

How it works: You choose a sum (as low as 1$) that you want to invest into a specific post and Facebook will let you know around how many people will see it. You decide who sees the ad (based on Facebook’s targeting settings: audience demographics, location of your target homeowners). This way your money gets the highest ROI (return on investment) by only being delivered to people who could be potential buyers.

Depending on how you target, as little as 3$ on a nice post can reach around 2000 people! Social media has become an incredible advertising method for small local businesses for the people that understand how to take full advantage of it.

STEP 6: Supercharge Your Referrals

Get Homeowners to Share Share Share

As soon as you finish a job, ask your clients to post a photo of their new backyard and to tag you in the caption. This is a proactive way of creating buzz (or “online word-of-mouth).  The idea is to increase sales by acquiring new clients through your current ones; always take advantage of homeowners’ networks.

Did we miss any helpful Facebook tips? Share them in the comments below.

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