Contractors: Acquiring New Clients Through Social Media

It’s becoming increasingly difficult for construction or renovation contractors to promote themselves or recruit qualified employees. In fact, right now, there’s an imbalance between supply and demand, especially since the 2020 pandemic. 

Since clients are going to go through an amalgam of emotions and invest a decent amount of time and money into their projects, they, quite obviously, don’t want to deal with amateurs or professionals with outdated certifications. 

Beyond using our networking service, it’s thus necessary for you, as a contractor, to make sure that you have an effective online presence to promote yourself, establish your brand, and showcase your know-how. And who knows, you might even build partnerships with other professionals along the way!

How to Acquire Clients Via Social Media

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Word of mouth and classified ads published in newspapers are still decent ways to promote your business. However, clients will probably turn to the Internet to start their research. What’s more, nowadays, pictures, reviews, and building relationships with target audiences are primordial, as such, companies have no choice but to adapt to the digital age if they want to play their cards right. 

To fully benefit from the content promotion platforms out there, you have to choose those that are tailored to the nature of your business, meaning the building and construction industry. 

In the following paragraphs, we’ll weigh the pros and cons of different social media platforms to help you get a better sense of each. The goal here is to help you embrace optimal content creation practices with a promotional undertone designed especially for social media platforms. 

YouTube: Share your insight and the results of your renovation projects 

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This is a mass-audience, video-sharing platform focused on a variety of topics. Anyone can, free of cost, create an account and channel. This affiliation comes with a restricted space to upload videos. However, if you wish to publish more content, you can do so at a fee.

Pros:

• The videos can educate and explain various concepts or projects relevant to your chosen field: construction.

• The videos can be shared on other social media platforms.

• There are a lot of daily viewers, thus you’ll have the possibility of reaching a large number of people, even if it’s through related searches suggested to potential viewers. 

• Your videos can convey your company’s mission and values, and potential clients can thus feel an emotional connection and bond prior to having met you in person. 

• YouTube is simple, fast, and accessible. 

Cons:

• One must have basic computer skills to edit, share, and upload videos. 

• One must be able to invest a decent amount of time and money into producing quality videos. You can find production companies that produce corporate videos if you don’t want to take on this responsibility. Once again, you’ll have to loosen up your purse strings to do so. 

• There are rules to follow, otherwise, videos deemed problematic risk being removed from YouTube.

Facebook Business Account

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This platform allows people to virtually "friend" other members, and through its feed, subscribers can see what other users are publishing and share information. You can also partake in online courses to learn how to use Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and paid advertising on Facebook. Registration is free.

Pros:

• This media platform links millions of people on a daily basis, even individuals who are less accustomed to technology and aren’t very active in online communities. 

• It features highly targeted advertising campaigns through user information (demographic profiling, interests, etc.).

• People can message you directly, client or not. You can also share information in real time, so you can interact with members instantaneously.

• Since you’ll be adapting and managing the content, as well as the comments, you can monitor and audit your online reputation from your computer, tablet, or cell phone. 

• You can turn “Likes” into email subscriptions. For example, you can post a promotional offer, like a contest or a free trial, as part of an email subscription campaign. The conversion rate from guests to potential clients can be more rewarding this way and yield a strong return on investment.

Cons:

• This calls for constant monitoring and sustained efforts to maintain the public's interest. You also have to manage comments. Ignoring positive comments, neglecting to answer questions, or allowing insults to idle on your platform could negatively affect the way your company is perceived by others. 

• You have to establish a strategy behind every post because simply having a business Facebook page doesn’t guarantee results. However, having clear and concise goals, with marketing know-how and efforts, does.

• Paid ads can risk generating click fraud.

• Your keywords won’t really be useful in terms of search engines, unlike, for example, a website.

• It can be hard to find a page amongst the many others available. 

Instagram: Share your projects

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Instagram is a social media platform on which people share pictures and short videos depicting various parts of their lives. You can add filters to your pictures, upload them and make a montage, all from your mobile device. 

The platform’s algorithm suggests user-based content, meaning according to what you are likely to be interested in. Since January 2022, Instagram offers, at will, a “subscription-only” feature. That way, you can offer your followers a subscription to access exclusive content. 

Pros:

• The platform is intuitive and easy to use.

• Keywords with a hashtag (#) allow you to track a topic.

• It’s an interesting way to inspire your clients with their projects and showcase your skillset through direct and concrete results. 

• There’s a tool to counter harassment and negative comments. 

Cons:

• If you’re lacking in the creativity department or don’t have the capacity or time to take interesting pictures or upload stories, it’s probably best to steer clear of this media app. If your budget allows for it, you can outsource this task to a qualified social media company. 

• You’ll reach a very niche and young public between the ages of 16 and 40. 

Linkedln: Communicate with professionals and recruit employees

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This is a professional social networking platform to obtain information, share, discuss, and network with others. 

Pros:

• You can build and grow your professional network based on your interests, skillset, and your business development perspectives. 

• It’s easy to advertise job opportunities and find relevant profiles to recruit partners and labour.

• With this platform, you can target your audience based on your business and desired geographical location. 

• Instead of competing for everybody's attention by creating highly creative content, you'll be able to maintain a clear message and a homepage that reflects your professionalism.

• Very useful for B2B and B2C networking.

Cons:

• Interaction is limited. You'll have to add people to your network or pay to acquire certain tools to communicate more effectively. 

• Visibility isn’t as large-scale as the above-mentioned social media platforms. LinkedIn should be linked with other platforms if your goal is to advertise instead of solely going ahead with peer-to-peer networking. 

Google Business Profile: A referral service for business owners

Google Business Profile, more commonly known as Google My Business, differs from the traditional platforms previously mentioned as it’s used to optimize local referrals and give business managers more control over what will pop up in their search engine results. As such, you can improve your visibility, and potential or current clients will therefore be able to find you easily on Google Maps. 

The service features a list of information to display various details:

• Company name;

• Method of contact (address, telephone, fax, e-mail, website, etc.)

• Location

• Type of business

• Business hours

• Pictures

• Brief description

This tool will associate the information provided with that originating from other sources and then update your ads and posts. You can also create a website for free and the platform will generate the site using reviews and images uploaded by guests.

Another similar option is Yellow Pages, a trailblazer in its day, that’s now made the digital leap. 

Pros:

• Good visibility, and excellent notoriety due to its former distribution method (phone book) everywhere in Quebec, for decades. 

• Is available as a smartphone application.

• Some pay-monthly plans are designed to sync with social networks and provide priority positioning.

Cons:

• There are so many contractors out there that it’s hard to stand out from the crowd.

• Yellow Pages’ reputation has somewhat been tarnished over the last few years. 

Online classified ads: Another digital tool to build your client base

Online classified ads reach thousands of individuals throughout Quebec, and beyond. There are dedicated online websites as well as digital versions of initially print-based newspapers. 

Since the basic services are free, the settings make it difficult to distinguish yourself from the competition. Information and communication are set up to be one-way, so you may receive a lot of inconclusive messages from people who aren’t really seriously considering your services or simply want ballpark figures. 

Kijiji/Craigslist /LesPAC/Marketplace

These are websites that get a lot of traffic in Quebec. They offer a wide range of services and items for sale, including construction. They’re free, but subscription services are available to improve ad viewability. Despite all that, your ads could go unnoticed, since it’s an aggressive market. Pictures, different methods of contact, and links to your other ads will be especially useful. 

Hire an expert to manage your renovation company’s social networks

Combining social networks and classified ads with referrals from satisfied clients can turn into an efficient way to land new contracts. Digital platforms are thus seen as indispensable tools, the most useful even. More so, your contacts, friends, family, and clients will be able to share their positive experiences with the general public through networking in a single click, all within the comfort of their homes.

If you want to boost your social media presence, but don’t have enough time on your hands, nor the capacity to manage it long-term, why not hire someone else to do it for you? With helloDarwin, you’ll be connected with agencies and freelancers that offer such services. Their platform works just like ours, meaning you simply have to submit your project to be matched with 3 possible service providers.