This is the first article in our new monthly blog post series, Social Media for Landscapers, featuring tips on how you can take advantage of social media for your business.
Social media has become as much a part of daily life as email and brushing our teeth—maybe even more so for those who use social media multiple times a day! 58 percent of the entire U.S. adult population uses Facebook, and about 20 percent use Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram or Pinterest as well, according to a Pew Research Center 2014 survey.
Here’s a quick review of the major social media networks, and some examples of how some landscape businesses are using them.
Facebook is still the most popular and most widely used social network. About 70 percent of users log in daily. In October 2014, nearly a billion people visited Facebook pages.
People look at business’ Facebook pages to get information about the company, look for deals, write reviews, etc., which are all good reasons to have a Facebook page for your business. You can use a business Facebook page to post your company news, reminders, offers, photos and more.
Best for: Sharing company news and information and for customer service.
Examples: The Pond Gnome and Scofield Landscape
A LinkedIn profile a good place to list your experience, services and other information you want clients to know about. It’s a bit like a resume, which might be helpful if you have a new business. LinkedIn’s groups can be a way to network with potential clients as well.
You can also create a company page and post company updates on LinkedIn. People often follow company pages on LinkedIn for job information, so you may want to post job openings there as well.
Best for: Networking and showcasing your resume.
Pinterest is like an online pin board for ideas and links. It can be a great way to share landscape design ideas with potential clients and showcase your work. The landscaping category has 2 million followers.
Best for: Design/build companies that want to share landscaping ideas with clients.
Example: Nick McCullough
Instagram is used for sharing photos and short videos (3-15 seconds). It’s more limited than other platforms but you can also use it to post photos and videos to your Facebook page. By adding hashtags to your photos, like your location (#Phoenix), people who search that hashtag can discover your photos.
Best for: Sharing photos and short videos of your company’s work and supplementing your Facebook page.
Example: Green Life Gardens
YouTube
YouTube is for videos of course, but it’s also is a great place to answer customer questions and showcase your company’s work. Even if you don’t have a lot money to spend on video production, you may still be able to use YouTube just by recording video with your smart phone or computer.
Best for: Company videos and answering customer questions.
Example: Linnemann Lawn Care & Landscaping
Twitter is for sharing short messages (140 characters or less) that can include links, photos and short videos. It can also be useful for events where participants use a common hashtag to share information with each other.
Best for: Customer service, events and company news
Example: NKO Landscape
Company Pages on Google, Yelp, Angie's List, etc.
Have you checked to see if your business is on Yelp or Google? You can add or claim your business or locations pages on these sites so you can edit or add your business information and monitor your customer reviews.
Next Steps
Which sites you use might depend on which sites your customers use, or which ones you are most likely to use, and what resources you have available. Try spending some time exploring each platform first to get an understanding of how it works and to decide if it’s a good fit for your business.
Once you’ve decided which platforms you want to focus on, check back in February for tips on setting up your social media pages.
