Are you ready to grow your pest control business? Then it's time to invest in social media marketing. Don't worry, it's not as scary as it sounds!
From engaging with customers to showcasing expertise, social platforms offer invaluable opportunities to expand reach and foster trust within your customer base. In this blog, we'll explore seven effective social media tips tailored specifically for pest control businesses, empowering you to navigate your digital platforms with success.
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1. Choose the Right Social Platforms
There are A LOT of social media platforms out there. Don't try to be on all of them! Instead, start with one or two platforms and learn how to use them successfully.
This begs the question, "How do you choose which platforms to start with?" Choose the ones that your target audience already uses. Luckily, it's easy to find out this information by simply asking your current customers about their social media preferences.
We suggest analyzing your competitors' approach to social media, too.
Think about it, would they continue using Facebook if the platform didn't work for them? Probably not. In all likelihood, they use social sites because each one helps them with pest control marketing. Learn their platforms of choice and consider using them as well.
Still can't decide which social media networks to use? Don't worry, we've got your back! Here are the platforms we recommend for most pest control companies: Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram. Just remember to do your research before diving into these sites.
2. Always Provide Value to Your Audience
Now that you know which social media platforms you'll use, it's time to start posting content. Here's the golden rule: always provide value to your audience.
Just remember that "value" comes in all shapes and sizes. It's basically anything that relates to your business and that your followers want to see, including:
- How-To Videos: Teach your followers how to properly clean their gutters, dispose of pesticides, or something else that will help them maintain a bug-free home.
- Special Offers and Deals: Planning to run a sale on your services? Post about it on social media and give your followers the chance to capitalize on the savings.
- Contests and Giveaways: Everybody loves free stuff. Try giving a $25 gift card to the first 10 people who like, comment on, and share your post. Or upgrade your service package for free for the next 10 people who book an appointment.
- Links to Interesting Blogs: Have you written a stellar blog post for your website? Maybe you stumbled across one on someone else's site. Either way, share it with your followers and let them benefit from the information the post shares.
- Reviews and Testimonials: Positive reviews and glowing testimonials will help your pest control business build trust with its audience. Post them on social media when you receive them. (We'll talk more about reviews in a later section of this article.)
- Pictures of Your Best Work: Finally, post pictures of you "getting the job done." This is a fantastic way to build credibility with your followers and increase their likelihood of booking your pest control services, especially if the images depict tough jobs done well.
Here's one more thing to keep in mind: content with images and videos performs WAY better than content without them. In fact, studies show that Facebook posts with images generate 2.3x more engagement. And clients are 35% more likely to convert after watching a video.
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3. Build Relationships With Your Followers
We're talking about social media here, so don't forget to, you know, be social. This is one of the most essential social media tips we share in this article!
Too many home services businesses, including pest control professionals, treat social media as a one-way announcement board. But the truth is, if you only use Facebook and Instagram to promote your company directly, you're doing it wrong.
Your goal with social media should be to build a relationship with your audience.
You do this by posting valuable content, asking your followers questions in your posts, responding to all comments and direct messages promptly, tagging customers and/or highlighting their reviews from time to time, and participating in the general community. Social media engagement is the name of the game, essentially.
Once you build a relationship with your audience, you'll become their go-to pest control professional. Why? Because they already know, like, and trust you from social media.
4. Boost Your Social Media Presence With Hashtags
If you've spent any amount of time on Instagram and/or Twitter, you're familiar with hashtags. The question is, why do people use them? Mainly because they help drive traffic and can help increase your social media presence.
When social media users open social media platforms, they search various hashtags to find interesting, entertaining, and/or valuable content. If your posts appear in these searches, you'll be able to connect with potential customers regularly.
So here's what we suggest:
- Research the most popular hashtags in the pest control industry and your area. (Hashtags like #NYCPestControl won't help you if you live in Atlanta.) Tools like Hashtagify.me, and RiteTag will help you with the research process.
- Once you have a few hashtags in mind, start using them. Just don't overdo it. In general, 1-2 hashtags on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn; 2-3 hashtags on YouTube; and 5-10 hashtags on Instagram should be all you need per post.
- Lastly, try creating your own hashtags as well. This will allow you to group your posts on each social media site. It's easy to do, too. If you're based in Boise, ID, you could do #BoisePestControlServices, for example. Just get creative!
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5. Take Advantage of Social Media Advertising
Billions of people use social media sites like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter every day. You can reach them by posting valuable content on these platforms. But if you really want to kick your pest control marketing efforts into high gear, use social media advertising.
Social media ads will allow you to get your content in front of your ideal customers, helping you meet future clients and build relationships with them quicker than ever before. With a properly placed Facebook ad, or Instagram story ad, you can reach new potential customers.
There are a bunch of different social media ad types available to you. No matter which ones you choose to use, keep these three things in mind:
- Specific Targeting: The best thing about social media advertising is that you can choose who gets to see your ads. Is your pest control business based in Phoenix, AZ? Don't waste time and money advertising to people in Seattle, WA. Make sure you take time to target your ideal customers on each social network you advertise on.
- Great Content: Targeting is important. But it won't matter if the content in your ads is subpar. Make sure you create ads that your audience wants to see.
- Budget Control: Here's the thing about social media advertising platforms-they're all too happy to take your hard-earned cash. That's why you need to set a budget and stick to it. If you don't, you'll end up spending way more money than you planned.
6. Ask Your Customers to Write You a Review
Reviews are powerful, which is why every pest control company should collect them. But how? Don't worry, we've covered this topic multiple times on the blog.
- A Guide to Getting, Responding to, and Leveraging Reviews
- How to Use Homeadvisor Reviews to Convert Leads
- Build Your Business With Thumbtack Reviews: The Ultimate Guide
The question we want to answer in this article is, "How do you use reviews to boost your pest control marketing efforts on social media?”
The easiest way is to showcase your top reviews on sites like Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest (or whichever ones you use.) Doing so will help you build trust with your followers and give you unique content to share with them.
Need help tracking your reputation online? Scorpion will help you track and engage your customer reviews on all the websites that matter. Learn more.
7. Track Trends and Experiment With New Ideas
Lastly, make sure you stay up-to-date with the latest social media trends.
Social networks release new features regularly. Audience preferences change. You need to know about these things to remain successful on these platforms.
Once you learn about a new trend or tactic, experiment with it. If it doesn't work, you don't have to keep using it. But if it does, you'll shoot past your competitors on social media!
Crush Your Pest Control Marketing
Here's the deal: social media marketing isn't rocket science. But it does require commitment and a solid strategy. The social media tips in this article, once implemented, will help you connect with your target audience on sites like Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. Try them!
Looking for an easy way to crush your pest control social media game, give Scorpion a call.
We'd be more than happy to help you develop and deploy a winning social media marketing strategy that propels your pest control business to new heights. We're excited to work with you!
Let's talk about social media management. Schedule a consultation. Talk To Us
