Facebook is the mother of all social media; with 1.19 billion users worldwide! With everyone and their mother on Facebook this should be a no brainer when it comes to social media for plumbing marketing, because chances are your existing customers are already active on Facebook. Connecting with your existing customers should be one of the first things you do for three reasons:

a) they are already familiar with your brand and likely to accept your friend request;

b) you are maintaining contact with them which increases your chances of turning them into repeat customers;

c) once they have accepted your friend request you indirectly gain access to their network.

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Anything they like of yours becomes visible to their network and it becomes a wonderful web of network visibility for your company. In addition Facebook is probably the most social of the social media outlets because it works well for business and pleasure, and seemingly integrates both aspects via profile page, and business fan page. Definitely take advantage of both for your social media for plumbing marketing.

Twitter is the fastest growing social media website with roughly 883 million users and counting. The function of Twitter comes off as vague to a lot of people, however it can be really useful when using social media for plumbing marketing. Twitter provides a great way to distribute content, content meaning valuable and useful information.

The problem is a lot of users don’t understand the value of Twitter and its purpose. With a flood of irrelevant Tweets that nobody cares about, for example what you ate for breakfast, the meaning of Twitter is lost on a lot. That being said if you weed through the manure of junk Tweets you also come across relevant and valuable information. If you have built up a following on Twitter and are distributing valuable content you can potentiality increase traffic to your website.

Twitter is a great way to in short, spread the word, and what is really great is that it works well in conjuncture with other social media sites making it a valuable addition to your social media for plumbing marketing campaign.

LinkedIn is a little different, but no less a valuable component to your social media for plumbing marketing arsenal. With more focus on the professional networking side to things. Don’t underestimate the power of networking with other professionals
for your social media for plumbing marketing. Creating a network of referral partners is good for your business, good for their business, and good for you mutual customers.

Google, well…Google is GOOGLE, and has proven to be very valuable when it comes to social media for plumbing marketing. Google is extremely innovative in its line of products, and is constantly developing new ideas that not only provide a means
of social media for plumbing marketing but also great business tools that make running a business a lot easier, i.e. Google Drive which allows for easy file sharing. For social media for plumbing marketing purposes a Google + account along with a Google Local account increases your search engine optimization, provides a place for reviews, and allows your business to be visible to mobile users (which is fast growing these days). Google also provides a free analytics service which a very useful tool when evaluating your social media for plumbing marketing strategy.

When it comes to social media for plumbing marketing the Big 4 are the easiest to use and all work really well with each other. Each one adds a little value to the next and your social media for plumbing marketing efforts.

Beware of Common Mistakes
We stress the importance of the Big 4, as with all things, make sure you look out for danger and be cautious. Below are the three most common mistakes plumbing/HVAC companies make on social media marketing.

With plumbing/HVAC marketing you want to do everything you can to be successful.
The more you meet your goals with marketing the more likely you are to grow your business. Social media for plumbing marketing/HVAC is one of the building pieces of a successful marketing. With that being said not having a strategy with social media for could be a huge mistake. Here are some common mistakes made while using
social media.

1) Status Updates
Status updates are an important part of social media for plumbing marketing. Status
updates provide content, which is crucial part of plumbing marketing. Social media is a great outlet to distribute content, but don’t do it aimlessly. People don’t like to be bombarded with repetitive information that plugs your business all day. This type of behavior could be deemed as spamming, and have the opposite effect you were hoping for. By all means advertise your business, but remember there should be some balance to the messages you are promoting with social media for plumbing marketing. Share articles, videos, funny pictures, and other types of information that you find interesting. It is best that it is relevant to your business, but on occasion it is ok to simply post something because you feel your audience would find it unique and useful.

A simple template is the EEE principle. Each status update should fall into the EEE
(Engage/Educate/Entertain) principle.

2) Inconsistency
Inconsistency is the downfall of social media and we see many plumbing/HVAC companies fall into this trap. The only way to truly be successful with anything is to be consistent. With social media you should be consistently growing your networks and maintaining those relationships. Consistently participating in conversations and sharing information.

A great way to maintain consistency is to create a weekly schedule for yourself.
Dedicate a few hours a week to your social media. This shouldn’t feel like a 2nd job,
and you don’t have to spend countless hours online. A great way to save time is
to automate your status updates. You can use a tool like Hootsuite to schedule all of your status updates ahead of time. This is great because if frees up more time for you to engage with your audience.

3) Transparency
What we mean by transparency is, don’t put yourself too out there. Your mission
is to get new customers to grow your plumbing/HVAC business, and the truth of the matter is that when it comes to controversial issues you may not see eye to eye with your customers, and that is completely okay—you are after their business not their thoughts on life.

However with that being said, try and avoid taking a stance on issues that may be trending. You don’t want to alienate potential customers or accidentally offend someone. This is not good for your plumbing marketing and does nothing to grow plumbing business. By staying neutral with social media for plumbing marketing, you open yourself up to all sorts of new customers.

Social media is a fun way to grow plumbing/HVAC business. The best part is that it is effective, as more and more users are signing up for social media accounts like
Facebook and Twitter every day. You should be broadening your reach with social media and reaching those new customers!

To learn more about social media for plumbing/ HVAC marketing please visit www.growplumbing.com.

Gregg Towsley is the founder of Grow Plumbing “All Things Plumbing Marketing” and blogs regularly at GrowPlumbing.com.