Running a small landscape business lets you work outside during nice weather and provides you with a great opportunity to really get to know your neighbors throughout the community. However, growing the business can be a time-consuming process that takes years before it pays off. Fortunately, the rise of social media marketing has opened the door for companies of all shapes and sizes to leverage a small investment and turn that into measurable growth.<\/p>\n
Choose your channels wisely<\/strong> With a veritable bevy of options to choose from, figuring out which social media site works best may seem overwhelming. There’s Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Snapchat, Instagram and many more. While Facebook is a great place to create a group, share promotional information about your business and connect with your customers, messages and posts on this channel don’t carry the same professional weight as an industry-focused blog might have on LinkedIn. Depending on your social media marketing strategy, you’ll want to be sure you allocate your time and money at the appropriate channel.<\/p>\n Our Social Times noted that it’s important to focus on your buyer personas and address each market segment accordingly. This means even before you start posting content, you need to identify your target audience so you can focus your efforts on the medium these individuals are most likely to use.<\/p>\n For instance, the source noted that women overwhelmingly use Pinterest for sharing recipes, decorating ideas and other crafty posts. This might make advertising for a landscaping company a little out of place. On the other hand, the fastest growing segment of Facebook users is the 65+ age group, as more than 56 percent of internet users in this demographic have an account on this social media site. These individuals are most likely have homes and are reaching a point where they either no longer want to do their own yard work or are physically unable, making them the ideal prospective customer. In addition, as noted by LawnCareSucks, you can geo-target Facebook ads to limit your ads to a particular zip code or target people living within a set radius of where your business operates.<\/p>\n Another major online portal that can greatly impact a business is Yelp, the popular customer review site and mobile app. Property owners are always on the lookout for recommendations for good landscaping companies, and often they rely on what people have said on online review sites. According to research from Merchant Warehouse, positive reviews on Yelp made an impact on 90 percent of customers who used it, and, on average, a whopping 93 percent of customers who used a review site clicked through and made a purchase.<\/p>\n Give back to the community<\/strong> With social media, you can demonstrate your commitment to the community by sharing stories and posts about local charities and fundraisers, in addition to showing your company’s involvement with these groups whether with photographs, videos or invitations to to charitable events. Since a landscape business is actively involved in the local community through its work in literally shaping the terrain where you live, it makes helps to display how your company is also giving back to the same people.<\/p>\n
\nEvery company wants as much positive exposure as possible (and some even want the negative side too). In an ideal world, your landscape company has the resources to maintain a robust omnichannel presence on every social media outlet. Unfortunately, that’s probably not the case. Without the right strategy in place, you might find yourself struggling to gain a viral foothold and wasting time and money posting your content to the wrong channel.<\/p>\n
\nA successful social media campaign will ideally display many diverse facets of your landscaping business. You can leverage photos, videos, blog content, surveys and a host of other special features to spread brand awareness for your company and boost your networking reach. Although social media marketing is ostensibly a way to engage in self-promotion for your landscape business, showing that you’re a member of the community makes the company appear more professional and authentic, Content Marketing Institute reported.<\/p>\n