“You cannot buy engagement. You have to build engagement.”
Tara-Nicholle Nelson
Before we talk about how to use social media for Pest Control Business success, it is imperative to first learn the need for social media.
Digital marketing has been an integral part of any business scheme. Online ads and marketing campaigns have been prevalent for quite some time now. The latest, or let’s say the new age addition to this sphere, is Social Media.
Why use Social Media for your Business?
Let’s consider the sheer number of active social media users in The States alone – 270 million, which makes this nearly 80% of the country’s total population, who spend a substantial 65 minutes on a social platform every day. This can be a Gen Z, Millennial or a Baby Boomer using social media platforms to interact with a business.
Today, Social Media is the most effective channel for marketing your business. Treat this as an indirect communication tool where you are in touch with your followers and network with them, take their feedback, hold discussions or connect directly with them.
How to use Social Media for Pest Control Business:
1. Pick the right Platform
Start by identifying the right platform for your business. This selection is based on your target audience and customer persona. Pick one or two from the following giants: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube.
Remember the quality over quantity rule? Do not aim to build a presence on all platforms at once. It’s wise to just focus on 1 or 2 platforms and give your 100% here. You will need a strong brand identity and personality, so choose wisely.
2. Social Profile = Company’s face
Whatever goes on your social profile becomes your identity. Its aim is to expand reach, multiply conversions, manage leads & client relations and to keep top customers and stay ahead of your competitors.
It is advisable to start with the 80-20 rule. 80% of your entire content should aim at educating, entertaining or informing your audience and the remaining 20% should have a promotion or a sales aim. Do not shy away from taking inspiration from other industries & businesses.
3. Hyper-relevant content
After finalizing your buyer persona, use it to decipher their pain points and how your service resolves that. This opens up an array of ideas that can target the exact match audience and their exact match issues/needs.
Next, study the engagement on these posts to check which content does well, which further aids in deciding the theme going forward.
4. Take Visitors to your Online Shop
How do you cut down your sales cycle online? By setting up an online storefront and adding it to your social media profile, you can shorten the journey of your profile visitor to a paying customer to under 5 minutes. He books the service and makes the payment and Voila! You have a brand new customer and you successfully used Social Media to increase conversions.
5. Competition & Data Analysis
The insights to your posts are the greatest feedback you can get. Analyze how your competitors are performing. If one competitor seems to perform well on a social platform, chances are, your pest control business will too, given the common target audience. Make pest control social media data tracking a requisite for your business and keep switching your game up regularly based on the findings.
6. A Happy Customer is your review goldmine
If you see a satisfied customer, give him a chance to rave about your services by asking him to submit a glorious review on your Social Media profile. Studies have shown 63.6% of customers refer to reviews before closing a deal. Here, a positive review can be your lifebuoy in a deep ocean. Allow your profile to be tagged, broadcast positive comments on your posts or a nice survey response to get the ball rolling.
7. Promoted content
This is where this stops being a free marketing channel. When it feels like your Pest Control Social Media profile has a decent following, let’s say between 800 to 1k, and is getting more than average traction, you can start experimenting with Social Media Ads and targeted marketing to boost the performance of your existing posts and attract traffic and leads to your profile. Setting aside at least 10% of your digital marketing budget for your Social is a must.
You can consider cross promotion with other businesses, for example, an affiliate program with a landscaping company where they can mention or promote your services and vice versa.
8. Experiment with Formats
To remain relevant in this realm, it is necessary to stay up to date with the latest Social Media trends. Social Media Demographics can give you a clear picture of what’s working for the users, which then helps you to create relevant content.
Make your profile a refreshing mix of easy-on-the-eyes pictures, informative carousels, entertaining videos and reels, funny GIFs and stories. Studies show that a viewer is 35% more likely to convert into a customer post seeing a video.
9. Avoid Spamming
There’s a thin line between staying relevant and spamming your viewers’ feed. It is important to understand this difference. What you should aim for is subtly resonating with your followers. To avoid overwhelming them, opt for regular stories, which is an option on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, YouTube.
10. Offers & Giveaways
A friendly offer is something that people can seldom ignore. Use this to your advantage! Offers and giveaways can increase engagement and traffic on your profile. The budget and pricing involved is something that you should consider before you proceed, though.
A good example of a giveaway can be a 10%-off gift-card for the first 10 people who comment, like or share a post. Offers like first 10 customers, upon signing a contract, get a free add-on service. Also, reward your customers for referrals, as well as new customers for signing up on these referrals, a.k.a Referral Programs.
11. 24/7 availability
Given your Social Media profile is an extension of your Pest Control Business, professionalism and punctuality are rewarded here. Your prospects can reach out to you here looking to get answers, or existing customers can use this as a platform to complain or grab your attention. Keeping your turnaround time on Social Media DMs at 24 business hours would be the best.
Being available 24/7 is a task for which you can use chatbots with relevant auto replies. Your responses should contain Call to Actions (CTAs) like schedule a service, book a free estimate, complete an online form, etc. Treat every customer reaching out to you here as an opportunity to create or close a deal.
12. Hashtags to stay relevant
Hashtags are a social media staple. Relevant hashtags can do wonders for your profile’s reach and impressions. An ingenious way to spread the word is to use industry and target relevant trending hashtags. An effective hashtag can be #(YourCity)(YourPestControlBusinessName).
13. There exists a right time to post
Staying relevant on any Social Media Platform means being active with regular posts. However, there is a time during a day when being active yields best results. Pest Control Companies looking for new customers can follow the below:
- For Facebook: Wednesdays between 3pm and 5pm, Thursdays and Fridays between 1pm and 4pm and 12pm to 1pm during the weekends.
- For Twitter: 12pm-6pm during weekdays. Tweets made between 5pm & 6pm are retweeted the most.
- Instagram engagement is the highest on Mondays and lowest on Sundays. Try scheduling IG posts during regular business hours during weekdays, with the peak engagement time being between 3pm and 4pm.
- For LinkedIn, go for weekday business hours. The highest clicks occur during periods between 7am and 8am, 5pm and 6pm from Tuesday to Thursday.
Still reading? Good! As a bonus, here are a few more tips to help you get the most out of social media:
- Include your Pest Control Social media handle(s) in all the Marketing materials, i.e. websites, mailers, newsletters, business cards, flyers, door hangers, etc.
- Don’t forget to post pictures of your work and your team at work to display the quality of your services. A before and after picture of a project helps too. This builds trust as well as adds credibility.
- Aim at growing the audience every day. Staying active on your social media is a must.
- Share comments or photos taken by your customers. This is User Generated Content, which is the best social proof to showcase your audience and build trust.
To sum up, if you feel stagnated or out of ideas, remember your content should tend to the audience’s desires to appeal to the buyer in them. That should help you create enough content to attract prospects. Want a more holistic view on marketing? Our post about Marketing for Pest Control Businesses can help you.
Hoping for nothing but success for your Pest Control Business endeavors. Good luck!
