Getting exposure on other Internet platforms is an effective way to expand your customer base. 74% of people use social media when making purchasing decisions (source). It provides an easy way to connect with clients with minimal maintenance. These sites can be classified into three categories:

• Social Media sites
• Review sites
• Lead Generation sites

Social Media sites are primarily used by people to communicate with each other. These sites include Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, etc. 89% of marketers use Facebook in their brand marketing efforts (source). A recent trend on Facebook has been to establish groups for local communities. Group members frequently post on these pages asking for recommendations for home service companies and tradesmen. 

Review sites are used to find reviews on businesses. This category includes sites like Google, Yelp, Yellow Pages, etc. Google accounts for 57.5% of all reviews worldwide. 72% of customers won’t take action until they read reviews (source). Customer reviews are very important for generating new leads. Businesses should ask customers to provide an online review if they were happy with the work performed. It is also important for businesses to respond to online reviews in order to resolve complaints and maximize their review ratings.

Lead Generation sites also provide business reviews. In addition, they allow users to enter details about their project and can have companies bid for their business. This includes sites like Angie’s List, Home Advisor, and Thumbtack.

All of these platforms allow companies to setup a business page that communicates who they are and what services they provide. Increasing the number of business profiles you have with links to your website will increase the “quality” score that Google assigns to your website. Your website quality score impacts where your website appears on search results and how much you pay for pay-per-click (PPC) advertising.

Once you have established a social media presence, it is important to maintain it and keep in contact with your community. Creating posts and responding to comments and reviews deepens your presence within your community and strengthens the relationships you have with your followers. Good community engagement is key to attracting business on social media.

This can be a lot to manage. Trades Growth will make it easy for your business to manage your social media presence with the following services: