Now more than ever, contractors understand the real benefits of blogging about their businesses and are dedicating resources to the effort. Not only do they get SEO love from search engines, but fresh content gives them something new to share on social media that drives traffic back to their website. Once people visit their website, they may nose around a bit by reading a few more articles or scroll through project photos. Over time, those looky-loos can turn into customers or referral sources.
One of the most popular ways to get new visitors on your website is by using social media, but many contractors aren’t doing it quite the best way for maximum benefit.
Over the winter, I started working with a design/build home builder/remodeling firm to write their blog and newsletter articles, and by the time MA started working with me, she was already well versed in using social media, but she was looking for a few pointers. I did some social media training with her and from there, she just took off. And let me tell you – she’s been on fire! Their website visits are up (almost double), and they are getting quality leads from their social media efforts, as well.
Recently, I came across a few of her Facebook posts and emailed her with a few tips for improving them. Because I see this happening often with contractors, I thought I’d share those tips with you.
Here is the Facebook post I saw:
While there is nothing wrong with the post, there are a few things I suggested she change to tweak it.
Social Media Tweak #1: Be thoughtful about the copy.
Here’s the revised copy I suggested to her:
[NEW] Move Over Beige: Gray is the New Neutral. This article highlights one of the biggest design trends of 2015. Read it here: [link to the actual blog article]
I like using “NEW” for blog posts because it catches the eye. With so many people reposting articles (which is perfectly fine as long as it is spread out over time), as a follower, I always appreciate knowing when an article is new.
Social Media Tweak #2: Link to the actual blog article – not just the home page.
This is the most important suggestion I offered; I see businesses doing this all the time. They link to their home page and not to the actual blog article or project spotlight.
Instead, copy the link from the actual blog post and paste it into the social media platform to give people direct access to the information you are sharing (as seen below).
People don’t like to “hunt” around for the information. This tip works with any social media platform – Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, etc.
Social Media Tweak #3: Use a featured image.
If you use WordPress to blog, there is a nifty little feature called “Featured Image” that resides in the right column. Make sure you designate your best photo as the Featured Image.
A featured image represents the contents, mood, or theme of a post or page. Posts and pages can have a single featured image, which many themes and tools can use to enhance the presentation of your site. – Source: WordPress
Get instructions for setting the Featured Image in WordPress here.
It is important to designate which image you want with every blog post and page of your site because that’s the image that will be seen when shared on social media (which you can see in my above example).
Here is an example of what a post looks like when no image is designated as the feature image.
While this builder was a Parade winner, they weren’t the big winner of the event – but from this visual, you’d never know that. WordPress doesn’t know this, and because no Featured Image was assigned, it simply picked out one of the many images used on this page.
