Have you ever heard that your business doesn’t exist if it isn’t on Facebook?
This is because your clients may already be “friends” with your rivals if they utilize social media to follow other companies.
When it comes to reaching new clients and prospects, social media marketing is an extremely effective method! If you aren’t on social media, no one will know about your company. How could they?
With sites like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest, companies can communicate directly with their customers. If you aren’t doing this, you’re losing out on key opportunities.
Local companies should always have social media campaigns as part of their marketing plans. Making and distributing content on social media sites will assist you in achieving your marketing and branding objectives quickly.
Using paid social media advertising in conjunction with regularly posting updates, videos, and other material to engage your audience will help you reach more prospective customers, build loyal brand supporters, and increase sales.
To connect, engage, and develop your business, here are 11 reasons why you should work on your social media presence:
1. Speed
Using social media to market your business is a quick and easy way to get your message out there. You can start promoting your business in minutes after creating your profile.
2. Price
Because of the low cost of social media campaigns, you have more control over your advertising budget and may expand your social media presence at a rate that is right for you.
3. Effectiveness
To contact your target customers and construct a successful marketing campaign, you need to use multiple social media channels.
4. Brand Awareness
Social media is used by millions of individuals every day all over the world. Consider social media marketing as a surefire technique to raise exposure of your brand.
5. Relationship Development
General marketing methods do not “talk” to the client in any meaningful way. You can, however, develop genuine relationships with your potential clients by connecting with them on social media.
6. Trust Building
Customers are more likely to believe in your brand when you use social media to build trust with them. Successful social media campaigns should help you become a leader in your market.
7. Website Traffic
Making your social media updates engaging will raise your click through rate and drive more attention to your website, increasing sales.
8. More Leads
To produce more leads, you’ll need social media marketing. With social media marketing, it’s easy to run free social media campaigns or pay for advertising.
9. Content Promotion
You should make use of the social media channels to spread the word about your work. If you’re doing content marketing well, you should use social media to get the word out about your products and services.
10. Involved Followers
Increase the link you have with your fans by getting them engaged in your initiatives. Your followers will become more engaged if you just ask them what they want.
11. Spy on Your Competition
Spying on your competition is a cinch with social media. Don’t let your guard down whether it comes to your friends or foes. With social media, it’s simple to monitor your competition on multiple platforms.
Need help getting started with social media? Call IFTS today for a free strategy session at 412.715.6266 or send an email to si@iftsdesign.com
Do you find it challenging to come up with new content to post online for your painting business? You may even think that it’s not worth it, because who would see it? In a survey conducted by Facebook, 81% of people said that they use Instagram to learn about products and business services. We’re here to tell you that your content definitely won’t go unnoticed.
Today, you would be surprised at how many people seeking painting services turn to social media to check out different painting companies. 58% of consumers visit a brand’s social media pages before visiting their website. Sure, people can take others’ recommendations on a painting company. But if you can show these potential clients your work first hand, you’ll be able to win them over without hesitation!
Your target audience wants to see original content that is valuable and actionable. Whether the content that you are putting out is in the form of a blog, video, or infographic, it has to be digestible for your audience.
In this article, we are going to cover the top 3 types of content that your clients REALLY care about. We also suggest some content ideas that will grab your audience’s attention!
Video Content
Video content allows you to capture the attention of your viewers within seconds. 84% of people say that they’ve been convinced to buy a product or service by watching a brand’s video. Post your video to YouTube, then break it up into shorter video clips to be used on your social channels. This way, you can get many pieces of content from one single video!
Here are a few video content ideas for your painting business:
“Oddly satisfying” videos
Oddly enough, people love to watch other people paint! This content can be seen as “oddly satisfying” to users. If your audience is like most of us, it’s very easy to fall down a rabbit hole watching these satisfying videos!
Testimonials
People that are looking to hire you love to hear directly from others that have had work done by your business. What better way to showcase your work and a five-star testimonial all in one?
Day In The Life Video
Everyone loves to see a little behind the scenes, am I right? This is a great way to show customers what they can expect when they hire you for a project!
Blog Content
Blog articles are a fantastic way to provide long-form content to those searching for information.
FUN FACT: Any blog topic can be turned into a video! These videos can then be turned into informational social media posts. NOW we’re talking about getting the most out of your content!
Here are a few ideas for blogging that your audience will definitely want to read:
Paint recommendations
As we all know, there are many different kinds of paint out there. For some people, choosing the correct paint for their project can be a daunting decision to make. Between chelpbrand, finish AND color, a little assistance and good word from a pro can go a long way!
Frequently asked questions
Everyone is going to have questions. There are tools available such as SEMrush that can provide you with FAQ’s surrounding any given topic. This tool will also tell you how many times those questions are searched per month. Use this information to your advantage and write about the topics that you know people are searching for.
Why you should hire a professional
Many people don’t realize what they are getting themselves into when it comes to tackling projects around the house. How many times have you had to complete a project that has already been started? Give your reasoning as to why it is more time and cost effective to hire a professional from the start!
Social Content
Social content can be displayed many ways, especially depending upon the platform you are using. Whether you are posting to your Facebook feed or Instagram stories, keeping your audience engaged and interested is your number one goal.
Here are a few ideas that you can use to create content for your social channels:
Before and after
These photos are always a hit! Who doesn’t love to see a great transformation? You have the opportunity to lay out the quality of your work right in front of a potential client’s eyes.
Helpful information + tips and tricks
Providing helpful tips and tricks shows that you aren’t just about making a sale. You can provide information about handyman services done by painters and tips on how to know when your home needs a fresh coat of paint. You can also give tips on different painting techniques. Who knows, you just may end up with a sale after all!
Images of your team
A great way to humanize your business is by showing pictures of your crew hard at work. People love to have an idea of who will be working on their project and this way, they are able to put a name to a face. Plus, if they see quality work before their eyes, they’ll be sold!
If you aren’t sure where to begin with posting content on social media, don’t panic! Give IFTS a call at 412-715-6266 and we can discuss a social strategy that will work for you.
Setting up a YouTube channel for your painting company is easy and only takes a few minutes. In this article, we are going to walk you through 3 easy steps to set up your YouTube channel and explain how video marketing can benefit your business.
Set Up Your YouTube Channel In 3 Easy Steps
1. Sign in to YouTube
Go to YouTube.com and click the sign in button in the top right corner of the page. If you have an existing Google account, use that email and password to sign into YouTube.
If you do not already have a Google account, you can easily create a Google account directly from YouTube by clicking ‘create account’.
Keep in mind that a Google account and a YouTube account are not the same thing. This is a common misconception.
Your Google account can be used to sign into YouTube to watch and like videos or subscribe to your favorite channels. When you are signed in, you will also get personalized recommendations based on your activity.
Now, having a YouTube channel allows you to upload your own videos for your painting business to have a public presence on YouTube.
2. Create Your Channel
In the top right corner of the screen, you will see your profile icon.
Click on the circle icon and select “Create a Channel”.
From here, you will be prompted to choose your channel name and profile picture
3. Customize Your Channel
This step will help make your channel welcoming to visitors and help with your SEO.
First, visit the customization tab in YouTube studio.
Layout Tab
Under the “layout” tab, you can select and organize what users will see when visiting your channel. A video spotlight will be the main video that someone will see when visiting your channel. For those that aren’t subscribed to your channel, you can add a channel trailer. This is nothing but a quick video that highlights what you create and what people can expect from your channel.
You can also add featured sections that will allow you to organize your content in any way you’d like for viewers to see when they arrive at your channel homepage.
BrandingTab
Under the branding tab is where you can find the customizable elements such as your profile picture and banner image.
Your profile picture is going to appear wherever your channel is represented on YouTube. Your profile picture must meet the following requirements:
JPG, GIF (not animated), BMP or PNG file
Recommended 800 X 800 px image
Square or round image that renders at 98 X 98 px
If you know what a Facebook cover photo is, a YouTube banner image is very similar. This is a banner that will appear at the top of the page when someone visits your YouTube channel. With this, you can show off your personality and a little more about yourself and your painting company.
For the best results, your banner image must meet the following criteria:
Minimum dimensions of 2048 X 1152 px with an aspect ratio of 16:9
Safe area for text and logos at the minimum dimensions: 1235 X 338 px
File size: 6 MB or smaller
Basic Info Tab
Under the basic info tab, you can make edits to your channel name & description, add translations in other languages, add links to sites that you want to share with your viewers (such as your company’s website) and add contact information if you would like people to be able to email you with inquiries. Make sure to link back to your business.
After making changes to any of these tabs, always be sure to hit the “publish” button to make your edits live on your channel.
Now it’s time to create content for your YouTube channel!
Most people think that creating a video for their business is really time consuming or that you need expensive equipment to start – Not true! All you need is your smartphone and a location that is relatively quiet with good lighting.
Create and optimize your painting company’s YouTube videos to get the most out of your YouTube channel. In this blog post, learn how to create your videos from choosing a location, to finding a topic and editing your video. (We even include a secret step that not many people know about.)
How Video Marketing Benefits Your Painting Company
Did you know that 72% of people say that they would rather learn about a new product/service by watching a video over reading text?
Video marketing allows you to promote your business on social channels that can increase overall engagement while educating your audience in a creative way. In other words, it gets more eyeballs on information that you provide.
Developing a strong video marketing strategy for your painting business can provide the following benefits:
1. Reach a wider audience
With a large percentage of people preferring to watch an informative video over reading text, you have an opportunity to reach even more of your target customers. Think about the benefit of someone being able to watch you explain the benefits of painting your kitchen cabinets over replacing them or why you should hire a professional to remove wallpaper in your home.
2. Increase Revenue
Did you ever think that creating videos could put more money in the bank? Businesses that implement a video strategy increase their revenue 49% faster year-over-year than those that do not use video. Many painting companies are not yet utilizing these methods, so put yourself ahead of the competition and be a familiar face to your clients even before they meet you.
3. Increase Number of Shares
Social video generates 1200% more shares than text and image content combined. By creating quality video content, you have a better chance of passively raising more awareness for your painting company. With YouTube users sharing 400 hours of new video every minute, your business is set to establish a connection with users and therefore, drive leads.
4. Allows you to show off your work and your hardworking team!
When it comes to choosing a painting company, people are mostly interested in 2 main things – the cost of your painting services as well as the QUALITY! This is your perfect opportunity to show them the high-quality work that they will receive when they choose your business to paint their home.
With video marketing, you can also answer frequently asked questions in a video format, letting a possible prospective client put a name to a face as you help answer their questions. This can ultimately instill a feeling of trust in that individual and you may have just scored yourself a new client!
These are just a few of the benefits of video marketing for painting companies. It can’t be stressed enough that it is important for your business to stay on top of evolving video marketing trends to remain relevant in the digital world as more and more people turn to online video for information and advice in addition to entertainment.
YouTube is not just for cat videos anymore!
Need help setting up your channel or getting started with video marketing? Give IFTS a call at 412.715.6266 and set up a free one-hour video roadmap session. We’ll look at what you have done so far in the video space and set up a roadmap for you to follow to get yourself in front of more clients fast!
