How to get more local customers using facebook
Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed
Subscribe: RSS
Why facebook?
As of the first quarter of 2015, Facebook had 1.44 billion monthly active users.
If you want to get more local customers facebook is a low cost way to acquire new customers.
State of the Pest Management Industry
PCT 2015 Magazine Top 100 List
The U.S. structural pest control industry generated an estimated $7.466 billion in total service revenue in 2014, a 3.5 percent increase from the $7.213 billion measured in 2013.
An estimated 8.75 million residential accounts were serviced either under an annual contract or as a “one-time cleanout” for household pests this past year.
That represents slightly more than 25 percent of the “target market” for professional pest control services in the U.S. (The “target market” is defined as households with annual income of $75,000 or more.)
The percentage of all U.S. households (2013 = 122,952,000) receiving professional pest control was slightly more than 10 percent,” said Gary Curl, president of Specialty Products Consultants, the research firm that publishes the report.
Source: http://www.pctonline.com/pct0515-PCT-top-100-2015.aspx
PCT Magazine 2012 Edition.
Growing the category. Rollins has “excellent competition in the marketplace,” which challenges it to do better, said Iarocci. But he’d like to see competitors focus more on expanding the category rather than taking away others’ business. “The focus is in the wrong place,” he said.
Industry growth will come from converting the 80 percent of people who do pest control themselves or hire maintenance contractors, he explained. The worst thing people in the industry can do is trade business “when there’s a whole market out there that’s waiting for professional service.”
Source: http://www.pctonline.com/pct0512-2012-pct-top-100-list.aspx
“Traditional marketing is Dead they just haven’t buried all the bodies yet.”
Enter the new media world is going to require a fundamental or paradigm shift in your thinking from traditional marketing to a social media marketing mind frame.
In the new media world the traditional marketing approach of telling me what you are selling and asking me to buy like a commercial will not work and will backfire on you.
You have to be willing to entertain, inform and educate people by giving away your best information for free in order to be seen as a professional and develop a following.
Social media success is based on the law of reciprocity. Give 80% Ask 20%
Steps to take
#1 Get a Facebook page set up separate from your personal profile page. “ABC PESTCONTROL”
If you are a soloprenoure you’re the brand people are buying you you can use your picture in the profile 160 X 160 pixels
Create a cover photo that is the picture in the back of the profile picture 851 X 315 pixels
Don’ts in cover photo
No call to action, no pricing or buy now or call us now.
No contact info, no phone, website or email.
Use the about section for that info and your posts.
Do’s:
Change your cover photo often every time you do it sends it out to your fans.
Your about section include your website
Set up as a local business or brand
Link your personal profile to page works at your business.
Secure a custom url www.mypestcontrol.com
Have a like box to your website join me on face book. A free wordpress plugin
Facebook engagement =Likes + Comments + Shares
No engagement means no posts showing up
Use of Images = engagement on average generates 53% more likes than text alone.
Upload your images not just link them
Image post dimensions that show up nice 803 x 803 px or pixels.
Make images easy to digest and more shareable.
Why you want 1000 fans or likes
185% increase in traffic to website
How often should i post?
Post 2 to 5 times per day.
Only 16% of your posts are seen by your friends
84% of your fans wont see your posts.
Nobody is on facebook 24/7 on your page your not that important, That’s how it is get over it!
Consider paid ads to reach more people.
Adds in the news feed and Facebook offers.
Don’t make it all about you, its about them.
Keeps post around 80 characters per post.
It gets 27% engagement
Get personal, share what’s going on in the company and in your life.
Calls To Action, ask for
Shares
Likes
Comments
Videos
Don’t link your videos to youtube
Do download them, facebook will prefer the uploaded video
Consider paid ads to reach more people.
Adds in the news feed and Facebook offers
If you want to know the power of small things i recommend this book by MalcomeGladwell it will change the way you see them.