Pest control businesses looking to grow and generate additional revenue need to leverage the right strategies to attract new customers. There are numerous options when it comes to advertising pest control services including direct mail, customer referrals, trade shows, home improvement events, and door-to-door marketing. While these options can be effective, they are also time consuming and costly.
One of the marketing tools that is most underutilized by pest control companies is social media. The challenge is that most pest control businesses fail to realize the advantages that social media provides to capture additional market share. Here’s why every pest control business should include and leverage social media in their marketing strategy.
Why Social Media is Important for Pest Control Businesses
When consumers need a service or want to purchase a product, they typically turn to the internet to research information, read customer reviews, and interact with the company. For three-quarters of all internet users, this search begins on one or more social media platforms.
Based on this, you’d think that every pest control company would make building a social media presence a priority. The problem is that 85% of all tradespeople don’t know how to properly utilize social media to generate more work. This gives social media-savvy pest control companies an advantage over their competitors.
The other benefit is that social media is one of the most cost effective ways to reach new customers compared to traditional marketing tactics. Most social media platforms are free to set up and don’t require a large investment to maintain. By simply transitioning a small percentage of your overall marketing budget to your social media presence, you can easily amplify your results.
Best Practices to Get the Most Out of Social Media
Hopefully, we’ve convinced you that social media should be a priority for your pest control business. It’s important to stress that how you use social media will determine the effectiveness of your marketing campaigns. Selecting the wrong platform or not posting the right types of content can produce underwhelming results. Here are some of the most effective ways we recommend pest control companies use their social media accounts today to generate massive amounts of attention in their area.
1. Select the Right Platforms
The first mistake many businesses make is feeling like they need to be on every social media platform available. This can feel overwhelming, and not to mention time consuming and expensive to maintain, create new content, and interact with potential customers.
While there are numerous different social media platforms available, not all of them are right for the pest control industry. It’s important to select the social media platforms that are most likely to be used by your target audience. For example, residential pest control businesses need to target homeowners. According to one study, Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram are the top three social media platforms for this demographic. Pest control businesses that specialize in commercial pest control at hotels, restaurants, and offices may find more success on social media sites like LinkedIn.
2. Create a Social Media Strategy
To get the most value from social media, you need to actually leverage the features, interactions, and visibility that social media provides to your pest control businesses. The last thing you want is to set up a social media profile and let it sit dormant. A good social media strategy will dictate how you use the platform, what types of information you will publish, how often you will post new content, and what types of consumers you intend to target. At a minimum, your social media strategy should address the following:
- Type of Content – Blogs, informational posts, infographics, photos, videos, insect identification guides, and promotional content are great options. You may need to experiment a little to see what gets the best responses.
- Hashtags – Most social media platforms allow companies to tag their posts with certain hashtags or keywords so that people can find them easily. Having a strong hashtag strategy can help people find you and attract new customers.
- Cadence – It’s highly recommended that you keep a regular, consistent schedule for publishing new content. Most social media experts recommend a minimum of one to two posts per day.
- Customer Engagement – You should also have a plan for how you will interact with and respond to customer comments and feedback on your social media. The more customers feel engaged when using social media, the more likely they are to hire your company.
- Automation – Many features of social media can be automated to streamline workflows. Your strategy should address how and when automation should be used.
- Budget – While social media is mostly free, you may need to set aside resources for a social media manager, content creation, or social media advertising.
3. Publish High-Quality Content
Social media is all about building strong relationships with your followers. People are more likely to engage with your company’s social media account if they feel like you are providing them with value. This should be your number one priority. Focus on providing value to your customers through high-quality and useful content and they will be more likely to interact with your profile, request more information, repost your content to their network, or follow you.
The content and format that you want to create or provide is entirely up to you. You can create informational blog posts, pest identification guides, helpful tips and tricks, and pest control best practices. For best results, be sure to make your social media account as visual as possible. Social media posts that contain photos and video are 10x more likely to capture your audience’s attention and get engagement.
4. Engage with Your Audience
Social interaction is a key element of social media. People want to feel connected to the companies that they purchase products and services from. Oftentimes, customers will use social media to contact your company with questions, share feedback, share ideas with likeminded people, or comment on helpful information. It’s important to dedicate time to respond to these interactions (both positive and negative). This shows your customers that you care and want to interact with them.
Customer testimonials are a powerful way to highlight what other people are saying about your pest control services. Feel free to use this positive feedback to fill your social media feed with feel-good stories to encourage others to book pest control services with your business.
5. Run Targeted Ads
Social media companies have spent billions of dollars gathering data on their users to help companies run highly-targeted ad campaigns. For a pest control company, this can be extremely valuable. Dedicating a small budget to running a social media advertising campaign can produce great results by allowing you to reach the exact demographics that you select.
Supercharge Your Social Media Marketing with Rhino
Building a successful social media presence can be easy with the right strategy in place. This is especially true since many of your competitors are likely not using social media to its full potential. At Rhino Pest Control Marketing, our team of experienced professionals is here to guide you through the process of creating the perfect social media strategy to stay ahead of the competition in your local market.
