Don't waste your time.........Why social media doesn't work for tradespeople

Doing the wrong things on social media will waste your time

I've been using social media with success since 2008 and although what I'm about to talk about has been happening since I've been around and it seems to be an increasing occurrence, I've recently been looking more in depth at the social media accounts for some trades on facebook and twitter etc and have had some follow me, all I see are posts about their business, posts such as we can service your boiler for £xxx, leaky pipe - give us a call on 07000 xxxx etc and there is always a logo for their profile picture. 

Social media such as twitter, linkedIn, Google+ and facebook doesn't and never will work for a lot of trades people, simply because....they get it wrong. 

The worst thing that they do is when people do follow them they send an instant direct message back telling them about their service, Or recently I had a plumbing company send me a message out of the blue which is called an @reply, if you add someones twitter profile and then write a message they will see it, the @Reply message went like this '@Paul_Jennings When did you last have your boiler service, we can.......' you get the picture, now when trades people use social media this unsolicited way, it simply will not work! Let me just say this...

Social media is not an advertising platform  

If it were then this would be okay behaviour, Social media is a 'social' platform, a place to network, to stay in touch with people, to make friends/ connections.

This advertising social media style may work for large faceless corporate companies like Sainsburys, McDonalds or JD Wetherspoons or though in my opinion they should consider taking the social approach and the top people, CEOs directors etc should get involved and make it more personal.

Still need proof?

I like to put it like this, imagine walking in to a pub to meet some friends and wearing a mask of your business logo and speaking at people, with no conversation and telling them what you can do for them, how much and to call you on..... how well would that work for you, imagine being on the receiving end, how would that feel.

Social media is just like a virtual pub. There is an old saying that people buy from people and it's true, so when we're using social media be just that, a person.

So some top social media key tips from me would be 

• Use a profile picture of yourself
• List what you like to do, sports, music, films
• Interact with other users through conversation
• Look for ways to help them that isn't to do with your business

When you use social media this way it just works! behind every tweet and profile there is a real person, one of the keys to social media marketing is to build up a following of people who want to know you and are interested in what you say, the main way people are interested in what you have to say is if they know you are interested in them. So search for people that are local, follow or friend them and look for ways to interact so they follow you back.

When you build up a following of people that have got to know you over time (Sorry I forgot to mention it'll take time you're not going to get a response in just a couple of posts or tweets) Who do you think they're going to call next time they need a boiler service, an extra socket installed or an extension built? 

To your success

Paul Jennings