5 Social Media Tips to Drive Sales for Your Service Business
- February 10, 2018
- By: Vonigo
Are you looking to improve your online sales process and increase conversions for your mobile service business? Social media can play a key role in driving conversions.
Being in all the places your typical customer visits is vital in the sales process, especially for businesses that operate in a specific geographical area. Because service businesses tend to not see customers within a typical storefront, social media plays a vital role in being able to connect to the right customer at the right time.
By following these simple social media tips, you are one step closer to improving your bottom line.
1. Use Social Media’s Native Chat Functions
Also known as conversational e-commerce, using the chat features such as Facebook’s Messenger gives you a direct service channel the second a question is asked. This provides an opportunity to address specific needs, answer questions, and of course sell your service.
You will want to avoid reaching out to customers using these features, however. This tends to annoy potential clients and is not the same as an email list.
2. Create a Channel That Makes It Easy to Buy or Schedule a Service
Sales from social media channels continue to grow faster than that of other generic online channels. What this means is there is an opportunity to sell straight from social media, and it is growing exponentially. Making your booking options accessible, to help make a quick and seamless appointment or purchase, is vital.
The more clicks someone has to make in order to make a purchase, the more chances there are that the potential customer will get lost. For example, if the person has to navigate to a new website from Facebook to get a question answered, the odds increase that the person will become frustrated, thus losing a sale.
In this case, less is more. The Facebook “Buy Button” has the ability to showcase your services, set up promotions, display services that are exclusive, and adds the chance of communicating directly with a potential buyer.
The ability to schedule appointments straight from a dashboard without a time-consuming process of picking up the phone, dialing and then negotiating with a live person, increases conversions ten-fold.
Vonigo, for instance, has incorporated this feature with service business management tools. With the click of a button from many social platforms, it can take you straight to an online booking tool and voila, instant appointment!
Encouraging someone to make a buying decision is much easier if you can incorporate scheduling where they’re at, at the exact moment they need something.
3. Post Content Daily to Enhance Engagement
Growing a social media following can be challenging. One of the easiest ways to improve your total number of followers is posting daily.
Studies show that preferred posting frequency will depend on the audience itself. Some like more and some less. Facebook gives great insights on engagement levels, as well as best times of days to post.
Test, test, test. If something is not working, try posting a bit more or a bit less until you find the perfect rhythm.
Your posts are important as well. You will want to share business-related news and topics as well as your new blog post for example.
Promotional items are always a great way to engage as well. Many companies have also run successful contests to drive user engagement such as giveaways. The idea is to be creative and engaging. Sticking only to what you do can get boring. Keep it lively, share community events and become engaged with your demographic.
4. Use Images and Videos When Posting
Photos and videos generate 50% more likes than an average post. When you post, always include a link to the content and attach an image.
It is also okay to repost old blogs. When doing so, include a different image than the one you previously used. This keeps things fresh. You can also change up the titles. This gives you a chance to play around and experiment with what taglines tend to do better with your audience and which flop.
By continuing to A/B test with your posts you can gauge what is successful and what simply flops. Images tend to engage the user along with captions, and click through rate will improve dramatically since humans tend to be visually driven.
5. Include Social Share buttons on Your Website
People love to share. Whether they want to show off their new home, their custom-installed rain gutters, or their brand new hot tub, social lets them brag. This is a great place for a website mention. If you make your services easy to tag and share from your website, they will be more apt to click that button.
If they are stuck copying and pasting URLs, it becomes too much work and the moment is lost.
The great thing about social share buttons is they are not limited to only your website. You can add them to engaging places like newsletters, email campaigns, and even other social media platforms.
The more places you embed these buttons the greater the chance for your products, services and blog posts to be shared and interacted with.
Here is a quick guide on how to add a “like us on Facebook button.”
Put The Tips to Work for Your Service Business
Many of these techniques are underutilized. By incorporating them into your social media strategy, you may be one step ahead of your competition. Not only are you now engaging customers where they are, you are also creating strong branding for your service business. A win-win.
Keeping your customers happy by being there for them when you need them is a no-brainer!
—
Mike Tortorice is the SEO and Digital Marketing Manager at Infront Webworks in Colorado Springs, CO. Mike has been in the digital marketing space for over 10 years developing sound marketing strategies for thousands of clients in the process. An avid skier and hiker who loves all things digital. Mike’s passion is a result of being able to help businesses succeed in the digital landscape.
Want to learn how you can use service business management software to grow your mobile service business? Book a free, private demo of Vonigo.