As many of you know, we owned and operated a custom homes building company (Spruce Homes) for 9 years out of Saskatoon, SK. When we started that business, we were 25 years old and had no money. As we navigated growing our young business, we had the cold reality of a grand marketing budget of $0 (maybe not literally zero, but you get the point). And in that time, there was virtually no other home builders using social media. At that time, we decided to jump in head first and commit ourselves to this free marketing tool that Mark Zuckerberg so kindly built for us.
Shortly after starting, we quickly understood the time commitment that it took. We were still working full time jobs at that point, so time was precious. That's when we decided to bring on a social media management company to help us out! Well... it wasn't the best experience. Don't get me wrong - they were great people and they wanted to help, but the reality was that they didn't know our business or industry. The posts they would make were always a little off, didn't speak to the people we wanted to reach, and weren't building the brand we wanted to be out there. So after a short test, we decided to commit the time and tackle it ourselves.
That decision allowed us to garner a deep understanding of what is important for local business's on social media. The platforms have changes a lot since we started, but the general concepts have not. So we wanted to share the lessons we learned throughout those 9 years on social media building a local brand that attracted loyal, raving fans:
People want to see the people behind your business - they enjoy being part of the ride, so show them!
Human beings are naturally curious, nosey creatures. We are always interested in the local gossip, we want to know the latest celebrity drama, and we never want to be the last to know something. That reality combined with the tools of social media gives you the perfect opportunity to give people what they want. They are following you for a reason, they are interested in what you sell and/or the content you are providing! So dive into that, take them along for the ride each day. Show them what you're building. Show them new products you're bringing in. Show them what's happening in the store that day. Just show them what's going on! It may seem boring to you, but people love watching those things and being in the loop.
Being active and showing your "day in the life" will also open selling opportunities you never thought about. Maybe you're showing your "Open" sign with your store hours (as simple as it gets!), and someone messages you and tells you that they have to pick their daughter up from dance and they may be 5 minutes late, but would someone be able to wait a couple minutes to ring up some dog food. Or maybe you are a construction business and you're constantly showing awesome tile installations and you constantly get messages about sourcing. Could you reach out to your supplier and get a referral code from your supplier? Maybe each referral you get a kickback or some other benefit.
The opportunities are endless, you just need to be active so that you can create them!
Social doesn’t need to be professionally polished - be raw and be consistent.
Too often people don't want to put content on social media because it doesn't look good enough in their eyes. I will give you a quick newsflash - if that's your holdback at the moment, no one is seeing it anyway! If that fear is holding you back, that means that you haven't been consistently building content (because fear/excuses are holding you back), which means you haven't built a loyal following, which means that even if you do post something that doesn't look great, only a handful of people are going to see it anyway!
Okay - I'm off my soap box now. While that is all true, one thing to remember is that content that maybe doesn't look super polished is content that a lot of people resonate with. People don't need to see perfect photo and professional video all the time. Is there a place for that? Sure! Bu t it doesn't have to be all the time. I would challenge you to open your favorite social media platform right now. Scroll through some content. Tell me what you see. Tell me what you like. Is some of it professionally done? Probably. But a lot of it will also just be video taken from a phone with some music added and some occasional text. Social media doesn't need to be extremely polished - it just needs to be you. People will resonate with you and putting that content out is what will create that loyal base.
You need a mix of content types
Don't take yourself too serious. Remember what people use social media for - they want to escape their life for a few minutes (or hours) and be entertained. So make sure you're entertaining them. Your posts don't always need to be serious - you should add in some humor, some emotion, and some personality. Your posts don't need to always have a product highlighted, they don't always need to be promoting yourself, and they don't always need to be about what you do. Sometimes your posts can just be trendy, they can be funny, or they can be inspiring. Show people the side of you that comes out once you leave work. Creating those different content types will give your page personality and be a place that people enjoy coming to.
Not every post needs to hit it out of the park, you’re building a story.
This piggy backs off the last point - social media is a long term branding play, not a short term sales tool. If you are hoping that every post is going to bring in immediate sales and you will be able to tie a directly correlated ROI, you are going to be quickly disappointed. The power of social media in the construction and agriculture spaces is that you get to tell your story. You get to share who you are, what you believe, how you can help people, and why you are better in the next guy. But the people who win at social don't tell people all of that, they show them. They show them over time in different, creative ways. It's a great way to entertain people while simultaneously building your story in their mind. And with that, not every post is going to perform fantastic. But that isn't the point. The point is to be consistent over time, continuing to build your brand and your story so that people become emotionally connected over time.
So take these core lessons and apply them to your own business's social media page. Consistently show people what's going on behind the scenes, don't worry about your content being perfect, switch up the content you post, and tamper your expectations that every post will bring in dollars. If you commit to these lessons, you will build a following that adores you and you will become the first person people consider when they are looking for your service.
