Establishing an online business presence is a must for any entrepreneur. That sentiment applies to businesses across all industries, and your HVAC company is no exception. How you establish that presence is ultimately your call, but one would be remiss to omit social media marketing from their overall strategy. Social media platforms are widely utilized, so you must capitalize on them. Understand how those platforms should figure into your strategy and maximize their potential.
Combining Word-Of-Mouth Marketing
The primary generator of attention for HVAC remains word-of-mouth. Whether a homeowner is getting a new air conditioner installed or repaired, they will likely ask their neighbor if they know someone who can handle that job. A homeowner may also be more inclined to hire an HVAC technician because of a neighbor’s recommendation.
Even today, word-of-mouth remains a critical component of the marketing strategies that HV AC companies deploy. They develop working relationships with different members of the community to ensure they have a strong foothold. By cultivating those working relationships, HVAC companies can eventually reach more people in need of their service.
The traditional way that word-of-mouth marketing works is still benefiting HVAC businesses today. However, we’re also seeing a new dimension to that component of marketing. Thanks to social media platforms, word-of-mouth marketing has evolved. It is progressing to the point where it can now involve a larger audience.
A customer posting about their working experience working with your company can have significant ripple effects. That post can put you in front of their friends and followers. It can also shine a positive light on your services that you simply would not get otherwise.
Social media networks have effectively supercharged word-of-mouth marketing. To take advantage of that, you can ask your customers to post reviews about your service on your accounts. You can even offer incentives in exchange for those posts. Considering the reach those posts have, offering those incentives will pay off by improving your online business presence.
Utilizing Targeted Advertising
HVAC companies should also develop social media marketing plans because they allow for targeted advertising. The vast majority of customers you’ll be dealing with as an HVAC business owner are still folks in your area. Customers will prioritize hiring a local AC contractor to secure service as soon as possible. At the same time, driving out for long-distance jobs is inefficient, so you may prefer to stay local.
Reaching those local customers will be crucial to your success. Word-of-mouth marketing already helps out a ton, but you cannot rely solely on that. After all, you still need to get in front of those customers first.
Social media websites are especially useful for targeted marketing because of the options they provide. You can post in local groups to reach your target audience. Geotagging your posts can also help you reach more people within your community. Running local ads on Facebook or whichever platform is popular in your area can also help grow your business presence.
Showcase Your Products and Services
People post what they want others to see on social media. You may want to show off your latest accomplishment or acquisition, and it’s easy to do that with your accounts. Doing the same thing is possible for your HVAC business. Showcasing your newest products and services is a great way to enhance your online business presence.
Now that your newest units have arrived, you can post them for all your potential customers to see. Show off standout features of your latest products to pique the interest of your followers. Note how the aforementioned AC units are superior to widely available models so your followers can understand why they need to upgrade.
You can also promote your residential and commercial HVAC services that way. Detail the HVAC services you offer and explain their different uses. Make sure your target customers understand your services well so they know when to reach out for assistance.
Business accounts on social media also work great for advertising HVAC products and services because of the freedom they provide. You can provide complete details about your newest products and services by posting about them. Posting photos and videos can also give your target customers better impressions of what you have to offer.
Establish Your Brand
Back in the day, small HVAC companies didn’t have to worry so much about branding. As long as you’re known as the local AC repair business, you may have a constant stream of customers to work with. Relying solely on that type of business presence is no longer an option in the information age.
Without a strong brand associated with your HVAC company, potential customers may never find you. Your business may never pop when they look for an AC repair specialist online due to a lack of branding. Other companies can race ahead of you and land your target prospects.
On top of that, you must be cognizant of the fact that people are more skeptical of the businesses they work with. They know that not every business advertising their products and services online can deliver on their offers. Your potential customers may lump your business into that group due to a lack of branding.
Using social media for branding purposes is also quite easy. Bolster your branding efforts by using a single name and logo across all your business accounts. Creating a hashtag and other branding elements for your HVAC company is also highly recommended. Partnering with branding consultants is a good idea if you want to take things further, but those are good initial steps.
Educate Your Customers
Turning a profit is the goal of every business owner. To accomplish that goal, you must deliver value to your customers consistently. Delivering value doesn’t always involve providing products and services. You can also provide value as an HVAC company by educating your customers.
We mentioned earlier that you can entice customers to try your products and services by discussing them in detail on social media. That’s just one way educating your customers can benefit your HVAC business. Touching on the often overlooked aspects of HVAC service can also enlighten your followers on social media.
For instance, you can mention why securing service from a professional AC contractor is critical for business owners. Note how inexperienced workers can damage commercial glass while repairing or cleaning air conditioners. Highlight those risks, so the potential customers in your area can better understand the value of your offerings.
Customer education may also involve HVAC usage and maintenance tips. Tell your customers how they can maximize the efficiency of their units so they can avoid enormous electric bills. Demonstrate basic HVAC maintenance for your customers in videos, so they can use them as references.
So, why should you invest time and resources in educating your customers? The goal of educating your customers is to develop your reputation and enhance your online business presence. Customers will remember your posts when they need HVAC service. Because of that, their first service calls will consistently go to you.
Highlight Areas of Improvement
Customer reviews are useful mainly because they can organically spread the word about your HVAC business. People can read the positive reviews posted on your social media accounts and see why your HVAC company is the top option in your area. You cannot deny how important those reviews are in terms of growing your online business presence. Notably, they can also help improve your service offerings.
A recent customer may have a slight issue with how long your previous project took to complete. Due to unforeseen issues, you may have spent more time on commercial HVAC installation than expected, and your customer noticed that. While a customer not being completely pleased with your work is obviously not ideal, it also presents a learning opportunity. Now that you’re aware of the problem, you can take measures to prevent it from popping up again.
The way you respond to critical feedback can also influence your future dealings with customers. If people see that you can accept critical feedback and grow from it, they will be more inclined to seek out your services. All your learning opportunities can double as business opportunities because of social media.
Ideal for Hosting Giveaways
Giveaways double as opportunities for HVAC business owners to attract the attention of more customers. Items you can give away include cleaning tools and supports for air conditioners. You can also offer discounts on cleaning and boiler replacement services. Since giveaways usually generate plenty of interest, you should also use them to enhance your online business presence.
Host the giveaways using your social media accounts to gain more followers. Increase your follower counts by only opening the giveaways to them. Arranging those giveaways on social media should also be easy to pull off, thanks to the features they provide. You can host a live stream of your giveaway to make it as accessible as possible.
Improve Your Customer Service Capabilities
The versatility of social media doesn’t get mentioned enough in terms of how beneficial it can be for businesses. We’ve already touched on many of social media’s benefits here, but we have yet to discuss how useful it can be for customer service. The new dimension social media websites add to your customer service can also elevate your business presence.
Instead of relying only on phone calls, text messages, and emails to coordinate with customers, your HVAC business can now use social media as well. Instruct your customers to send messages via social media if they need air conditioning installation, repair, or other services. You won’t miss those messages as long as you use your social media accounts regularly.
Opening up your social media accounts for customer service purposes also makes sense from a reliability standpoint. Even if your mobile carrier suffers from service issues, you can keep an open line of communication because of social media. Those platforms serve as additional communication channels that enable you to respond to more customers.
Tracking Ads Efficiently
Using the basic features of social media websites can significantly improve your online business presence. If you wish to get more out of those platforms, you can use their paid advertising features. Business owners typically pay for social media ads to boost their visibility. While the boost in visibility is certainly helpful, those paid ads are also more convenient because they come with tracking features.
You can check out the metrics for your paid AC installation service posts and see how they have performed. Examining the statistics for your latest posts and comparing them to your older ads can also yield valuable insight. The statistics can indicate if the elements you added to your newest ads are helping or harming their visibility. You can then decide to change what you’re doing based on those social media metrics.
Keep Your HVAC Business Competitive
Lastly, you should invest time and resources in social media marketing to keep your HVAC business competitive. Many AC companies have integrated social media marketing into the way they do business. If you fail to use that tool to elevate your online business presence, you are effectively missing out on potential customers.
You can handle social media marketing for your HVAC business in one of two ways. Running those accounts yourself is an option if you have the free time to do so. Alternatively, you can entrust them to a social media manager to ensure they are assets for your company. The only wrong option would be avoiding social media entirely, so refrain from making that mistake.
Social media marketing is no longer an optional endeavor for HVAC business owners. If your marketing campaign lacks a social component, chances are it will fail to boost your business presence to the level you desire. Use social media platforms in the ways described in this article to capitalize on their full potential. You can also visit our website for more insight regarding social media marketing for HVAC companies.
