Social Media Opportunities for a Landscaping Company

Social media has become the Tasmanian devil of promotional tools. While not everything that gets posted goes viral, it opens the doors to opportunities that would be otherwise missed through traditional marketing channels.

In 2019 there have been a reported 3.48 billion users on social media. Of these users, 50 million are small business pages. For a landscaping company seeking local clients, this gives good odds that social media has been successful for small businesses in the past.

Getting started on social media is as easy as signing up for an account, building an attractive profile complete with a picture, and posting content. Promoting your landscape company without appearing too market-y, is the problem.

At Arborgold, our specialty landscaping business software has helped plenty of customers just like you get ahead in this competitive industry. Over our years working with landscapers, we’ve come to learn a lot about marketing and the use of social media for small businesses. Here are a few tips to help you promote your landscape company on social media.

Be Engaging & Realistic with Your Content

Promoting yourself online is tough these days. It’s no longer a world ruled by zippy taglines and jingles. Educated consumers make up much of the market, and they’re looking for smart marketing. Posting content, which is realistic and engaging will promote comments, likes, and sharing, and make you likable in the eyes of your followers.

As a local landscaping business, you should want to emphasize the fact that you are family-run, or from the community. Finding little ways to humanize your brand makes you more approachable and trustworthy. In a sea of competition, it’s crucial you stand out for good reasons. Some ways to personalize your content include:

• Posting photos from your office
• Creating video greetings for holidays and special promotions
• Posting about town events on your business page (even if they aren’t landscape related)

Create a Content Schedule

Keeping up with social media accounts gets time-consuming, which is why so many larger businesses opt to hire a social media account manager. One of the best things you can do while utilizing social media for business is to establish a content schedule. Even if your followers don’t sit and read everything you post, it offers a variety of benefits, such as:

• It makes your business appear active and relevant to search engines like Google
• Customers who do visit your page come to expect new content every week
• It reminds potential clients that your brand exists when a new post appears in their newsfeed
• It makes you look reliable

A social media manager stays on top of posts for you, guaranteeing everything goes out on time, is impeccably written and follows up with analytics reviewing to ensure your campaign is successful. If you can’t afford to take on a social media writer at this time, there are alternatives that can help. Social Media Management software such as Hootsuite, Buffer, and Airtable give you automation tools, which help with scheduling and analytics reports. You can see when posts are due to go out and follow up on statistics that come back determining the success of each post.

Reach Out to Consumers

Social media gives you an opportunity as a business to connect with customers like companies never used to. Modern businesses can build relationships with clients through Facebook and Instagram, promoting brand loyalty and lead generation. Some of the ways to reach out to your customers are:

Comments and Likes – Just as you love seeing your landscaping clients leave feedback on your social media site, your clients love hearing from you too. If you find your name come up in conversation through a Facebook tag, jump in quick to like and comment on the post. Keep things professional but personal at the same time.

Consumers enjoy when their favorite brands interact with them online. It shows that your company listens to how they feel about your services. For a small local landscaping business, it also proves you’re part of the neighborhood and proud of it.

Promotional PMs – Just as your company might send emails with the latest and greatest service you’re offering, a PM over social media can do the same. As a bonus, a PM appears more personal than an email because it’s all happening in real-time and a client could potentially PM back right away. This is great, however, because it opens the doors to more landscaping bookings.

Exclusive Contests and Coupons – The more consumers who like and follow your business on social media the better. When a client follows you, it means your posts begin showing up in their timelines. When you post an exclusive contest or coupon, they see it.

One element more and more companies are taking part in on social media is exclusive contests. Clients who want to enter must follow and like the company on social media, share the contest post, and tag friends who might be interested in entering. This makes offering 50% off lawn care or free plant feed far more valuable. Each share and tag introduces you to a potential lead. Over time these leads add up.

Let Your Clients Shop Directly from Social Media

E-commerce is a booming industry, and while your landscaping company may not have a product to sell online, you can set up your social media site to allow online booking. Take advantage of your private messaging feature to connect with clients, and install an online appointment link or widget to show available dates and time slots so customers can schedule themselves, leave contact and payment info, and more

With more companies letting consumers shop online, people are getting used to quick and effective shopping and customer service. Everyone from bookstores to pizza parlors takes orders over the internet, letting consumers order from the privacy of home, during their commute, or in between clients at work. It means scheduling your services no longer requires spending a lunch break on the phone with the landscapers – and this is a huge benefit to those with finite amounts of time for personal tasks.

Combine Your Marketing Efforts

Social media alone isn’t enough to successfully promote yourself online. Companies need a well-rounded website with an informative and engaging landing page. You can connect your website and social media sites to each other for higher levels of traffic. Link social media from your landing page and link your website through your Facebook About page.

You can also include your Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram handles as part of your email signature. Whenever a client receives an email, they’ll see that your company is on social media, and may click the handle to be transported to whichever platform they prefer.

Combining all these tools will help promote your landscape company on social media and everywhere else too.

Contact us at Arborgold

Hopefully, this update has shed some light on how to promote your landscape company on social media. The internet is constantly evolving, and social media continues to grow with it. Getting on board now while the social media trends are strong is a great idea for small businesses and national brands alike.

For more information on Arborgold and our landscaping business software, contact us today. We’re always eager to hear from new landscapers looking to get ahead in their industry.