5+ Free Ways to Engage Potential Plumbing Customers on Facebook

In June 2017, Facebook hit a new milestone: 2 billion monthly users. And the great majority of those are active accounts; 66% of monthly active users visit the site every single day. That’s a lot of people.

Know what another name for people is? Potential customers.

Okay, sure: Those statistics represent Facebook users worldwide, not in your specific community. But according to the Pew Research Center, 69% of people use social media , and Facebook dominates the field. There’s no question that you have plenty of potential customers on Facebook.

Once upon a time, if people simply “liked” your Page, they’d see your posts. These days, that’s not true. There’s a lot more content on Facebook now, so the platform has implemented some fancy algorithms to figure out what people might want to see.

How’s that work exactly? Well, it’s a bit of a chicken-or-the-egg situation, but here’s the scoop: To get attention on Facebook, you first have to… get attention on Facebook. In other words, Facebook isn’t going to put your content in people’s timelines unless it appears to be meaningful in some way. Meaningful in Facebookland looks like click-throughs, reactions, comments, and shares. So if your Page posts are blah, Facebook won’t bother showing them to people.

Frustrating, right?

You can pay to play, of course, and Facebook Ads are often a worthy investment. However, there are some things you can do to improve your chance of being seen—for free. You just have to work a little smarter.

The trick to getting more engagement on Facebook, and therefore more visibility, is to offer helpful or entertaining content. Here are some specific ideas for Facebook content for plumbers.

Text-only posts won’t do you any good on Facebook. In fact, visual posts are 40-times more likely to get shared. Pair every post with a visual to capture people’s interest. This doesn’t mean you have to be a professional photographer, by the way. Simply use a decent camera phone in good light, and you’ll be good to go.

Not sure what kind of photos to use? Start with these ideas:

• Photos of you and your your team
  
• An example of a common plumbing problem
  
• A happy customer (with their permission)
  
• Your newly washed service truck

Facebook is the primary channel for small business owners sharing video content, and more than 75% of SMBs using video say it’s had a direct impact on their business, according to the 2016 Social Video Forecast. If you’re not sharing videos, your competition probably is. And here’s a bonus for uploading videos directly to Facebook: They’re indexed by Google. That means they offer you higher overall visibility.

Great creative with your videos. Here are some ideas to get you started:

• DIY garbage disposal installation
  
• Mistakes people make when installing a new toilet
  
• How to check/fix your water pressure
  
• Insulating your pipes for winter
  
• Meet-the-team interviews
  
• A quick conversation with an insurance adjuster about water damage

“We’re here to help with your plumbing needs!” is a nice sentiment, but it’s not likely to gain you any customers. Rather than posting generic, business-sounding content, try some of these ideas:

• Offer helpful checklists about winterizing, pre-vacation prep, and so on.
  
• Ask questions, even if they have little to do with plumbing. People do business with people, not companies. So show some personality.
  
• Offer encouraging or entertaining quotes. There’s so much bad news these days that a little sunshine goes a long way.
  
• Share blog posts with useful advice about all things plumbing.
  
• Create lists, like the Top 5 Ways to Keep the Flu Out of Your Bathroom This Season.
  
• Share interesting facts and statistics.