<\/a>Contractors and home improvement companies need to know one thing BEFORE starting a social media campaign. To be successful, you need to work just as hard online as you do in your business during the day. And while social media marketing doesn’t have a fixed cost, there is a trade-off.<\/p>\n

Work!<\/strong><\/p>\n

For all the hype built around social media, the one take-away you need to be aware of BEFORE you start is that it takes a huge amount of effort. Listening to conversations online is a laborious task, even with the help of tools like TweekDeck<\/a> or Seesmic<\/a>. Responding and participating in the conversation has cost me plenty a nice weekend.<\/p>\n

I know that doesn’t sound very appetizing, but if you realize that your potential clients are talking about you every day across many different platforms, and then staying informed becomes pretty important. The only option is for you to work harder for their attention, and more importantly, their dollars.<\/p>\n

Let past customers build your business <\/strong><\/p>\n

This is why it\u2019s important to let your clients help you move your brand and your business forward. While referrals are a reward for doing a good job, having people online willing to speak well of you is much better than you doing it yourself. By having advocates speak highly of your performance avoids you having to do it, which sounds like marketing instead of a valuable resource. But you don’t get people willing to influence your brand without spending some all-nighters cultivating relationships, so put on that pot of coffee and start chatting it up!
\nPhoto Credit: Striatic<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Contractors and home improvement companies need to know one thing BEFORE starting a social media campaign. To be successful, you need to work just as hard online as you do in your business during the day. And while social media marketing doesn’t have a fixed cost, there is a trade-off. Work! For all the hype […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,9],"tags":[4,23],"class_list":{"0":"post-880","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-articles","7":"category-social-media-marketing-for-contractors","8":"tag-marketing-advertising","9":"tag-social-media-marketing-for-contractors-2","10":"entry"},"yoast_head":"\n