There’s no denying that digital marketing and content creation is important for your HVAC business. But the real benefit of social media marketing is the relationship you build with HVAC customers. That’s because it’s not always about what you sell … it’s more about what you do with, or for, your community that matters. Here are some great strategies to further HVAC customer relationships moving forward.
Social Media Posts That Won’t Help Build HVAC Customer Relationships
“Customers don’t care about what you sell,” said Chris Grubbs, KGG Consulting’s Marketing Manager. “The only time they care is when it’s an emergency.” Grubbs added that company social media posts mean nothing to your audience without a personal touch. If you’re limiting social posts to sales promotions and equipment information, you’re doing it wrong. Instead, you could try boosting these posts as ads and maybe get leads, but you’d likely only receive low-quality leads that won’t lead to conversions.
Social Media Posts That Support Your HVAC Business
Getting involved directly with your community is the best way to see business results. There are many ways to get involved. Think about what your local community is passionate about or what is needed. Invest in building relationships with groups like local organizations, charities or sports programs.
“The trick is to figure out a way to run contests or cross-promotions for their causes and events,” said Daniel Squires, President of Vincent Heating and Plumbing in an HVACToday article. “By working with local organizations, we changed everything. For example, we created engaging social media over the holidays by participating in our city’s Christmas Lights project in a local park.”
Squires’ company spent money on lights, posted their progress pictures on social media and included a sign in front of their display that read: Merry Christmas – May the Season Bring You Joy and VHP Bring You Comfort. “The park itself had thousands of visitors over the holidays,” Squires said. “Our spot was so well decorated that crowds of people used it as a family photo and video backdrop. They posted those pictures and videos on their social feeds.”
This is just one example of an HVAC business getting creative with their marketing efforts and using social media to further customer relationships. Every community is different. Understanding what is important to your local area and actively investing time into the community is the differentiation factor. When customers in your community need a new furnace, HVAC repair or IAQ upgrades–they will think of you.
Learn how Dave and Daniel Squires of Vincent’s Heating and Plumbing protect their #HVAC technicians and community. They produce MERV-13 masks and give them away. 😷
— JB Warranties (@hvacwarranty) May 29, 2020
Check it out in @HVACToday.https://t.co/AkDXr7t04g#FieldService #HVACtech @TEAM_NCI pic.twitter.com/OeUsNDDs0F
Creatively Reference HVAC Expertise Whenever Possible
Apart from fun community posts, you should find ways to reference personal HVAC expertise on your social media channels. “If your expertise is in IAQ solutions or HVAC assessments, find creative ways to mention that,” Grubbs said. “Sell the destination, not the product. You can accomplish this with creative content.”
Think about what visual content you can create to relate to your audience, and still convey expertise. This could include funny and relevant memes or community-based inside jokes.
Fortunately, HVAC businesses also have many resources for free, fresh social content available, like HVACcontent.com. Here, you can find clever HVAC-specific memes, social media posts, display ads, articles and more for your business.
What’s Your Social Media Policy?
Make sure you have one in place. If 2020 taught us anything, it’s to remain neutral on politics. You can and should have any opinion on any subject … but try your best to leave the business uninvolved. Or, if you decide the business absolutely has to take a stand on something, take the time to understand the potential consequences.
“Keep the business out of [politics] when possible,” Grubbs said. “At the end of the day, it’s not very smart for your business to alienate half of your customer base.“ On top of that, it’s important for staff to understand and agree to a company social media policy. Have something in writing that states how your business will handle and manage things like online reviews, employee personal posts and community discussion forums or groups.
So idk why people post things like this.
— trevor joe (@trevorcsusb_joe) June 28, 2019
Court ordered community service.
Especially when you work for straight arrow, hmmm not very straight.
But all joking aside, who the hell would want you over there house. Even does HVAC.
Keep that crap private and better yourself. pic.twitter.com/GfQzCeaJcI
If employee personal pages are an issue, consider asking staff to not add the business to their profile for an extra layer of caution. Taking a proactive approach like this can save your business lots of headaches.
Social Ad Campaigns to Build Better HVAC Customer Relationships
“Your ultimate goal with social ads is to stay connected with your followers,” Grubbs explained. “Create awareness, build followers and grow page audience and watch the sales fall in line over time.” Spending money on social ads is necessary to get your business in front of the community. It’s important to use your ad-spend wisely. The best practices to do this are:
- Posts that plug seasonal promotions: HVAC assessments, air quality testing, cleaning, maintenance, financing, etc.
- Promoting posts that receive organic engagement: Kindle that flame into a fire
- Landing pages: For each social ad post, make sure to have a link back to your website that covers the subject you’re promoting in detail and provide a clear call-to-action
You are in complete control of building better HVAC customer relationships through social media. It’s up to you to get creative with it. Use this article to inspire you moving forward.
Have questions or want more information on successfully marketing your HVAC business? There’s a whole section dedicated to the topic here.
