[TEMPLATE] Social Media Posting Schedule for Plumbing & HVAC shops
Ryan Redding • August 20, 2020
Use our time-saving template to work smarter, not harder
You’re kinda brilliant.
How could I possibly know? Because you’re here, trying to figure out how to get great at social media.
That means you already know how social media can help introduce you to new customers.
And boost your credibility.
And serve as another (expected!) channel for customer care.
And, ultimately, grow your business.
But if you’re like most shops I talk to, dealing with social media is a stress-inducing, time-gobbling, soul-sucking pain in the arse, and you’d rather do just about anything else.
I get it.
So let’s talk about how to make social media a lot less painful—and a whole lot more effective.
Work Smarter, Not Harder
Most business owners I talk to loathe social media—partially because they never know what to say. They know they’re “supposed to” post, but the minute they open their Facebook app, their mind goes blank. Sooooo, they close the app and vow to try again tomorrow. Except then they avoid it for a week... or a month.
Here’s the problem: When you post randomly, infrequently, or on the fly, you’re actually wasting time you could be spending on more important things—like your bottom line. What’s more, you’re more likely to make mistakes or say something you maybe shouldn’t have. And in our current “cancel culture,” a poorly worded or error-ridden social media post could hurt your business. Bigly.
When you stop trying to come up with stuff in the moment and, instead, schedule your social media posts in advance, you’ll:
- Have more time to invest in what really matters. Interacting with your customers online and in person is key—and if you’ve scheduled engaging posts in advance, you can redirect your energy to responding to their comments, reviews, and questions (like all successful businesses do).
- Waste less time going back and forth between your work tasks and social media posting. According to the Washington Post, it can take up to 23 minutes to get back on task after an interruption. That means if you stop what you’re doing to post on social media twice a day, you’re losing nearly a whole hour every day. That’s five hours a week—and 20 hours a month! Wouldn’t you rather knock out your posts an entire week at a time—in, like, an hour—and use the rest of your time serving customers?
- Push out higher quality content. Creating your posts in advance ensures you’re saying and sharing exactly what you want to.
- Have a consistent message, everywhere your customers look. Planning your social media posts ahead of time allows you to support what’s already going on with your business. Remember, good marketing is repetitive, and social media is a great place to repeat your message over and over again.
So there’s your “why” for scheduling social posts. Now let’s dive into the “how.”
How To Schedule Your Home Services Social Media Posts
Follow these steps to reduce your stress and reclaim your time and sanity.
Step 1: Pick your platforms.
I recommend home services companies use four social platforms: Facebook, GMB, YouTube, Instagram, and Twitter—in that order. If you’re a newbie, start at the top of the list—and only add a second account when you’re consistently
using the first one. When you have a handle on those two, add the third, and so on.
Step 2: Decide how often to post.
Every social media platform is a little different, which means the answer to “How often should I post?” is “It depends on where you’re posting.” Other fair answers include: “It depends on whom you ask,” “It depends on what your goals are,” and “It depends on if you’re posting during a global pandemic or when things go back to normal.”
Rather than getting too in the weeds, let’s make your goal to develop a consistent, sustainable
rhythm.
Here’s what I recommend:
Facebook
once a day
GMB
twice a week
YouTube
once a week
(start with once/month if that feels overwhelming)
Instagram
once or twice a day
Twitter
five times a day
If you’re wondering what time to post, there’s no hard and fast rule these days. If you’ve been using social media for a while, check your insights to see if there are days/times that seem to draw more comments, likes, and views. If you’re just starting out, experiment a little—and use your insights to help you fine tune your approach. (There are some helpful insights from the American Marketing Association, if it's helpful for you.)
Just remember, if you have a social media account, active
is better than inactive. So don’t get too bogged down in the how-often-and-when details. Just post quality content—consistently.
Step 3: Decide what to post.
Use the 80/20 rule: 80% of your posts should be informational and engaging, and only 20% should be sales-oriented. Remember, the goal of social media is to grow a relationship, and that relationship will never get off the ground if you’re always asking your audience to schedule a service call.
An easy way to get started is by creating particular types of posts for each day of the week so you have some direction.
For example, on Mondays, introduce people to one of your techs. On Tuesdays, link to your blog. (Don’t have one? Here’s why you should.) On Wednesdays, share a helpful DIY home improvement tip. Need more ideas? Check out this list of 25 timeless social media ideas for home services companies. They’re designed to be used over and over again, so figuring out what to write about won’t be a chore.
You can also repost or link to valuable content elsewhere online—also known as “curated content.”—and share posts from your raving fans.
Step 4: Put together a content calendar.
Many people find it helpful to use a content calendar to plan out their social media posts at least a week at a time. Because we think you’re awesome, we’ve put together a weekly template for you.
How to use our social media content calendar for home services businesses:
- Head to this Google Sheet.
- Go to File > Make a copy and save the template to your own account. (Or recreate it using whatever software you prefer.)
- Start filling in your calendar!
The purpose of a content calendar is to help you keep track of what to post, where to post it, and when to post it.
It also gives you one place to dump ideas when they come to you (as opposed to yet another sticky note).
Step 5: Schedule your posts.
You’re going to love this part. Rather than opening up all of your social platforms every day and typing in your posts, you can schedule them ahead of time. All at once.
Most social media platforms have their own scheduling programs already built in, but if you’re managing more than one platform at a time, you might look into a tool like Buffer
or Hootsuite
that allows you to schedule posts to all platforms simultaneously. Zoho
will even recommend a time for each post based on the data it gathers about your audiences.
Whatever you choose, simply open your fancy new content calendar, and start copy/pasting into your scheduling tool. So fast!
A word of caution: Be aware of both community events and national headlines so you don’t unintentionally post something irreverent, like Live Nation Ontario did a few years ago.
Step 6: Interact with your audience.
Use the time you’ve saved to respond to comments, questions, and feedback from your customers. Scheduling your social media doesn’t mean you “set it and forget it.” Instead you’re scheduling so you can focus on what matters: building a relationship with your audience so they’ll choose you when their pipes burst or their furnace quits.
Need help?
Although it’s definitely worth the effort, creating a consistent and compelling social media presence is admittedly tough. Whether you need help getting started or want us to completely manage your online presence for you, we'll help you dominate the internet (and your competition) with a customized social media plan. Let’s talk.
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