At this point, Facebook is a daily part of life for millions of people around the globe. For an pool builder, long gone are the days when one could just set up an account and only use it sparingly. Nowadays, it’s still a good idea to set up a Facebook page for your company, post pictures/updates and encourage clients to “like” and share. But now it’s time to go further than that. The following are a list of Facebook tips to maximize your page’s effectiveness.

Setting Up Your Page

1. If you haven’t already, create a Facebook page for your company. Here is a quick video to show you how. Keep in mind that to have a business page, you must first have a personal page. You will be able to assign additional “managers” to your business page later, but the person who creates the business page will always be linked.
2. Update a profile picture (logo) and cover photo (maybe one of your best looking pool pictures
3. Fill out all of your business details in the About section, including phone number, email address, website address, and a brief introduction.

Now That You Have A Page, What Next?

1. Posting photos of the pools you design & build! Clients and prospective buyers want to see your work!
   Additionally, tag business Facebook account in the photo. Your company’s name will be permanently connected to the construction on social media.
2. Tag the homeowner of the pool. This is actually the most effective new strategy, as it connects your company and your customer in one image and all of their friends will see the post and have the opportunity to comment and share the photo.
   Tag your employees, too! It doesn’t matter if these folks are physically in the photo, just as long as you put their name on top of their work.
3. Try to include interesting info bits and copy with every photo. This will go a lot further to create conversations on your page. People are more likely to engage with a pic that has information with it than they are a blank image.
4. Post awards, acclimations and customer testimonials. You work hard for these, so it’s good to show them off!

BOOST Your Posts

Facebook allows you to “boost” any post you make. A few years ago Facebook stopped showing business posts to consumers because they didn’t want businesses to flood users timeline with ads. Adding a $5 boost to each of your posts will make sure your audience sees it, and offers a much greater opportunity for likes, shares, and comments. It would be a good strategy to try to boost 4 posts per month. That’s only $20, and well worth it.
Pro Tip – Add your website link in your boosted posts. This gives your website a little SEO juice. And every time it gets shared or liked, this puts the link on their timeline as well. Smart!

Advertise!

Facebook advertising has quickly become our second favorite way of driving new leads (PPC is #1). The most amazing aspect about is the amount of targeting you can do. Facebook has so much data on it’s users, it allows us to target demographics of men vs women, age range, home ownership, household income, number of years lived in that house, kids or no kids, etc. The amount of targeting is incredible, and because of this, we can create the perfect ad for the perfect group.

For instance, one suggestion we have is to target male homeowners between 35-54 with a household income north of $200k, that have lived in their house more than 6 years.

Pro Tip: The ad creative for this group is going to be an attractive women laying out poolside. (Attention matters)

Another group that we recommend targeting are female homeowners between 35-54 with a household income of $200k and up, have lived in their home more than 6 years, that also have kids.

Pro Tip: The ad creative for this group is going to be kids splashing and enjoying the pool. (Theater of the mind is important when trying to get people intrigued.)

We love using a lead magnet type ad, something like “Learn How You Can Finance A Swimming Pool for Less Than $400/Month”. And have them click the ad, go to an opt-in page where they have to enter their name & email address to receive the report. That way we can get them in our nurture email system, and deliver the information on financing.

Additional Outside The Box Strategies

1. Your Business Facebook page has a section where customers can leave reviews. Encourage your customers, friends, family, and employees to drop a quick 5 star review.

Also remember that these reviews will show up in a google search, so you will want to jump on this opportunity. To learn more about reviews check out our online reviews guide.

2. Run an Ad campaign! Facebook has so much data about people that you can fine tune the demographics of who you target with your ads. You can pick gender, age, interest, and a bunch of other really cool stuff. You could even just show ads to the friends of people who have already “liked” your page. For instance, you could target all of the neighbors of customers that you built a pool for. When they see that their neighbors have liked your page, they will be inclined to like your page too and use you as a builder!
3. Add the Facebook like button to your website so people can like your business page straight from your website. Also add those little Facebook share buttons so people can easily share your blog posts.

Tagging Your Customers – Yes or No?

Yes! You might worry that your clients don’t want to be tagged on Facebook. However, the amount of money and work that goes into a pool construction should facilitate the type of relationship where this type of social media activity is gladly accepted. But getting permission is always the best. Here is how to ask:

“Thank you for your business, CUSTOMER NAME. This is going to be a great project, and I am always available to talk if you need. As long as we’re talking, may I ask if you are on Facebook?”

The answer to this is probably YES. 90% of homeowners have a Facebook account. Let’s continue the conversation:

“We’re glad to hear that. The supervisor for this project will be taking photos as the work is done, to record the construction process. We’d like to post these photos on Facebook, if that’s all right. It’s actually a great way for you to keep track of what’s going on with your pool.”

Obviously, if the homeowner isn’t on Facebook or doesn’t want to participate, don’t force the issue. You need your clients to have a positive opinion of your customer relations!

As long as you get permission, though, tag away when it comes to posts on Facebook. More and more, that is the major use of Facebook for companies and individual users alike. It’s creating conversations and maximizing the information flow with the click of a button.

Every time you tag someone on Facebook, they receive a notification about it. This will guarantee that people see the photos you want them to. Obviously, this creates a larger chance that they will respond/engage/spread the word about your company. And the more “likes” and “shares” (shares are better) your company gets, the more prospective clients will pick up on the scent. A client’s Facebook share of a pool build in progress stands in as a testimonial about your company’s competence and effectiveness. These are referrals, and they are much more impactful than a more traditional, self-serving advertisement.

In Conclusion

Facebook is one of the greatest internet sales tools around, especially for pool builders because it lets you show off your work with pretty pictures, and gets your online word of mouth going because of the viral aspect.
Next up, go check out our post on the Power of Instagram!