What can a service-based business do to promote themselves on social media, if they can’t post product photos?
So much of the branded content posted on social media is about products – simple product photos, products in use, products with other products, influencers with products, and more. Marketers have to get creative when strategizing and planning social media for service-based businesses.
Educate Your Audience
Share relevant quotes with your audience. These quotes can be something an expert said at an event, a blurb from a blog article, or a motivational quote related to your field.
Sharing statistics and infographics related to your industry is another great way to inform your audience. But always remember to cite your sources.
Tips and tricks are great ways to give your customers information about your industry and services. This has the added benefit of building your credibility by showing off your expertise. You can share tips for getting the most out of your service, or how to do tasks that are related to the service you provide.
Build Trust
A good business is always collecting reviews, through its own website or an external review site. Reviews are already an important part of building trust for service-based businesses, but you can use those reviews as trust-building social media content too. If you have long-term clients, you can ask them for testimonials as well.
You can also ask long-term and recurring clients if they’re willing to be spotlighted. Spotlighting your clients gives you the opportunity to share longer testimonials and prove that your clients like you well enough to come back. If your clients are also businesses, spotlighting promotes their business to your followers.
You can spotlight your employees, too. This gives your service-based business a personal touch and lets your employees share what they do at their job and what they love about the company. Customers like a personal experience more than a cold corporate exterior.
Show Off
A service-based business can still get photos of its services in action. A branded photoshoot is a great way to get high-quality images for your website or social media that are actually photos of your company, not stock images.
You can share before and after photos too if your services change something physically. Depending on your service and your goals, you can show the before and after side by side or one after the other.
Share some behind-the-scenes photos, too. Show how much work goes into the service you provide and some of the tools you use. This can give your followers a better understanding of the services you provide and you do them.
Don’t forget that you can still promote your services. Use images from your branded photoshoot to create graphics that promote a specific service that your company provides. Alternately, you can present a photo and promote a particular service in the caption.
You can also promote other things your business is doing – events, job openings, new hires, and more all make good social media content. Mark major holidays by wishing your followers and employees well, too.
While these are all great ideas, not all of them will apply to every service-based business. Before and after photos might not be great for a marketing company, but they’re great for landscapers.
You must pick and choose what will work best for your business. Try different formats, too. Quotes and testimonials can be posted in graphic and text form, while behind-the-scenes content could be photo or video content.
When in doubt, experiment! Check out your social media analytics and see what kind of posts are performing best with your audience.
With some trial-and-error and a bit of inspiration, you can create great social media content to promote and grow your service-based business.