Marketing your trades business is critical to winning clients and ensuring you get a steady stream of revenue every month. Tradespeople often advertise their services in popular job listing sites like Houzz, hipages, and Gumtree, but you can also find jobs in established social media channels.
LinkedIn is one such channel, with over 250 million monthly active users around the world. It enables you to manage your online presence and network with potential business partners, such as real estate agents, architects, and builders.
Using LinkedIn to promote your trades business adds massive value, and it’s fairly straightforward to use. Here are some tips to get you started:
Create an eye-catching LinkedIn profile
A professional and well-designed LinkedIn profile can create a strong first impression to potential clients. Start with a clearly lit, high-resolution photo in which you’re smiling to appear more approachable and inviting. Then, write a short and sweet headline that includes keywords on the specific services you specialise in.
In the Summary and Experience sections of your profile, you can elaborate on your licenses, qualifications, areas of expertise, previous jobs, and notable achievements. Finally, make sure to update your profile over time as you obtain new certifications, awards, and skills.
Set up a LinkedIn page
Whether you’re a one-man operation or a team of tradies, you must create a LinkedIn page so you can advertise your company. This process is similar to creating a LinkedIn profile.
For starters, you have to write a tagline and a short company description that explains your organisation’s mission and values. Next, you need to upload your company logo, specify an office location, and add a cover photo. When everything is set up, promote your page on your website, newsletters, and other relevant social media channels.
Get endorsements and reviews
Once you’ve created a profile and page, you can highlight skills you possess that other people may be searching for. For example, sparkies may want to list electrical installation, safety knowledge, wiring repairs and maintenance, power tool proficiency, and communication skills.
You should then connect with current and past clients on LinkedIn, so they can endorse you for these skills. Endorsements go a long way to elevate and legitimise your profile above other tradies who may not be so well-connected.
If you have a good relationship with certain clients, getting them to provide positive reviews can improve your marketability. Having positive testimonials decorating your page demonstrates that your services are reliable and efficient. Plus, getting a seal of approval from previous clients means their friends and business partners are likely to opt for your services in the future.
Post regularly
To build a following on LinkedIn, you must post regularly. Aim to post at least once a month to show people that you’re active on social media. However, for the best results, it’s worth posting weekly or daily to gain more traction and engagement. If you decide to do the latter, vary your content between long-form and informal posts, videos, and images, to keep things fresh.
Regardless of how frequently you post on LinkedIn, make sure you publish content at an optimal time. Research shows that the best times to post on Australian LinkedIn are usually at noon or early evening between 5pm and 6pm. Keep in mind that this isn’t a hard and fast rule. You should experiment by posting at different times to see what works for your company and schedule your posts accordingly.
Share photos and videos
Posts with photos and videos usually see more engagement than text-only posts in social media platforms. In fact, a study by LinkedIn found that including an image to your posts generates 98% more comments than those without. This means that you should post high-quality photos whenever you can. Before and after shots are great for demonstrating the excellent work you’ve done, and can be a deciding factor for potential customers.
Additionally, creative videos and live content can set you apart from the competition. Time-lapse videos, in particular, can catch people’s attention as they’re scrolling through their LinkedIn feed. Meanwhile, live content showcasing your workers’ personalities makes you more memorable and appeals to clients looking to hire friendly tradespeople.
Optimise your posts
It’s important to adhere to LinkedIn’s algorithms to boost the visibility of your posts. This involves showing your LinkedIn connections content that’s relevant and engaging. There are various ways to accomplish this, but we advise adhering to the following best practices:
- Post timely content such as recent events, promotions, or the latest industry news.
- Embed relevant and popular hashtags naturally into your posts.
- Write concise copy or break it into bullet points to increase readability.
- Post high-resolution images and videos.
- Highlight interesting stats and quotes related to your industry.
- Address your target audience directly (e.g., “Attention: Aussie homeowners”).
- Tag relevant LinkedIn connections or business pages if appropriate.
- Promptly respond to comments to boost engagement levels.
Take advantage of LinkedIn Analytics
LinkedIn Analytics is a nifty feature that gives you insights into your marketing strategy. It allows you to monitor your posts’ engagement levels, click-through rates, and other performance metrics. These are displayed in an analytics dashboard, making it easy for you to see which posts people are interested in, so you can improve your content.
What’s more, you can even track visitor demographics to get a sense of who’s looking at your page and posts. These insights are especially useful in creating more targeted messages and LinkedIn promotions for the right audience.
Winning clients over is never an easy task, but you don’t have to face this challenge alone. Tune in to WorkBuddy’s blog for more trades-related advice on marketing and business management. WorkBuddy is also a powerful job management software that makes job quoting and scheduling a breeze, so you can land more jobs for your business. Request a free demo today to learn more.
