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If your lawn care and landscaping business isn’t on social media, you could be missing out on significant advertising value. It doesn’t matter if you own and run a small local shop or a big national company, social media is an essential piece for any business marketing strategy. Social platforms can lead to new customers, insights into your brand (and audience), and engagement opportunities with customers and competitors alike. Plus, it’s a highly cost-effective way of reaching your customers in a personalized way.

As with anything, the number one thing to remember is it’s about quality, not quantity. Pick one social media platform to get started on and get consistent first, then expand your presence online to other platforms. Here, let’s break it down with the three w’s – what, when and where…..

What to Post

When starting out online, people need to know who you are and what you do. The best way to showcase that is by creating and sharing that showcases your services and client results. Testimonials are the best way to build the know, like and trust factor online, plus it helps you take your word-of-mouth referrals to online sales.

Another thing to keep in mind is to post industry specific content. For lawn care and landscaping, industry specific topics could be things like: case studies, before and after photos of projects, seasonal content (what you need to be doing to your lawn and landscaping during a specific season), DIY disasters, and so on and so forth.

You want to show who you are, what areas you service and how you can help someone have the yard they deserve, so build your content around that!

When to Post

There’s so much information online about when to post on a social media platform, but the truth of the matter is, you have to follow the analytical data coming from your engaged audience.

Once you pick a platform and start posting online consistently, that platform tracks your content for engagement – likes, comments, shares, video views, etc. It then takes that data and tells you when your audience is engaging with your content. For example: your audience may engage with one piece of content at 3:38pm on Monday and another at 9:02pm on Thursday.

Everyday of the week will be different, and so you should change your posting schedule based on the 30-day data offered to you by the social media platform you are posting your content on consistently.

Pro Tip: Never post on the hour! All social media platforms offer advertising, and that ad will go out on the hour (ie. 9am, 9:15am, 9:30am, 9:45am). This means you need to post on uneven numbers/times (ie. 9:02am, 9:17am, 9:33am, 9:48am). By doing that, you are increasing your chances of having that content engaged with organically.

Where to Post

For choosing the social media platform to market on, follow the audience numbers! Globally, there are 3.6 billion people on social media everyday. Of that, there are 2.7 billion monthly active users on Facebook, 1 billion monthly active users on Instagram and 722 million users on LinkedIn. It’s safe to say that the #1 social media platform all businesses should be on (regardless if you have a love hate relationship with them) is Facebook.

Nine times out of ten, if you ask someone how they found you, they’re going to say Facebook. It’s the first place someone goes to see if you are who you are say you are online. As of 2020, consumer behavior suggests that 57% of consumers will follow a brand to learn about new products or services, while 47% will follow to stay up to date on company news.

So it’s safe to say, that digital online marketing is a MUST for your #greenindustry business!

Hot Tip: Get your business relevant on LinkedIn now instead of later. LinkedIn is under utilized by industries, which means you can build your brand in front of industry leaders and position yourself in a way that could grow and expand what you offer and who you serve. Rule of thumb: the underdog is never the underdog for long. LinkedIn has been making a shift over the last year by finally adding stories to the mix, so now is a good time to make your brand stand out above the competition.

For more advice like this, join The Green Executive® Peer Group, where 4 to 6 members from non-competing markets come together to combine knowledge, share ideas and compare financials. Additionally, coming together and forming this small intimate group facilitates communication and leads to conversations like how to market your business online. Our goal is for every single member of our peer group to leave each meeting feeling much more confident about their personal strategy for managing their business!

Need social media training or help building an industry specific marketing strategy?  Our internal social media manager, Leslie Laws offers strategy sessions and trainings for green industry leaders just like you through her business Just Sayin’ Social.