Marketing is a crucial part of building your brand and growing your business. While traditional marketing is certainly still valuable, social media is a valuable tool for all companies looking to increase sales and broaden their customer base, including commercial cleaning companies.

Studies show that 95 per cent of businesses use social media and 75 per cent have seen an increase in traffic as a result of these efforts. Often, business owners find social media daunting, but there are a few simple steps you can take to find success on your channels.

Tell your story

Social media is a great platform to introduce yourself and reach new customers. Telling your story means being transparent and authentic, sharing content like cleaning videos, introducing your employees, talking about your history, and sharing your vision. Many consumers are looking to align themselves with like-minded businesses, so if you are focused on sustainability, use local products, or can promote anything else that sets you apart, be sure to make that a focus, too. Setting yourself apart while connecting with potential customers is how you will find success on social media.

The best part of this strategy is that your content doesn’t need to be perfect – being authentic means that everything is not polished, so if you’re newer to social media, there’s room to grow.

64 per cent of consumers want companies to connect with them, and because consumers like doing business with companies they know, so help new customers get to know you with a real, relevant, interesting content that shows the heart of your business.

Become the expert

Once you’ve introduced yourself, it’s time to gain some credibility in your field and build trust in your business to reach a larger audience and attract new clients. Start this process by posting content that informs and entertains. For example, send out stain removal tips, post videos of sanitizing spaces, share before and after photos, and describe the equipment or products you use, and why. This type of content reminds your audience why they need an expert to perform the tasks you specialize in, and it builds confidence that you are an expert in your field.

Following that, lean on your existing customers to help you sell yourself. Ask happy customers to post testimonials, share positive reviews, and like and comment on your posts. Studies show that social media and online reviews are effective referral marketing. Here are a few stats to support this:

• 91 per cent of customersuse an online review before making a purchase.
  87 per cent of customers say that online reviews have a larger impact on purchasing decisions than influencer content.
• Positive online reviews can increase conversion rates by up to 370 per cent.

Referral marketing helps bring peace of mind to new customers, building confidence and trust in your business before they even become customers. By leveraging your existing customers, you can build a path for new customers to learn about you and trust your business through social media.

Create a community

When you start to grow your audience, it’s important to remember the connection you’re trying to build. It’s not enough to post content and hope business will come your way. Building a community is how you keep your audience engaged and interested in your business. In fact, 78 per cent of consumers want brands to use social to help people connect, and that connection helps build loyalty for your business. When customers feel connected to companies, 57 per cent of people will increase their spending with that brand, and 76 per cent choose them over the competition.

Interacting with your audience is the best way to keep conversation flowing and stay top of mind. Use hashtags to attract users interested in your subject matter, address every comment on our pages, follow like-minded businesses, and encourage your audience to share your posts. These steps will help you keep people engaged, thinking of you, and will help you reach more people to grow your audience and potential customer pool.

Social media can seem time-consuming and complicated, but if you focus on attracting the audience you want with authentic, interesting, informative content, you will see your numbers rise as you build your brand and reach more potential customers.