Window and Door August 2012 : Page 32
➤ SALES & MARKETING— The Role of Social Media in the Home Remodeling Industry mize their home’s energy efficiency, in addition to more specific offers, coupons and deals to incentivize them to utilize your services. Keep your message and tone of voice consistent in all status updates, photo uploads and Timeline interactions so your brand will be instantly rec-ognizable when popping up in your followers’ news feeds. LinkedIn: While Facebook is a great place to com-municate with customers, LinkedIn can serve as a prime location for showcasing the benefits and culture your business offers employees. Since the target audience on this site is likely current and prospective employees, take advantage of LinkedIn features such as the ability to link to other social media networks and create a custom “Careers” page with job postings, employee testimonials and company news and information. Remember that by setting your LinkedIn profile to public, you’ll have a better chance to cast a wide recruiting net. Keep in mind it will also be visible to customers through Google searches, so tailor your content accordingly. Pinterest: One of the newest social media sites, Pin-terest’s user base is growing like wildfire and it’s a great example of the visual trend in social networking. Users cull through thousands of images with the ability to save their favorites in personalized categories called “pin-boards.” Home remodeling professionals can use the site to highlight their work as inspiration for homeowners, ideally creating an aesthetically pleasing and interesting palette of images that best convey the type of services that are available through their business. The most suc-cessful Pinterest accounts are filled with visually stimu-lating photography, so avoid jumping on the Pinterest bandwagon if that’s not something you feel you have to offer prospective customers. With social media, as with many things in life, it’s not worth doing if it isn’t done right. Avoid using social media as a marketing tool if you do not have the time or resources to devote to doing it properly, and understand that even though it may be free in cost, it takes a good deal of thought and time to create and maintain an effec-tive online presence. Jeff Kaliner is a founding partner of Power Home Remodeling Group, the nation’s fourth largest home remodeling company with more than 1,200 employees and $135 million in annual sales. Power provides windows, doors and other exterior remodeling products to homeowners in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Maryland, Washington D.C., Virginia, Delaware, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Georgia. Started in 1992, Power is a past Window & Door Dealer of the Year, as well as an Inc. 5000 company. 32 | Window & Door | August 2012