Social Media Marketing for Plumbers: an Actionable Guide

How Can Plumbers Leverage Social Media?

The key to success in social media marketing for plumbers lies in understanding your audience and creating content that resonates with them. It is important to recognize that not all audiences are the same, and plumbers should tailor their strategy for each platform accordingly.

The most successful plumbers we work with think of social media as an essential marketing tool to reach customers, engage, and build relationships with their target audience. Through strategically crafted content and campaigns, they can create a community of followers who become loyal customers.

There are two main ways plumbing businesses can leverage social media for growing their customer base: through organic social media content and paid advertising.

Organic social media content

Think of organic social media content as a bridge of trust between your followers and your business. By creating and sharing free content on social media, you position yourself as a trustworthy resource and an expert in the plumbing industry.

Organic social media content can look like blog post articles, infographics, videos, and photos that are well-researched and relevant to your target audience.

Generally, posting on social media doesn't require any budget. If you plan to invest in tools, creators, or marketing agencies, then you might be in for a little spending. 

Through organic social media content, plumbing businesses can build brand loyalty, keep a consistent online presence (essential to any social media marketing campaign) and gain valuable insights from their audience. 

Note: Later in the article, we'll share some post ideas plumbing contractors can use in their social media marketing strategy. 

Paid advertising 

Another way plumbing companies can leverage social media is through paid advertising.

Paid advertising campaigns are an effective way to reach a larger, more targeted audience than organic content can. By targeting people based on their interests and demographics, you can maximize your ROI and ensure that you are reaching the right people.

You can also use paid social media advertising campaigns to increase brand awareness, promote products or services, increase website traffic and conversions, and test which types of content resonate with your audience.

To support plumbing contractors in their advertising campaigns, ServiceTitan introduced Marketing Pro - Ads, which allows users to measure ad performance and manage wasted ad spend.

This component of Marketing Pro Full Suite lets users connect their Google Analytics and Google Ads accounts to ServiceTitan, resulting in much more accurate insight into campaign ROI levels. By leveraging Marketing Pro's full-funnel digital ads dashboards, plumbing contractors can easily spot wasted ad spend, identify winning ad campaigns, and reallocate their ad budget accordingly.

Our most successful customers have reported up to 5x ROI by reallocating their budget to higher-performing ad campaigns according to Marketing Pro – Ads metrics.

Back to our social media marketing game, whether through organic content or paid advertising, social media marketing provides local businesses with valuable tools to reach more customers and grow their revenue. 

Not sure how social media can support your plumbing company? Below, we discuss the top benefits of social media marketing, which, if employed correctly, are proven to drive results on a large scale.

What Are the Benefits of Social Media Marketing for Plumbers?

You might not think that social media can truly help your plumbing business management. After all, isn't social media reserved for trendy fashion and food brands?

Actually, no. Social media platforms offer valuable benefits for any business in any industry, plumbing included.

Demands Little-to-no Startup Costs

Social media marketing has a low barrier to entry compared to other forms of digital marketing. 

Unlike most other channels, you can start without any significant budget. This is particularly beneficial for small businesses or plumbing companies that are just starting out and don’t have the financial resources to invest in more expensive marketing campaigns. 

Creating a social media profile is free, but if you want to leverage paid advertising tools, then social media marketing requires some investment. It is, however, one of the most affordable ways to advertise and reach a more targeted audience. 

Posting content on your social media profile is also free but, again, if you want to pay a marketing company or social media specialist for marketing services, then it will become a paid service.

Builds Online Reputation

If done correctly, social media marketing can significantly boost your plumbing business’s brand image.

Social media is an excellent platform to showcase your plumbing business’s unique personality and build relationships with potential customers. By creating content that resonates with your target audience, you can establish yourself as a knowledgeable authority in the industry and begin to build trust among the people who may need your plumbing services. This trust will eventually convert into long-term brand loyalty.

Fuels Audience Engagement

Successful plumbing businesses that leverage the power of a strong online presence use social media platforms to connect and engage with their audience. 

Besides being generally affordable and helping build brand awareness, social media marketing also holds great potential in terms of customer engagement. Through social media, you can offer educational and informative content to your audience, answer their questions, provide support, and interact with them on a personal level.

It's much easier to reach a target audience through social media than traditional media like radio or newspapers, as it allows plumbing businesses to interact with their followers.

Provides Information for Building Customer Personas

On the same note, social media also presents an opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of your target audience. Through the conversations you have with customers and prospects, you can learn more about their tastes, preferences, and habits. This way, you can tailor services that meet their expectations better.

Why is it important to know your customers? If you want to maximize your social media marketing efforts, then understanding your customers is essential. You can't build strong connections that turn prospects into leads and revenue without marketing to your target audience with the right content for their specific needs. 

Gives Insights Into Competitor's Strategies

Another benefit of social media marketing is that it allows you to get insights into your competitors’ strategies. By studying their activities, you can learn what works and what doesn't for them. You can also identify potential gaps that you can fill with your own services and offerings.

You will not only gain a better understanding of how they are marketing themselves but also an insight into their customers and how they interact with them.

By now you probably understand the potential of social media marketing in generating opportunities for your plumbing business.

The first step to transforming this potential into a reality is to find the social media platform that meets the specific needs of your business.

Which Social Media Platforms are Best for Plumbers?

There are many rules when it comes to choosing a social media platform, but if we were to choose one, it would be this: start with the one that your target audience uses the most. 

For example, plumbing businesses may target homeowners and DIYers, so platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube would be great choices. On the other hand, if you wish to target commercial organizations or companies that need your services, then LinkedIn may be a better option.

Facebook

Facebook is a great place to start for plumbing businesses. It has the largest user base and can be used to target plumbing advertising campaigns to specific demographics. Additionally, it allows you to create engaging content that your followers can interact with directly. You can also use it to promote interesting blog posts or images related to your services.

Instagram

Instagram is another great platform for those in the plumbing industry, as it allows users to showcase their work and expertise in a fun and visual way. Also, plumbing contractors can use Instagram to build relationships with potential customers, as well as share before-and-after pictures of their projects.

Twitter

While Twitter has a 280-character limit for Tweet posts, it's still a good option for sharing plumbing content that engages your audience. You can use Twitter to share helpful industry tips, promote your services, and connect with homeowners who need plumbing services.

YouTube

M. J. Tiff Plumbing is a Youtube channel with over 25k subscribers. Mark Tiff, proud owner of M. J. Tiff Plumbing and Heating and nominee for Influencer of the Year at the Energy Saving Awards, uses the platform to post before-and-after videos of plumbing jobs, how-to videos on various plumbing services, and many other types of content that keeps his audience engaged. 

This example speaks for itself, showing how powerful this social media platform can be for plumbing services.

LinkedIn

This platform is suitable especially for B2B plumbing businesses that are looking to connect with companies. Plumbing contractors can also use LinkedIn to share industry-related news, tips, and business services.

Selecting the right social media platform that supports your plumbing business in the best way is an important step in your social media marketing plan.

Another essential step requires choosing the right posts that will engage your target audience and eventually generate more plumbing leads.

Social Media Posts for Plumbing Businesses

You might think that, as a plumbing business, social media doesn't offer you a wide range of posting options, but there are many types of posts you can experiment with to keep your audience engaged and attract potential customers.

Informational content

The power of creating and sharing informational content lies in its capacity to build trustful relationships with your audience.

Informational content can look like helpful industry tips and advice, DIY tutorials regarding plumbing-related problems, or educational resources such as blog posts or videos. 

This type of content not only helps you build trust with your audience but also proves that you are an authority in the industry. Additionally, informational content can be used to increase your plumbing website’s search engine optimization (SEO) ranking and generate more leads.

Case studies

Case studies are an effective way to show potential customers the services you offer, while also providing proof of success in the projects you’ve completed. You can use case studies to showcase your work and demonstrate how you solved a customer’s problem successfully.

We'll give an example from our own stack of case studies to provide a more accurate idea of how this type of content works in engaging and informing customers.

One of our most successful customers, Blanton's Air, Plumbing & Electric, has grown its revenue by 35% in just one year of using ServiceTitan. 

William Blanton, CEO at Blanton's Air, Plumbing & Electric, reveals how using ServiceTitan's cloud-based software solution for field service has improved every aspect of his business:

“Since joining ServiceTitan, we have seen all aspects of our business improve. Our marketing campaigns are more efficient and our techs are closing more leads. Since everything is online, we are able to react quicker because we see what's happening by the minute in real time. The phone integration has made call center coaching much simpler and the integrations with GreenSky, ReviewBuzz, credit card processing, etc., have greatly increased our productivity.”

Video posts

We've already highlighted the impact of creating video content in the plumbing industry. It works because people love visual content and they’re more likely to watch a video than read an article. What is more, according to Insivia, viewers retain 95% of a message promoted as video content compared to only 10% when reading it in text form.

You can use videos to create tutorials, promote specific services, show off your team’s expertise, or post entertaining content related to the plumbing industry. Video posts are an effective way to engage with your target audience and can significantly increase your website’s traffic and leads.

Giveaways

Let's face the truth: everybody loves getting something for free. Whether it’s a free plumbing maintenance check or a gift card, giveaways create buzz around your brand, help you increase followers, and ultimately generate leads.

You can use giveaways to reward existing customers or encourage new ones to take action by offering discounts, free products or services, or other prizes.

Promotions

Another type of content that you can post on your social media profile to market your business and keep your customers engaged is promotion-related content.

Post promotions to announce upcoming events, introduce new offers or services, and keep your followers updated on your pricing.

Behind-the-scenes content

One of the most efficient ways to authentically connect with your audience is to let them see what's behind the scenes. This type of content gives your followers an insight into what makes your business run, who are the people behind it, and how you do what you do.

Share photos of your team in action, show off your team’s success stories, or even post funny office snaps to build an emotional connection with your followers and make them feel like they are a part of your plumbing family.

By experimenting with these different types of social media posts, you can set your plumbing marketing strategy on the right track to social media success.

Plumbing Social Media Ideas & Tips

What differentiates plumbing social media accounts with hundreds of followers from those with tens of thousands of followers?

Various factors make a plumbing brand's social media pages successful, and here are the top tips for making that happen:

Use a content calendar

Consistency is key to a successful social media presence.

Creating a content calendar can help you stay organized, plan ahead, manage social media campaigns and content marketing strategies, and publish content regularly across all your social media accounts. 

More exactly, a social media calendar is an organized overview of your upcoming social media posts that usually contains some or all of these elements:

• Date and time of publishing

• Creative assets like photos or videos

• The social platform it will be published on

• Links and tags that must be included

Checkout this guide on how to create a content social calendar.

Use hashtags

As a plumbing business, you want to reach as many potential customers as possible by making your content discoverable. For this reason, you should use appropriate hashtags for each post that you publish.

Hashtags make it easier for new customers to find and follow your page, as well as to connect with other plumbing accounts and engage with their content.

Make sure that the hashtags you use are relevant to your niche and industry, as well as popular and widely used. Good hashtags for plumbing businesses might look like #plumbingtexas, #plumbingrepairtexas, and so on.

Test different content

In today's highly digitalized world, people are seeking more than just products and services. They want to be entertained and inspired, which is why plumbing businesses must create content that is interesting and engaging.

Experiment with different types of content such as slides, gifs, quizzes, whiteboard animations, plumbing advertising slogans, etc., and explore how each type of content performs on different platforms for your target audience. You might be surprised how different types of content can lead to different levels of engagement and results.

Leverage communities and groups

Groups and communities offer a great opportunity to get in touch with potential customers or industry professionals, build relationships, get feedback from them, and learn more about the latest trends.

Social media platforms provide opportunities to easily connect with like-minded individuals, start a conversation, and learn more about their needs. Join as many plumbing-related groups and communities as possible, contribute to the conversation, and make sure that you are seen as an expert in your industry.

Respond to comments

The rule of thumb for creating a strong social media presence is to be active and interact with your followers. Responding to comments shows that you are attentive and care about their opinions, which can help build a strong connection between you and your customers.

Always make sure to respond to all comments and messages in a timely fashion, even if it’s just a simple “Thank you for reaching out. We’ll get back to you shortly.”

Run a Q&A

Interview and Q&A videos are a great way to engage with your followers and add an interesting twist to your content. Ask questions related to plumbing tips, DIY projects, common problems, etc., and try to be as interactive as possible.

This will help you gain more insight into the needs of your audience and create content that resonates with them. It is also a great opportunity for you to introduce yourself and showcase your expertise.

Encourage reviews

In the home services industry, reviews are a powerful tool for getting more leads and building trust with potential customers.

Encourage your existing customers to give you reviews on your social media pages, and share them on your other channels as well.

Reviews help establish credibility and build trust, which is essential for growing an online presence.

We at ServiceTitan know this, so we developed the Reputation Management software to support plumbing businesses like yours in growing their review base. 

Before using ServiceTitan, Ease Plumbing received an average of five reviews per month. After implementing Marketing Pro's Reputation Management in the same month, the company reached 109 reviews. The difference, according to Ease Plumbing’s digital content specialist, Jordan Bolch, lies in providing the customers with a customized, easy way of leaving a review immediately after the job is done. 

“One of the biggest value propositions of Reputation Management is the ability to ask for reviews from your customers at the right time, right when things are fresh in their mind, and add a little more automation to it,” says ServiceTitan Strategic Project Manager Heather Donaldson.

In addition to making it easier for customers to leave reviews, ServiceTitan's Reputation Management helps plumbing businesses supercharge their online reputation by providing the following features:

• Review notifications and data, which helps manage and monitor reviews or automate requests for reviews, whether you're in the office or out in the field.

• Listings management, which ensures your company name, address, and phone number are accurately listed on more than 60 business listing sites.

• Rewards program for employees: Plumbing business owners encourage techs to ask for reviews and monitor their progress.

After growing your review base, a good strategy is to post your reviews on social media. Remember, 93% of users say they check online reviews before choosing a product or a service. Leverage your social media channel to showcase your positive reviews, so potential customers can see that you are the right fit for their plumbing needs.

By using the ideas and tips outlined above, you can position your plumbing social media account on a fast track to expanding your follower base and reaching more potential customers.

Now Over to You

Although social media marketing might be an unfamiliar topic and unexplored territory for many home services–business owners, its potential for generating more business opportunities is undeniable. 

You’re now equipped with the necessary knowledge to leverage social media marketing as a powerful tool for growing your plumbing business. 

ServiceTitan is the world’s leading all-in-one plumbing business software, helping commercial and residential plumbing businesses efficiently manage customer interactions, marketing campaigns, technician schedules, and more. Learn more about ServiceTitan today to see how it can help your plumbing business.