Social Media Approaches for a Pest Control Company
-
Hi Everyone, I am working with a pest control company that is looking to branch out into social media. Their primary goal is to connect with their existing customers to improve retention. The secondary goal is to potentially pick up new clients.
With that said, I wanted to see if you all had some ideas on things that they could tweet/facebook about on a regular basis? Posting about bugs on a daily basis gets pretty boring.
I know Rand has been talking a lot lately about not being so narrow, so maybe we should talk more about general home improvement? Any thoughts or ideas?
Thanks!
EDIT:
I should clarify that this is a company that has maintenance plans. You don't call them only when you have a problem. You sign up with them, and they treat your property every 3 months, or whenever you call. Only about 2% of their customer base is one-off phone calls to fix 1 problem and never come back again.
I don't think their existing customer base will have any issues with Liking them on Facebook or following them on Twitter. The initial plan is to incentivize them to do so, but once we get the like/follow, we want to continually be in front of them with interesting content, contests as Jay suggested, etc.
-
First off, social media for pest control companies isn't nearly as sexy as social media for a taco stand. So any ideas of glitter and glamor are going to be as helpful as a rainbow colored unicorn. Just wanted to get that off my chest before diving in here.
How I see social media as a pest control guy:
1- Maintaining conversations about interesting pest control subjects.
2- Building relationships with current customers.
3- Building relationships with current employees.
On Facebook after establishing a fan base you can use paid advertising to friends of fans, using fans as endorsements. But don't expect huge returns here. It's more building awareness and trust. You will most likely not see Facebook as a last touch for sales. And it's hard to track the first touch.
Funny videos can build links, but I wouldn't consider them great for building trust. I prefer the class nerd image over the class clown image. Nerds are allowed to make jokes, but your know for being smart, not for being funny.
Lastly, check out http://www.familyownedpestcontrol.org we have just launched this lead sharing network, no cost to you.
And if you want to guest post on blogpestcontrol.com I could probably get you in.
-
Thanks Matt! That makes sense.
-
This is great; I especially like the idea of giving 1 free treatment to a friend - that is clever
-
EGOL,
I think humorous video would be a good idea for spreading the brand and I would expect it to work on a subconscious level (as with most marketing the psychology behind it is important) - if people need a pest control company and a decent viral video campaign has made an impression on them then they should remember the brand. When remembering the brand rather than the term this should hopefully influence their search i.e for the specific company rather than the generic term - do you agree with my thought on this?
-
Matt,
What do you think about humorous video? That would be great for getting links and attention... but would that attract customers?
-
Hi Brian,
I think EGOL is pretty much spot on with the fact that your average person won't want to stay connected with their pest control guy other than using them to discretely fix a problem. However I have seen examples of other pest control companies using games and creating characters to help educate customers and keep them interacting with their brand - but this is still a sensitive area.
-
Brian, I would recommend creating a strategy that focuses on engagement with current customers. Prospective customers who then land on their social profile, such as Facebook, would then see ongoing conversation with current customers that will build instant credibility.
For example, you could suggest a Bug of the week contest - post a picture of a crazy bug and ask customers to name the bug. The customer with the right guess gets to give 1 friend a free month of pest service. That way the friend will become the referral source and address both your goals in 1 contest. To get current customers aware of the promotion create a 1 page flyer that posts 1 of the contest bug pictures and include a picture of the winner and quickly explain the contest. Asking the field team to make current customers aware of the Facebook contest will increase current customers to become fans of the page and help increase awareness to their friends as well.
images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRraHyyPTSP-9qMiWD36LMGdg67_GtO-_xQjT7KmuLhnl3tws_1
-
"I am working with a pest control company that is looking to branch out into social media. Their primary goal is to connect with their existing customers to improve retention."
I don't think that the average person is looking to link up with and stay connected to their bug guy about bed bugs, rat droppings and flea problems. They want a bug guy who will fix that problem silently and get out of their space ASAP. If bug guy can do that then they will call him if they ever have another problem.
My message to people would be that we fix your problem quickly and with minimal visibility.
Posting about bugs on a daily basis gets pretty boring.
ABSOLUTELY!
I would go with informative content that people can share when conversations arise.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Language Specific Social Account
We have a managed server company http://www.centerserv.com in 3 languages. The 3 languages are international and not country specific. Should we open 3 different social media account/page for each languages (facebook, twitter, pinterest, linkedin, google+,tumblr)?
Social Media | | groupemedia0 -
Social shares: A ranking factor or not?
Open Site Explorer lists them and every so-called SEO expert says social signals/shares are a ranking factor. Everyone but Matt Cutts, it would seem. So if they're not a ranking factor, why show them in Open Site Explorer?
Social Media | | Jeepster0 -
What is a good amount of social shares per week / day?
As the title says. What is your idea of a good amount of social shares to be given per day or week or month for a website?
Social Media | | Zoolander1 -
How to change Facebook username and pagename for a large company?
Greetings, I've been tasked with investigating how to change our Facebook pagename and username. Problem is we have a huge number of followers - over 1,000,000. From my research it appears you have to submit a change request to FB and hope they accept it as you can only make these changes once. In addition, the change appears to be more challenging if you have more than 200 likes. And there is no guarantee that FB will accommodate your change request. I have been unable to contact a human being at FB. SEOMoz Staff 😉 - May I ask how you effectively changed your page name and username? What was your process? Kind regards, Eric Darby
Social Media | | Eric_Lifescript0 -
G+ places/local - Company Categories and Pages question
I have two questions about google places/local and Personal/Company Pages Regarding Local and the categories section. Should you be using strictly the predefined categories they have? or should you be creating your own? Also say you're a car repair shop for instance. If you should be creating your own such as 'truck repair' should the city be in there as well 'Truck Repair New York/New York Truck Repair(keyword or location first?)' When it comes to company and personal g+ places, i understand doing the rel author and its bennefits but what is the correct way about tagging this? For instance in Wordpress, Studiopress has a section in the profile for the user g+ profile that will rel author it, and Yaost SEO says 'if you have a business page, insert it here and link your personal page as a contributor to the business page' Should we be filling in both sections? or does this cause a conflict? Adding these items is very easy to do, but would rather do it right the first time then circle back and have to correct everything. Any feedback/input is appreciated. Thanks,
Social Media | | choiceenergy0 -
Social Media & SEO
I just wanted to see what your opinions were on this. Does being active on social media help with your SEO efforts. I'm not talking about having a link to your website on your Facebook page, but in general commenting on news stories and having conversations. Would Google prefer you over a competitor if you were more active on social media?
Social Media | | AAttias0 -
Best social bookmarking sites
What are the best 5 ( or 10 ) social bookmarking sites to promote a new site ? If we were to launch a new site, what bookmarking sites would be beneficial to spread the word about it. Thanks
Social Media | | seoug_20050 -
Being Blocked by Social Bookmarking sites based on IP
Creating a few (multiple) social bookmarking accounts at multiple sites and getting blocked based on IP (guessing). Disclaimer: a few, not volume here. What is the best way around this? Preferably something simple. Not savvy on VPN. Someone also mentioned Proxies, not sure the best approach on that one. Thanks!
Social Media | | bozzie3110