@jessicasmith

What is your goal for participating in Social Media? I wrote this as a guest post a few months ago that may help. http://startyourownsmallbiz.com/guest-post-being-on-facebook-does-not-make-you-social/ (not my blog) Maybe instead of trying to glam HVAC you should try to stay “top-of-mind”. 

For instance, I have never had to call a plumber in my life until 2 months ago when my Water heater started leaking. When I bought the house, they gave me the # of a plumber to call. I called them and the prices were outrageous; so I googled a bit. The plumber I chose wasn’t necessarily the most glamours but the web made them sound respectable. Their website, along with reviews on local.google.com and other sites helped me select them. I’m now a raving fan because they did such a great job. If I ever have to call a plumber again, I won’t have to do the research.

Start with your blog. Does it answer the questions that customers are asking you? Specifically, when a customer asks one of your repair people “What’s the deal with x?” That’s blog fodder. Your field techs need to recognize this and log it to pass on to the web department along with the proper answer. Had my local HVAC company (again, from the list the builder ave me) done that I could have saved $100 for them tool look and tell me that I needed to reset my outside breaker. (and I wouldn’t hate them so much for charging me $100 to tell me something they could have told me over the phone)

You don’t necessarily have to build fans, likes or followers, just be there and be top-of-mind when someone goes looking for HVAC in your area.

IMHO, etc.=C=

@jessicasmith A local paint store where I live bought a half page in our local paper and puts comic strips about a super hero called “paintman” and his tag line is “the man of steeles” (Steeles Road is the street the paint shop is located) its totally cheesy but it’s effective and people seem to be receptive to it. Maybe something gimmicky like that would be beneficial to you? “heating the cold shoulders of crime! ” haha

Great advice @calevans

Also, @jessicasmith Who’s your audience? We actually have an HVAC company that we are doing work with currently helping them out with their social media strategy and web marketing goals. They were able to conduct a quick survey of their current clients to see who was on social media and where they are, meaning what platforms they are using…Knowing where your audience is, is step one.

Second, I would look at some of the questions that you get asked the most by your customers and by your prospects and see in what way you can answer those questions either via a blog or on the appropriate social media platform. If you are writing about things that people are typing into google as questions, this can help you with your web traffic.

Hope that helps! I’m not so sure it’s about being glamorous so much as it is being helpful and valuable for your audience.

@jessicasmith I did some freelance work for a local (VA/MD) HVAC company. While they need to work on their social media plans, Parrish Services does a great job of building goodwill through charity work.

(I know that we’re not supposed to go off site but….) Here’s a link to an article that was written about them, which I worked on: http://www2.insidenova.com/business/2012/jan/01/gainesville-business-plans-plow-charity-ar-1580390/