Social Media Publishing Strategies

Social Media Publishing Strategies

Social Media Publishing Strategies

A Social Media Marketing Guide In A COVID-19  World

As self-isolation spreads nationwide, comfort and temperature control systems are suddenly much more important to families unable to get out of the house. Although scared of this new, invisible enemy, people are also bored out of their minds, scrolling mindlessly for new information presented in interesting ways. And this is where CI Web Group stands ready to help HVAC contractors working from home

Don’t miss this great opportunity to reach out directly to new and existing customers by leveraging the power of Social Media Marketing. All you have to do is show them how you can help make their lives better in a novel way that’s fit for these trying times.

More indoor time necessarily focuses homeowners’ attention on upgrades and repairs that might have been overlooked in busier days. And less commuting means more screen time, attracting a largely captive audience for your social media posts. This is the perfect way to build up authentic connections with sensitivity, explaining how wise investments in heating, cooling, and indoor air quality systems boost property values while keeping families safer and more comfortable for many years ahead.

These are times when you want to keep your Internet content positive, helpful and above all hopeful, reflecting your confidence in your community and your business. Value-based marketing enhances your credibility in tough times, especially over the long term, underpinning solid relationships. Your posts should thus focus on practical information that is of immediate interest and use, rather than merely showcasing goods and services while ignoring what’s going on with the rest of the world.

CI Web Group has now been named one of the top Social Media Marketing Companies in Texas by DesignRush, a reputable online directory resource for B2B and B2C searchers.

HVAC Dealers Have To Seize The Moment

That’s why we prepared an entire portfolio of social media graphics and text-based content for you to use 100% free of charge (make sure to register for our awesome webinar series on “How To Thrive In The New Normal” while you’re at it!) or take advantage of some of the other free tools we created to help you dominate your competition during this time.

TOOLS, RESOURCES AND SOLUTIONS PROVIDED SO FAR…

You can take it and post it as is, or adapt it to your company and make it as unique as you are. But if you don’t want to spend the better part of your month over your laptop, figuring out how to schedule a virtually endless library of posts, you have two options. Get in touch with our team so we can lift the burden off your shoulders for a small monthly cost, or keep on reading to learn how you can do this yourself.

How Prospective HVAC Clients Behave On Social During The Crisis

The COVID-19 lockdown is certainly a good time to increase your social media and digital marketing efforts, as consumers have little to do but sit at home and scroll their feeds. Most of them are concerned about their indoor air quality and how it affects their immune system and overall health. 

They’re searching for special offers and discounts, as well as contactless solutions. What they want to see when it comes to heating and cooling services is the actions companies take to prevent transmission. More and more people are scrolling their feeds in search of comfort, relevant news, and valuable content which makes them feel better, and you have to be part of the conversation. Remote business operations are the name of the game since consumers spend most of their time at home and in front of their screens.

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The Best Social Media Publishing Tools 

We wanted to take it one step further and explain to you how you can leverage our free library with the following social media tools, if you are comfortable working with them:

  • Sprout Social: is a sophisticated social media management platform that encompasses listening, publishing, engagement and analytics in a single solution, scaled to your needs. Putting consumers at the heart of its strategic approach, it steers strategic decisions and shapes marketing strategy through spotting trends and picking out valid insights. Monthly fees range from $99 to $249.
  • HootSuite: is a powerful social tool for businesses of all shapes and sizes, that offers scheduling, managing and reporting features. By scheduling hundreds of social media posts across all your accounts, it keeps your social presence active right around the clock, while its tagging, searching and usage statistics make sure that you stay right on message. You have to make sure that you choose the best time to post based on when your audience is online, and test some variables to get results. Monthly fees range from $19 to $99 a month, with pricier custom solutions available.
  • Buffer: offers a full stack of brand building tools that are designed to grow your brand, with a dashboard for planning and publishing content. Social media performance measurements that support brand growth, presented in reports and recommendations on how to deepen engagement and increase sales. Monthly plans range from $15 to $99.
  • Zoho Social: helps businesses expand their Internet presence through scheduling posts, monitoring key aspects and preparing customized reports analyzing social media performance. If you’ve already signed up for their CRM, it helps convert leads into sales and boost revenues, while its cloud-based project management tool ensures efficient planning, tracking and team collaboration. Annual plans range from $150 to $1500.
  • E-clincher: provides sophisticated publishing, analytical and collaboration tools, together with a social inbox. A fully automated smart calendar ensures easy scheduling and fast posting, filtered by accounts, while an automatic URL shortener, with the analytics automatically tracking all shortened URLs. Autopost means there is no need for manual scheduling, recycling top-performing content and queuing posts for release at pre-set times, for added traffic. Monthly plans range from $59 to $219.
  • Social Pilot: media marketing can manage and connect up over fifty social profiles, posting on each social network through a unified social media scheduling tool, for enhanced brand awareness and higher traffic. Comprehensive analytics reports range from audience activity peaks to growth trends and engagement rates, while a single dashboard allows seamless management of social media accounts through team collaboration. Monthly plans range from $25 to $83.
  • Friends+Me: is a social media scheduling app that ensures posts are released at the perfect time for reaching the largest possible number of followers. Bulk posting can be scheduled with a single click, while content can be drawn from the web for later use. Work-from-anywhere mobile apps are great for people on the go, running on iOS and Android smartphones. Monthly plans range from $7.50 to $215.
  • Agorapulse: social media management software helps schedule content, prepare reports and engage followers, with scheduling options, an all-in-one social inbox and a built-in CRM tool offering more perceptive insights into your followers and fans, while avoiding missed opportunities for engaging across social media profiles. Multi-option publishing options ensure maximum ROI, through releasing the right content at the perfect time. Monthly fees range from $79 to $399
  • Meet Edgar: is a social media scheduling tool that helps you share and recycle posts, avoiding the need to constantly create new content, while testing to see which posts get the most clicks. Building up a content library, its features take over the most time-consuming aspects of social media management, automating content posted on your accounts.  Monthly fees range from $19-$49.
  • Everypost: is a social media platform that manages multiple networks, helping maximize  social marketing performance for your business, customizing content for each audience. Curating visual content from a wide variety of sources, posts can be customized and scheduled, for better control over pages. This all-in-one publishing solution is an easy way to share multimedia content across multiple social platforms. Monthly fees range from $9.99 to $99.99
  • Coschedule: is a family of tools that centralize marketing activities, including a blog calendar, a marketing calendar and a marketing suite that includes a marketing calendar, a content organizer, a work organizer, a social organizer and an asset organizer, ensuring projects are delivered on time. Monthly fees depend on user numbers and selected features.
  • Crowdfire: social media management helps users curate and schedule social media content and customize posts, tailored to each social network. Analytics measure, track and ensure a clear understanding of ROI, with automated end-to-end reporting processes, while the queue meter plans weekly schedules and users can add their own RSS feeds to curate content. Monthly fees range from $7.48 to $74.98, with more expensive plans offering more facilities.

Social Media Marketing During The COVID-19 Era

Staying visible on social during the COVID-19 lockdown will make a huge difference for your HVAC business. While there are always those who try to take advantage of a crisis like this, genuinely supporting your audience in a way that makes sense is the best way to maintain a good reputation and boost your image. 

High-quality air is something that makes people feel better and your message should be focused on the role HVAC plays in comfort and overall health. Bear in mind that the occasional post about that new Netflix series won’t hurt either, since after all it’s all about connection. As more and more people stay at home, having a comfortable environment is what they’re looking forward to. 

Your social media strategy should be focused on promoting products based on the needs of your audience, but it would be a grave mistake to base all your posts on shameless self-promotion. People hate that (if it’s unwarranted and direct) and can see what’s at play from miles away and regardless of how indirect you try to appear. That’s why it’s always best to mix it up in an effort to establish a real human connection. Talk to them like you would talk to your friends. You should focus on motivating people on maintaining good hygiene and not jump straight into HVAC repair, maintenance, and installation costs. 

Encourage them and emphasize on why they need good quality air during the lockdown. Social media marketing is all about communicating with your audience and it carries a certain level of sensitivity that you should take into account. Empathizing with your customers and not overpromising will make you stand out of the competition.

 When it comes to promotional posts, you could create content presenting the following benefits:

  • Virtual appointments
  • Fixing issues with video calls
  • Filters setup on autoship
  • Online sign-ups
  • Precautionary measures
 

Social Marketing Can Be Tricky

We are well aware that not everyone is familiar with social media marketing  techniques. Indeed, many people do not even have accounts on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and LinkedIn, YouTube, Instagram or Flickr, far less understand how to benefit from RSS feeds or Yelp and Blogger reviews.

Nevertheless, many HVAC contractors feel that they could be doing more to attract prospects and retain customers. Sure, you know that the internet could help you here, but you are unwilling to undermine your brand integrity, worried about losing that personal touch so greatly appreciated by your customers, and sounding like a spambot.

This is where we can help you retain your individuality on the HVAC market, while reaching out more effectively to people who need your services. This is even more crucial during the coronavirus shutdown, when there are no watercooler conversations to provide you with word-of-mouth recommendations. Looking ahead, none of us know what is going to happen – but you can be confident that families will still want to live in safe, comfortable homes, and you need to let them know that you are by their side when they need you the most.

In fact, this might also be the perfect time to review your communication strategy (and potentially your half-year targets), as customer priorities may well be shifting, reshaped by job insecurity and changing income streams. You certainly need to tailor your responses to these new situations, perhaps focusing more on customer support and retention activities, highlighted through your social media posts. However, don’t forget that windfall amounts could well be invested in home improvements (particularly long-lasting items such as HVAC equipment), so don’t neglect this possibility.

Looking Ahead to a Different World

There are two ways you can ride this new Internet marketing wave into a future that will be changed forever, once the world emerges from the coronavirus crisis.

  1.     If you’re computer savvy, you can register with one (or even more) of these tools, download our free graphics from this link and handle the whole thing yourself, leaving enough lead-time to get familiar with these computerized tools and their many features;
  2.     But if you’d rather focus your precious time, energy and attention on growing your business and servicing your clients, our experienced marketing experts will be happy to lift this burden from your shoulders.

Get In Touch With Our Team

When you want top value for your money over and over again without lifting a finger (even when those free graphics dry out), sign up for one of our Social Media Marketing Plans. A steady stream of skillfully designed posts with eye-catching graphics draws immediate responses from the public, with careful scheduling and creative new graphics month in and month out included in your subscription.

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