Facebook

[lawnkingforever]

Originally Posted by BrunoT

Just don't be surprised if all you get is a bunch of effete gossips, narcissists, stalkers, and braggarts calling!

Yep. Canceling my Facebook account was like lifting a huge weight off of my shoulders. Trying to keep up with it was not worth the burden anymore. Having 2 young children places a premium on my spare time, facebook along with some other things have gone by the wayside. I now have set up a low key Google plus business page that is strictly geared towards my lawn business. The Google plus account lands me on the second page on many relevant searches on Google.
Posted via Mobile Device

[rbljack]

Originally Posted by lawnkingforever

Yep. Canceling my Facebook account was like lifting a huge weight off of my shoulders. Trying to keep up with it was not worth the burden anymore. Having 2 young children places a premium on my spare time, facebook along with some other things have gone by the wayside. I now have set up a low key Google plus business page that is strictly geared towards my lawn business. The Google plus account lands me on the second page on many relevant searches on Google.
Posted via Mobile Device

Is this a free service as well? Im not familar with google plus. I do know I want to get something set up so if a person does a seach for "lawn care in (my town)....) My name will pop up with phone number so they can call me.
I agree with a lot of others that say their customers will not find them on facebook...BUT i also believe that elderly people might like the option of simply hitting google search or yahoo search and type in the statement above. Why....because yellow page ads are small, and hard to read for some eyes. Additionally, as an example, the Iphone 4S with siri make it real easy for an elderly person to ask siri to find what they are looking for. "siri....seach the internet for lawn care services in (my town). From there, the phon does the rest and its easier for them to do. So the digital world is going to open up to some elderly people somewhat. Others will just stay completely away from it, so I understand where yall are coming from on that.

Just my 2 cents and where im trying to go with this. Simply want to ad some free digital advertising to get our name out there.

[weeze]

i tried it last year. i didn't get anything from it. i added like 1000 random people that lived in my area too which took a long time. so far it's just been a waste of time.

[Blade Runners]

I've gotten 1 or 2 customers using FB. Overall, it's been pretty much a waste of time though. It just doesnt strike me as the "go to place" to search for lawn care or any other business/service. When I want to find something I simply use google. It is the fastest and simplest way to find anything.

You will get much better results by creating a website and learning about SEO to get your site higher in the search engine rankings. You can also use Google Places for small business.

[STIHL GUY]

i just made one the other day for my buisness...its a good way to share work pictures and that kind of stuff...just being able to put it out for everyone to see

[SterlingLawn&Landscape]

I think its an easy way to stay in touch with clients, people get to see what you're doing and it is really easy to update pictures and info. Only gotten a few jobs from it but I haven't paid for any advertising so I can't complain. The way I look at it is its only getting more popular and more and more people use it every day can't hurt if you're not spending money on it and its giving you some free out reach.

[Cedar Lawn Care]

In my small town which is my entire market we have a facebook page where people buy sell trade etc. I have a post card that I post on there with a link to my facebook and website. Through doing that I have got about 6 customers in the last 4 days or so. Each market is different. Sometimes thinking outside the box can have great results.

[GreenUtah]

Think of Facebook like you would going to a large tradeshow. There are tons of people milling about, but if you sat in the back of your booth waiting for a conversation (or worse, didn't man it at all, thinking leaving some brochures out was going to do it), then you'll likely get next to nothing in return.

All social media only works when you engage..the social in the title...and treat it like a funnel back to where you close your sales, whether that is your web page, phone or in person. If you're not approaching that way, as an extension of your sales platform along with a plan and purpose to how you are going to use it, it wouldn't matter if you had 10 million likes anymore than it would matter that I handed you your town's phonebook.