Best Practices on Facebook for Residential Cleaning Companies

We are living in a world of social media and Facebook is King. It has almost become a necessity rather than an option to have a business Facebook account. You don't need a large budget to get the most out of Facebook but you do need to do it well.

The more captivating content you have, the more engaging your fans and customers will be and the more people will comment and “like” your content. This is how you will create your business buzz. Engagement and interaction with fans and customers on your site is important. Becoming knowledgeable in the best practices on Facebook will allow you to build your company's brand recognition, generate customer leads, and progress your business to the next level.

Wondering if it's really worth your time? Here are some statistics for Facebook users (up to date as of the time of writing this article):

    •    75% log in daily

    •    15% log in weekly

    •    6% log in monthly

    •    Keep in mind that when people initially "Like" your fan page, that may be the only time they visit. 96% do not return to your page. However, they are 40 to 150 times more likely to see your post in their news feed than on your page. For that reason, don't spend too much time on fancy design and technical applications for your business page if you don't have the time or technical skills.
Also keep in mind that only about 16% of your fans will see your posts in their news feed. You may be asking yourself “if that's the case, is it still worth being on Facebook?”  Yes! This is especially true for B2C (business to consumer) companies.

Ask questions in your Facebook posts to encourage engagement. Some popular examples would be asking for opinions, like “What do you enjoy doing to relieve stress?” You can also use fill in the blank questions, like “Right now I would rather be______.” Don't be afraid of being human. Use funny quotes, humor, or witty pics that relate to you and your company. It shows people who you are. Just remember to keep it positive.

    •    Post photos (better than text-only or video). Photos that are high definition, contain graphic details and are colorful will initiate engagement far more than plain text-only or video. Keep in mind, however, that a simple text that is in the form of a quote is the exception. Quotes can escalate engagement.

    •    Shorter text (100-250 characters get about 60% more likes, comments, and shares). Have a good opening line for your post and keep the post length to 250 characters or less. This will help generate more engagement and interaction.

    •    Use emoticons. They are great visual expressions and attract attention.

    •    Ask questions (this will encourage participation and open dialog).

    •    Thursday and Fridays usually see the highest engagement. But be sure to experiment with days and time of day to see which posts acquire the most interaction and  ‘likes' to determine what time of day is best to post your content.

    •    Post every day. Nothing is worse for your business page than stagnant content. You need to engage people on a frequently basis to get people responding regularly.

    •    Don't oversell or promote only your site – 80/20 rule. Try to post 10 informational posts to every 2 marketing posts. Entertaining posts will not be regarded as oversharing or too promoting.

    •    Have a Call to action. Ask them to LIKE your post or comment on the post. For example, “LIKE this post if you did at least 10 minutes of exercise this morning.” The more people LIKE your posts, the higher you show up in their news feed.

    •    Be willing to interact with readers through FB (respond as quickly as possible from all written posts and feedback from followers).

    •    Make it fun (it's not LinkedIn)

Your business page should be a welcoming, interesting and fun place where visitors and fans can enjoy your posts and engage in interesting conversations. So your header graphics will need to be unique as well as relevant to your business and appealing to the residential cleaning segment. When visitors land on your page, it needs to be obvious to them immediately that they have landed on the right page or they will be gone.

A great example of a header graphic is one used by a company called Buckets and Bows (see below).

Your company can use photos of happy employees working at a community event or show happy employees cleaning homes. The buttons below the header graphic are customizable. You can include photos, local events you're participating in or hosting, a link to your YouTube page, a map to your location and many other things, all of which can be arranged how you'd like. Four will be visible, and people will have to click on the arrow to see the rest so be sure to have your most important apps on top.

Buckets and Bows, for example, has one app that says Monthly Drawing, which takes you to their newsletter sign up so you can collect email addresses for your email list (just be sure that if you name it "monthly drawing" and that you're actually doing a monthly drawing for a free cleaning if that's what you're giving away).
Here are some more header ideas to consider:

    •    Your header should complement your company's colors and design. Include your company tagline or significant message

    •    Use an image that reflects your company's purpose so it will make an impression

    •    Include your logo in your header somewhere, as this will help visitors to become familiar with your brand

You could also do an automatic drawing for the "Fan of the Week". Just be sure that you follow Facebook's specific rules for hosting drawings or contests. Also do some research on how to use Facebook API's. Facebook's application programming interface, or "API" for short, allows web developers to integrate Facebook's social tools into their websites.??Build word of mouth: Use Facebook APIs and widgets.

    •    Networked Blogs

    •    RSS Graffitti

    •    Fan of the Week (automatically picks a fan based on activity)

    •    Integrate FB shares (not “recommends” or “likes”) on your Web pages in order grow reach among your fans' friends. When a person comments on your post, their friends will see their comment, giving your page even more exposure.

CAUTION: Setting up these API's will likely induce headaches. None of them take 5 minutes, though they appear easy enough. If you do not have the technical skills, hire it out. Your kids may even know how to do it!

Your Facebook business page is a way for you to establish your company, brand, product and service on the social network and can create endless possibilities for your company and its growth potential. Plus, you don't have to be a tech guru to have one. I personally tend to favor a Facebook Page to promote your “brand identity” and longer-termed relationships. Another advantage of a page is that it is Search Engine Optimization (SEO) friendly, as pages are indexed by Google. For those unfamiliar with this term, SEO basically helps people find your site on the internet more readily. That, however, is a whole other topic for another discussion!

As with any decision you make, research your options and make decisions based upon your own set of goals and circumstances. The intent of this article is to let you know that Facebook is another tool in your marketing arsenal, and if used properly, can be extremely effective.

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Jean Hanson helps owners of residential cleaning companies build a more profitable and successful cleaning business through her online community at MyHouseCleaningBiz.com. Jean is also the host of the popular Web TV show CleaningBiz.tv and author of the popular newsletter House Cleaning Profit Tips - sign up today!