Using social media to attract employees and clients

By John Corban

The most significant and powerful change in small business marketing since 2010 has been the introduction of social media. Instagram and Facebook are the two most popular platforms used by businesses in the landscape/horticulture Industry, employees and clients for daily posting and viewing.

I have seen a positive approach to using these social media sites and it has produced great results for several businesses. Here are some tips to using social media to attract clients and potential employees.

Invest in professional content

A phone picture can look good, but it will never look great. If you are a professional photographer, well maybe you can use an iPhone to your advantage but most of us can’t use a phone camera to get a great result. Knowing how and when to film a garden or plants is best left in the hands of a professional photographer. After all, many of your competitors using professional photographers to develop their social media content and are building a great profile on Instagram and Facebook. I suggest you plan professional photoshoots into your marketing budget two to three times per year so you maintain many high-quality post options for your social media and website.

website.Knowing what to post

A social media post needs to be planned each month. It is not just about taking photos of plants on a sunny day, but about displaying the culture of your business, its personality, your professional work, the team that work with you and how much you enjoy the work you do. So, photos and videos of finished landscape or horticulture projects, team member profiles, and team members working and spending time together after work are some of the posts you can include in your monthly posts.

Remember, your potential clients and employees are active on these platforms (Instagram and Facebook), so when they see your posts, ask yourself “Would a potential client be impressed and feel they could engage your services?” Or would a potential employee think, “Now that’s a business I could work for?”
Displaying social media profiles of you and your team loving your work, being professional, caring about your clients and employees and having fun, will create powerful social media marketing.

When to post

It’s not about posting daily or posting anything just to put something up. It’s about posting consistently with quality content. Start by posting four times a month or once a week. Plan it, before the month begins, look through the professional images you have in your archives. If you don’t have any, plan a professional photoshoot.
Once you have appropriate content, then you can post more frequently. I have seen my clients attract the clients they have desired by improving the quality and frequency of the images they post. I have also seen my clients attract employees. Firstly they noticed their profile, then they started to follow them and after some time, when a position was advertised, they got in touch.

Get help

If you are too busy to execute the above, then how about employing an assistant who can help you post regularly and complete the tasks involved in this plan. It won’t cost much and will be worth the effort.

Don’t be concerned about how many likes you receive or how many are following you. Plan your social media posts according to a well thought out plan and attract the clients and employees you desire.