Facebook isn’t the best place to get new business for contractors.
BUT it’s a great place to start building up an email list and showcasing your work to people interested in your services.
This might be why you’ve tried putting up Facebook ads and got nothing out of it.
Or maybe you’re interested in growing your construction business online but you’re not sure where to start.
Social media for contractors is a little tricky, but once you know what you’re doing you’ll have an extremely solid way to get more leads, show off how great your work is, and have opportunities to further your relationship with clients.
That’s really it. So, if we can solve those 2 issues we can build a system on Facebook that generates leads, showcases your professionalism, and furthers your relationship with clients.
How to Make Your Ads Great
When people are scrolling through Facebook, they’re not in “business mode.”
They’re in “escape from work” mode. Just like the rest of us use social media to take a break from our work, so do the people you want to work with.
The solution is to get people to look like this:
The only way to do that is to have your ads interrupt their mindless scrolling with something that does 2 things:
1. Quickly catches their attention.
2. Being relevant.
In order to quickly capture someone’s attention, follow this checklist:
- Make your ad a video
- Film it somewhere construction-related, or at your office
- Make your first sentence be something surprising and interesting
Continue reading for our example of a video ad that catches people’s attention and doesn’t feel work-related. It doesn’t need to be super professional but it does need to get the job done.
We’re also going to walk you through Facebook and how to target specific groups of people who would be interested in your services.
How to Show Your Ads to the Right People
What To Do If You Want to Work With Homeowners
If you’re selling your services to homeowners, one way to do this is by offering a free gift to potential clients with the goal of getting their email.
Here’s an example of a video we did for contractors on Facebook that are interested in hiring us for their estimating services.
If you watch the video, you’ll see that we start the video with an engaging hook.
“How do you know if you’re missing projects and leaving money on the table?”
The point is to capture your attention and hopefully lead to you signing up for our free proposal template.
I recommend doing something similar with your construction company. The goal is to get people on your email list so you can follow up with them to see what projects they’re working on.
Then, you can send an email to everyone that signs up on your email list once or twice a month just to remind them you exist.
This is a great way to stay in contact with leads.
What To Do If You Want to Work With Other Contractors
Since construction is an as-needed industry, it wouldn’t make sense to advertise your services to other contractors on Facebook like this.
Since most contractors only want to work with people they know, showing them an ad straight-up asking them to work with you is most likely not going to work as well as hoped.
After doing a ton of research on how to win construction projects, we’ve concluded that the way most contractors should use Facebook is as a showcase, and then as a follow-up tool.
Most work will come from construction lead generation networks like TheBluebook or word-of-mouth. But while you’re focusing on those ways to get work, you can fall back on your Facebook (and other social media) as a means to show off all the work you’re doing.
This is a very simple strategy many contractors are doing, but there’s another step that most miss out on.
If a construction business is checking out your social media, it means there’s a good chance they might be interested in your services. So, it’s worth your time to follow up with them.
You can do this by setting up Facebook ads to be shown to people who’ve seen your website or your profiles on popular lead generation services like Houzz or Home Advisor.
If You Want to Set It Up Yourself
Here are some helpful resources if you want to learn more about setting up Facebook Ads.
- Facebook Ads Guide – Facebook
- How to Advertise on Facebook in 2020: The Definitive Facebook Ads Guide – Hootsuite
- Facebook Ads Guide for Beginners: How to Rock Your First Campaign – Disruptive Advertising
If You Just Want Someone To Do It For You
To Sum It Up
The idea of using Facebook ads to grow your construction business is very simple.
If you’re reaching out to homeowners, it’s all about sending ads with the goal of getting their email. This’ll allow you to follow up with them whenever you want through email to see if they or someone they know is interested in your services.
On the other hand, if you’re reaching out to other contractors and you want to win more bids, then use Facebook ads to get in front of people that visit your website. Let most of your projects come from paid lead generation services, with Facebook only being used as a tool to continue to get in front of people.
Facebook isn’t the best place to get new business for contractors.
BUT it’s a great place to start building up an email list and showcasing your work to people interested in your services.
This might be why you’ve tried putting up Facebook ads and got nothing out of it.
Or maybe you’re interested in growing your construction business online but you’re not sure where to start.
Social media for contractors is a little tricky, but once you know what you’re doing you’ll have an extremely solid way to get more leads, show off how great your work is, and have opportunities to further your relationship with clients.
That’s really it. So, if we can solve those 2 issues we can build a system on Facebook that generates leads, showcases your professionalism, and furthers your relationship with clients.
How to Make Your Ads Great
When people are scrolling through Facebook, they’re not in “business mode.”
They’re in “escape from work” mode. Just like the rest of us use social media to take a break from our work, so do the people you want to work with.
The solution is to get people to look like this:
The only way to do that is to have your ads interrupt their mindless scrolling with something that does 2 things:
1. Quickly catches their attention.
2. Being relevant.
In order to quickly capture someone’s attention, follow this checklist:
- Make your ad a video
- Film it somewhere construction-related, or at your office
- Make your first sentence be something surprising and interesting
Continue reading for our example of a video ad that catches people’s attention and doesn’t feel work-related. It doesn’t need to be super professional but it does need to get the job done.
We’re also going to walk you through Facebook and how to target specific groups of people who would be interested in your services.
How to Show Your Ads to the Right People
What To Do If You Want to Work With Homeowners
If you’re selling your services to homeowners, one way to do this is by offering a free gift to potential clients with the goal of getting their email.
Here’s an example of a video we did for contractors on Facebook that are interested in hiring us for their estimating services.
If you watch the video, you’ll see that we start the video with an engaging hook.
“How do you know if you’re missing projects and leaving money on the table?”
The point is to capture your attention and hopefully lead to you signing up for our free proposal template.
I recommend doing something similar with your construction company. The goal is to get people on your email list so you can follow up with them to see what projects they’re working on.
Then, you can send an email to everyone that signs up on your email list once or twice a month just to remind them you exist.
This is a great way to stay in contact with leads.
What To Do If You Want to Work With Other Contractors
Since construction is an as-needed industry, it wouldn’t make sense to advertise your services to other contractors on Facebook like this.
Since most contractors only want to work with people they know, showing them an ad straight-up asking them to work with you is most likely not going to work as well as hoped.
After doing a ton of research on how to win construction projects, we’ve concluded that the way most contractors should use Facebook is as a showcase, and then as a follow-up tool.
Most work will come from construction lead generation networks like TheBluebook or word-of-mouth. But while you’re focusing on those ways to get work, you can fall back on your Facebook (and other social media) as a means to show off all the work you’re doing.
This is a very simple strategy many contractors are doing, but there’s another step that most miss out on.
If a construction business is checking out your social media, it means there’s a good chance they might be interested in your services. So, it’s worth your time to follow up with them.
You can do this by setting up Facebook ads to be shown to people who’ve seen your website or your profiles on popular lead generation services like Houzz or Home Advisor.
If You Want to Set It Up Yourself
Here are some helpful resources if you want to learn more about setting up Facebook Ads.
- Facebook Ads Guide – Facebook
- How to Advertise on Facebook in 2020: The Definitive Facebook Ads Guide – Hootsuite
- Facebook Ads Guide for Beginners: How to Rock Your First Campaign – Disruptive Advertising
If You Just Want Someone To Do It For You
To Sum It Up
The idea of using Facebook ads to grow your construction business is very simple.
If you’re reaching out to homeowners, it’s all about sending ads with the goal of getting their email. This’ll allow you to follow up with them whenever you want through email to see if they or someone they know is interested in your services.
On the other hand, if you’re reaching out to other contractors and you want to win more bids, then use Facebook ads to get in front of people that visit your website. Let most of your projects come from paid lead generation services, with Facebook only being used as a tool to continue to get in front of people.
