Stop Selling! Social Media is for Creating Relationships Through Communities

Social media marketing must be approached very different than traditional marketing. You should not login with the intent to sell your roofing products or hail storm repair services - instead, you should login to create relationships through communities. If people feel you are part of their community they will support you and recommend you to their peers, colleagues and friends. Word-of-mouth marketing at its very best!

Here are 6 simple tips to get you started on creating relationships using social media:

Dedicate Resources
Building relationships in social media requires resources (both time and people). You need to dedicate the time of a person (or team of people) who are responsible for communicating with your network. This person (or persons) should read status updates/Tweets, read blogs, manage friend lists, write comments, join groups, upload photos, participate in forums, write blog posts, field questions, etc. - in other words, be active.

Be Real
Building relationships in social media requires trust. Be yourself, and let your employees be who they are as representatives of your company. Building fake profiles, writing fake reviews and blogs, lying about who you really are, etc. are pointless activities and a waste of time. Don’t underestimate the intelligence of your connections - they can smell a fake a mile away and will crucify you when you are found out.

Communicate Early & Often
It doesn't matter if you send email newsletters, write blog postings, update your status, send a Tweet, or post to a group discussion, be sure you are communicating. By communicating early you can get a jump start on topics that are hot in the industry and respond to them a lot earlier than your competitors. Communicating often helps to build relationships with your audience that they can trust you will be there and will inform them of the valuable information they need or are looking.

Get Involved
Don’t just post links to your blog posts, website pages or press releases. People will start to ignore you because it’s not a two-way conversation. Get involved with your community - if people are looking for assistance, point them in the right direction. If someone posts something funny, interesting or personal, Like it, comment on it, re-Tweet it, etc. That will gain you much more respect rather than slapping a link to your website that isn’t related to what they asked.

Reward Your Audience
As much as you are involved in building relationships in social media, so is everyone you are connected to. Your audience is also spending time and effort to post updates, leave comments, write blog posts, do research to answer questions, establish new connections, and so on. Reward them for their time and effort by personally thanking them for doing so.

Remember to Listen
Building a relationship requires that you listen more and talk less. As much as you want to spend time promoting your products and services, that is the last thing you should do on social media. This forum offers a unique opportunity for you to get real reactions, learn about real issues or problems as well as successes straight from your customers’ perspectives without the stigma of a focus group where people think they need to give you the answers you want to hear. It is amazing what you can learn just by listening to what your customers are saying. Take the time to read their posts, the comments they leave on your blog, their Tweets, what they say in reviews, etc.

If you have any questions about this blog post or would like to discuss strategies for improving your social media marketing, please contact Chris@RoofPal.com.

Roofing Customers are Extensions of your Marketing Department

People trust the opinions of their friends much more than corporate marketing messages, hence the growth of social media networks such as Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Google+, Foursquare, and so on.

In fact, a recent AdAge study found that 90% of American consumers trust recommendations from people they know and that 70% trust recommendations of general consumer opinions posted online.

I began thinking this morning about how personal recommendations relate to the roofing industry... and I came up with an idea!

Because of what I do, I happen to see a lot of the content that roofing contractors post on social media. Most of it is sell-sell-sell posts and links with the occasional pictures of jobs in progress or recently completed. BORING! On my personal social media accounts I don't follow any contractors because there is almost no content shared that is value-added for me, let alone anything I would care to share with the rest of my network. But I know that there could be.

On Facebook for example, I almost never see contractors tagged in their customers' posts, photos, or videos. Why is this? My guess is it is a combination of a) we don't ask them to, and b) they don't have anything interesting to post about us. Essentially roofers do their job, leave, and send the customer an invoice. What's the fun in that for the homeowner, property/facility manager or building owner? Nothing. So here's an idea: give your customers content they could share and ask them to do so.

All roofing contractors (and especially residential roofing contractors) can get their customers to become extensions of their marketing department by doing a few simple things that could go a long way. Here is a simple 4-step recipe for engaging your customers on social media and getting some free advertising through personal recommendations (the best kind of marketing):

1. Take at least 5-10 pictures of every job you do. There should be before, during and after shots - as well as a few from interesting angles (from vantage points the customer wouldn't see from the ground).
2. Take 3+ videos (30-60 seconds in length) of every job you do. Videos should give the viewer a "peek behind the curtain" of what was found (i.e., why you are doing roofing work), an idea of exactly what you did, and how it turned out.
3. Email only the best pictures and the videos to the customer(s) of each job with a simple note thanking them for their business, asking them for feedback, and letting them know you thought they might enjoy seeing exactly what was done and how it all turned out. Give a brief description of each picture and video and then encourage them to share those photos and videos on Facebook, Twitter, etc. using the descriptions you have provided (and to tag you in them). If you aren't connected online with them already, provide them with links to the pages of the networks you participate on and ask them to send you an invitation to connect (so they can tag you, and so that you have a newly established ongoing connection).
4. Once you are notified that you have been tagged in content they shared, acknowledge their efforts by "Liking", leaving a positive comment, re-Tweeting, etc.

Not all of your customers will do this, but even if just 10% did wouldn't that be a huge improvement in obtaining personal recommendations that you never had before? For the minimal investment of time required to do this, I think it is definitely worth trying. My challenge for you is to do this consistently for the next 60 days. Then please come back and leave a comment on this blog post and let everyone know how it worked for you. Worst case, you will show your customers that you care enough to follow-up and share with them details of what was done, which is much more personal and thoughtful than just sending them a bill.

If you have any questions about this blog post or would like assistance in implementing a strategy to get your customers to become an extension of your marketing department, please email Chris@RoofPal.com. I would be more than happy to discuss this with you. Best of luck!

8 Ways to Improve Collaboration in the Roofing Industry

You and your employees/co-workers all work for the same company and share common business goals (revenue, profits, jobs per month, etc.), but your drastically different individual roles (and in some cases different offices or locations) can easily prevent you from coming together and collaborating. The perspectives of colleagues in different functions like service/repair, new construction, project management, marketing, accounting, estimating, etc. may prove to be valuable though.

Collaboration is an essential business activity that is often overlooked in the roofing industry. The bottom line is that the employees of your company can not operate effectively in individual silos - they need to work seamlessly across the various functions. Leadership should ensure employees are working across functions to accomplish the company's goals and put less emphasis on organizational structure and hierarchy.

One thing to keep in mind is that when it comes to collaboration, more is not better. There is a right way to collaborate and a wrong way to collaborate. My challenge to you is to figure out and implement the right way to do this for your particular company.

To get you started, here are some tips on getting collaboration right:

1. Collaboration is not about gaining consensus. Encourage debate among everyone involved, but make sure you have defined decision-making responsibilities.
2. Not all collaboration is good. Ensure the benefits outweigh any potential costs (like time and resources).
3. Don't reinvent the wheel! Leverage your network (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, or even ask RoofPal to survey annonymously on your behalf) to see if similar work has already been done elsewhere.
4. Recognize where you'll get the greatest value from collaboration. Three key areas to focus on include innovation, customers and efficiency.
5. Build your network out further. Come up with ideas for 'building bridges' into different geographies, industry functions or related businesses.
6. Share goals across other functions of your company to identify where you can combine efforts to create mutual value.
7. Create a shared goal that is simple, concrete and stirs passion.
8. Recognize and reward. Everything from a simple 'thank you' to a happy hour or lunch with the boss to your annual employee review/bonus process are ways you can reinforce the value of collaboration.

If you have any questions about or would like assistance with improving collaboration in your roofing company, please email Chris@RoofPal.com.

What You Might be Doing Wrong with Social Media Marketing

If you've been paying attention to the recent changes in Google Analytics, you may have noticed the new multichannel funnels. This is an incredible tool that provides great insight, and has fortunately unearthed some new discoveries about social media marketing and what you may have been doing so far that isn't working as well as it could.

Here are two metrics that you should understand:

Last interaction conversions are the interactions you have where you ask people to buy from you - the final touchpoints before your goal is achieved. In order to drive results in this metric you need to have a large audience of people who are qualified to buy (your social media connections). It seems obvious, but asking the same 100 people over and over again if they need a new roof will generate rapidly diminishing returns and alienate those people quickly.

Assisted conversions are the interactions that eventually lead to and contribute to crossing the finish line. In order to drive results in this metric you need to get people to your website, specifically to the call-to-action page where they can initiate a bid request, a service dispatch for leak repair, etc. If all you are doing on is being friendly and conversational on Facebook, replying to everyone on Twitter as fast as you can and not moving prospective clients to the start of your conversion process, you are not going to show any results here.

So how exactly do you make social media marketing work better?

First, constantly build and grow a targeted network of prospective clients, or you won’t have anyone to ask to buy. The larger you grow your social network, the more people will be eligible and interested on any given day to do business with you. Set a goal. Can you add 5 or more new relevant connections on each platform every day? This is what it takes to produce more last interaction conversions.

Second, increase your "gentle encouragenent" of your connections to actually go to your website. Offer them valuable content that is only there (i.e., content that is not on the social networks). Have a call-to-action. Create an incentive for visiting your website (something that they care to see, read or do). This will produce more assisted conversions.

If you commit to doing these simple steps for 30 days, you should see a dramatic improvement in your social media marketing efforts. Then feel free to come back in 30 days and comment on this blog post with your experience and describe the results you've seen.

Finally, here is a quote from Gerry Praysman of Brainshark that I felt was relevant for this blog post. Please consider this as you continue to grow and interact with your social media network:

"If all you are doing is auto-posting your blogs and links for the SEO 'value', then no one will develop a connection with you. The most successful Facebook presences I’ve seen care about what the community wants and doesn’t want, provide constant value, and ALWAYS vary their content."

Do you have any questions about this blog post?

Please email Chris@RoofPal.com to discuss. If you would like help improving and/or executing your social media strategy, please visit http://roofpal.com/coach.aspx to see how RoofPal can assist you.

Reduce Spam Reports of your Marketing Emails

What is the worst button in the world - the one button you don’t ever want your customers to press? The "Report Spam" button when they receive an email from you.

The moment anyone presses this button, it automatically begins to drastically affect your ability to deliver communications to all of your customers. Subscribers who press this button endanger your entire email marketing campaign and the whole list ongoing.

How do you prevent this behavior?
Make unsubscribing easy and obvious! This is deeply counterintuitive to most of us. It is even offensive to some; having worked so hard to build up their lists over time. They ask why they should make it easy for people to diminish the results of their efforts.

Here is the bottom line: someone who doesn’t want to receive emails from you for any reason will take the easiest way out of getting email from you going forward. If your unsubscribe option isn’t obvious, they’ll just flag you as spam and put your entire list in jeopardy. Make it easy and obvious to opt-out, and people will press the “report spam” button a lot less frequently.

Besides, offering a way to unsubscribe from an email list is the law. Making it easy to do this means that yes, you will lose a little bit of your list but you are guaranteed to retain the people who want to receive email from you and preserve the quality of your reputation.

If you continue to provide value in your email communications, you’ll be able to make unsubscribing easy without significantly reducing the size of your list, and you’ll keep your subscribers away from touching "the worst button in the world".

If you have any questions about this topic or would like to discuss it further, feel free to email me at Chris@RoofPal.com.

5 Tips for Roofing Contractors to Win in Social Search

Search engine optimization (SEO) has been rapidly evolving over the past few years: in October 2009 Google first introduced its social search strategy, have since introduced the +1 button and now they have launched Google+ (their version of a social network).

With more than a 60% market share in the overall web search landscape, Google remains king. So, how does a roofing contractor, consultant, manufacturer or distributor like yourself achieve positive results in the search game at a time when SEO rules of engagement are evolving so rapidly?

Content
Despite the rapid pace of change, one thing that has remained constant and is actually now more true than ever before is that content is still king when it comes to SEO. Google’s Panda update is testimony to this - they want the user to have a good experience in a search, and the best path to a good experience is delivery of relevant content. You should remain committed to producing high quality content.

Content Diversity
The good news? We have many social media platforms at our finger tips to produce content. The bad news? Google and Microsoft are watching for content diversity, which puts more pressure on you to produce a diverse mix of content. This is no small undertaking. A traditionally SEO-optimized website is no longer enough to rank well for competitive keywords. You now need to produce video and photo image content that is also optimized with proper tags and descriptions. Downloadable content can also be indexed, and therefore sends positive signals to Google and Microsoft that you are a producer of diverse content. Content across other social channels are worthy of your focus as well.

Google's +1 Button
The +1 button is gaining greater importance. We know that Google is using +1 clicks as a signal, but did you know that the location of the +1 button is also significant? When someone clicks on the +1 button on say a product page, that signals that they like that product. But when someone clicks the +1 button on say a category page, that signals that they like the entire category. Take that one step further to clicking the +1 button on a home page, signaling that you like the entire website! Get the picture? The +1 button is a bigger deal than you might have realized.

Social Sharing
Since the introduction of social search in October 2009, sharing content across various channels has become extremely important. This continues to be more true every day. Google and Microsoft are tracking the extent to which your content is shared. Consequently, the social sharing buttons on your website or blog are incredibly important.

All of Your Employees Work in the Marketing Department
If content sharing is so important, then it is even more important that everyone in your company understands this point. If every employee shares your blog posts, YouTube videos, Facebook posts, Tweets, LinkedIn company pages, etc. across their social networks, that turns the entire company into the marketing department. It takes a company-wide culture with strong leadership to execute this strategy.

Social search is here to stay, and I strongly urge you to embrace this. If you would like to discuss this further or need help getting started (or getting your company to the next level), please email me at Chris@RoofPal.com.

Also, don't forget that every person's search results are going to vary based on who they are connected to on social media. Please read my blog post on this topic and incorporate that into your social media strategy as well.

Developing a B2B Social Media Strategy

Social media marketing is different for B2C (business to consumer) companies like residential roofing contractors than it is for B2B (business to business) companies like commercial roofing contractors and roofing material manufacturers, suppliers and distributors.

Here are five basic steps for B2B companies to develop a winning social media strategy:
1. Stop Calling it a Social Media Strategy
2. Know What Stage You Are In
3. Focus on Your Customer’s Issues
4. Develop a Keyword Strategy
5. Content, Engagement, Call-To-Action

Stop Calling it a Social Media Strategy
Think bigger picture. This isn't just social media, this is a marketing strategy. It is 2011, so obviously social media will play a role in how you reach and engage your customer, but don’t tunnel-vision your strategy by thinking it’s solely a social media strategy. Do you have a “tradeshow strategy,” a “direct mail strategy,” and an “email strategy?” Of course not - these are merely elements in your overall marketing plan that help you reach customers, engage them, differentiate your company, create new job leads, and ultimately move qualified prospects into to your sales process.

Know What Stage You Are In
A recent article on Mashable estimated that about half of all companies currently using social media are in the initial Launch stage of their plan. This involves things like creating branded accounts for Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, and now Google+ as well. The focus in this stage is just establishing a social media presence usually with little or no strategy.

Another 40% of companies are in the Management stage - seeking to drive traffic, followers, fans, subscribers and to begin engaging with their community. There is typically very little strategy involved in this stage as well.

The remaining 10% are in the Optimization stage. This is where a strategic marketing plan is in place with executive-level support (including budget for people and technology resources). The purpose is to drive revenue with ROI metrics defined to measure successes.

Focus on Your Customer’s Issues
What business issues do your customers care about? In a typical B2B sale, multiple people are involved in the research and selection process for the products or services your company offers. Often tose decision makers span different areas of a business, and therefore they have different needs. Map out the issues for each role and develop your content to address each of them. Don't just assume a “one size fits all” mindset with the content you create and share.

Keep in mind that each of their issues can change according to the stage of the buying process. Meet your potential customers where they are through your social media engagement and address them accordingly. Blog and video content is a good way to deal with this by using titles and tags that allow your content to be easily found according to the relevant issues for each role.

Develop a Keyword Strategy
This is very closely tied to developing a role strategy. Once you have identified your cusotmer roles and their issues, create a list of keyword phrases that very closely address each role's issues. The same product or service must be communicated slightly differently according to keywords that are meaningful to each role that must approve the ultimate purchase.

Content, Engagement, Calls-to-Action
In B2B marketing, slick campaigns have limited effect. B2B buyers are not influenced by sizzle - they are influenced by the steak! The steak in B2B marketing is relevant content. Blogs, white papers, ebooks, videos, case studies, and webinars all represent methods to deliver relevant content. But, the content alone is worthless without a high level of engagement. When people respond to your content, don’t be invisible, be engaging. It sounds simple and intuitive, but it takes time, effort and authenticity.

Add relevant calls-to-action in your content. It can be as simple as an invitation to contact you with your name and email address, an invitation to request budgetary pricing about your offering, a link to more information/content, etc. Calls-to-action should always be designed according to the strategic goals that can be measured as tangible contributors to the revenue goals of a B2B company.

Let me know what stage you are in by emailing Chris@RoofPal.com. If you have any questions about successfully moving to the next stage of your strategy, I'd be happy to chat with you. Best of luck!