7 HVAC Social Media Marketing Pro-Tips

If you’re one of the many business owners who avoid social media marketing, you’re not alone. Plenty of HVAC business leaders feel overwhelmed and don’t know where to start.

Luckily, you’re in the right place. This easy-to-follow guide will introduce you to some useful information, tips, and ideas for HVAC social media marketing. Then you can launch your very own campaigns to grow your business.

In this article, we’ll cover the following:

• The basics of HVAC social media marketing and why you should do it
• The best social media platforms for an HVAC company, including how to set up accounts
• The different types of content to share on social media
• How often to post on social media
• How to measure the success of your social media strategy
• Some tools and tips for creating great social media content

What Is HVAC Social Media Marketing?

Social media marketing is the process of utilizing social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn to promote a product or service. It can be used to build brand awareness, generate leads, encourage repeat purchases, and increase customer loyalty.

By engaging customers through social media, businesses can create meaningful relationships with their target audience.

Social media marketing helps increase your reach to potential customers. You can find new consumers through targeted marketing campaigns. You are also adding another way for community members to find you.

Why Should Your HVAC Company Do Social Media Marketing?

When people search for HVAC companies in your area, you want to be sure that your HVAC company is easy to find.

Over half of the world’s population uses social media. Not only that, but over 58% of internet users make at least one online purchase every week. And if those states aren’t compelling enough, folks are 57.5% more likely to buy from a company they follow on social media!

A strong social media presence is critical for HVAC marketing. Without it, you’ll be missing out on a lot of potential customers.

If you’re intimidated by the social media campaigns you’ve seen from large corporations, don’t stress. Marketing for a local business is not going to be the same.

Connecting with a smaller, local audience requires different marketing strategies. But those strategies can be just as rewarding.

Additionally, local marketing strategies are more manageable for small- and medium-sized business owners. They don’t require the same amount of work, money, or attention.

Choosing Your Social Media Platforms

There are a lot of social media platforms to choose from. It can be hard to decide where to start.

Your first step is to choose the best social media platform for your business. We recommend that you start with one. While you might want to expand to more later, you don’t want to bite off more than you can chew out of the gate.

The largest and most popular platforms are Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, and LinkedIn.

Each platform has its own unique audience. To determine the best platform for you, you need to understand your target audience.

For an HVAC business, your target audience is likely new and established homeowners. You’ll want to target individuals over the age of 25, as most people under that age do not yet own a home.

TikTok may not be the best place to start your HVAC social media marketing. The largest age group on that platform is users under 25. Your energy may be better spent on another platform.

Only 22% of Facebook users are under the age of 25. So, Facebook has more potential for a successful HVAC social media presence.

If connecting with other businesses is a priority, then LinkedIn may also be a good place to start.

LinkedIn focuses on connecting businesses to other businesses rather than individual consumers. To provide HVAC business services to other local businesses, LinkedIn is the place. You can also look for subcontractors on LinkedIn.

Establishing Your Social Media Presence

Your first step toward an actual social media campaign is to establish your profile on your chosen social media platform.

Make sure that your profile is as informative as possible. It should include relevant keywords to make it easy for people to find your page. Also, be sure to include a picture—most likely your business’s logo.

Once consumers have found your page, you want to make it easy for them to contact you. Your page should include your business address, your phone number, and your URL.

Some platforms differentiate between a personal profile and a business profile. Make sure you are setting up the right type of profile. Choose a profile image and header image that are relevant to your HVAC business.

What to Post and How to Engage

After creating profiles for your HVAC business, it’s time to start posting. Engaging with your audience will bring more attention to your HVAC company.

The best type of content to post will depend on which social media platform you’re using. You will want to focus on posting content that has value for that audience.

Valuable content includes educational information and descriptions of your services. If potential customers can tell you’re posting just to post, this may turn them off from your business. You also want to avoid repetition.

Social media audiences respond well to visual content. Try to focus on images, infographics, and video posts.

Facebook is a good platform for targeted social media campaigns. Facebook is also a good platform for advertising current sales or deals. You could even offer a limited discount to anyone who orders services based on the campaign.

Facebook is also a good place to have more casual contact with your audience. It’s a great platform to answer questions and engage with the community. You can make posts that are community-related.

For example, if there is a big event happening in your community, post about it.

Basing your social media posts on local themes and traditions will be more engaging. More engagement means bringing more people to your local HVAC business.

How Often Should You Post?

You may find articles that insist you need to post several times a day to maintain your online presence. And it’s true, that does tend to improve engagement. But that’s not always necessary for a local HVAC company.

It’s more important to keep your content fresh and valuable than to post a dozen times every day.

Small businesses have the most success with Facebook when posting 1-5 times per month. They have the least amount of engagement when posting once or twice a day.

Sometimes less is more.

For a small- to medium-sized business, posting a couple of times a week is a good place to start. You can always change your strategy if you find that less or more is working for your HVAC business.

When Should You Post?

Knowing when to post goes hand in hand with knowing how often to post. When is the best time to reach your target audience?

You are likely targeting homeowners who work out of the home during the day. Posting before or after work may be your best strategy. Facebook users are more engaged with small businesses during commuting hours.

Of course, data can only take you so far.

You should experiment with different posting times and different marketing strategies. This will help you determine what’s working best in your community.

How to Monitor and Measure Your Success

Every social media platform has a way for you to monitor the success of your posts and campaigns. Make use of the analytics they provide.

On Facebook, you can easily track how many people see your posts. You can see how many people comment on (or “engage with”) your posts. You can even keep tabs on how many people click links attached to your posts and much more.

These tools are extremely helpful, but only if you know what to look for. It’s important to pay close attention to trends and follow up on what’s working.

If you notice more people engaging with your posts on Wednesdays, make sure you post on Wednesdays. If you notice posts with photos are doing better on Facebook, try to use more images.

You can also use third-party services to help track your marketing data.

No matter how you track your data, set personal marketing goals to help measure your success. For example, you could set a follower or subscriber goal. You could meet the goal by encouraging your existing customers to follow you.

7 Tips and Ideas to Help You Get Started

Now that we’ve covered the basics of social media marketing for HVAC companies, let’s look at some specific pro-tips. Follow these to fast-track your success.

1. Avoid White Noise

You don’t want your social media content to blend into the background. Make your posts engaging and interesting. Offer something of value.

Most people don’t understand HVAC technical matters. Educating your audience is a good way to be valuable and stand out. Offer informational content that helps your audience learn something.

One of your best options for valuable Facebook posts is making an infographic. An infographic is both educational and visually appealing. It is less likely to get lost and more likely to draw attention.

Plus, tools like Canva make it easy for non-designers to quickly develop infographics.

Showing love for your community also has value. If your business sponsors a local sports team, make posts related to that. Posting about local news, traditions, or other hot topics specific to your service area can be valuable.

Position yourself as a pillar of the community.

2. Take Advantage of Built-In Targeting Tools

Some social media platforms, such as Facebook, allow you to do targeted advertising. This can be very helpful for HVAC companies that have a very specific target audience.

Facebook lets you target specific demographics, like age groups and locations. You immediately improve the chances of success when your posts are going directly to the right folks.

Facebook also lets you target users based on their likes and interests. You can also target based on groups someone is in and even based on other pages they like. This offers your HVAC business even more chances to target the right people at the right time.

Make sure you’re using the options available to you on your social media platform of choice. This will help you get the most out of your marketing efforts.

3. Don’t Be Afraid to Automate

For smaller businesses, starting a social media marketing campaign can be scary. It can seem like there’s not enough time in the day.

Luckily, there are many automation tools that can help. Some of these tools are baked right into social media platforms. Others are available through third-party tools.

Take scheduled posting as a prime example. You may notice posts around noon on Friday are performing best on Facebook. If you’re often busy during that time, you can schedule a post in advance. That way, you’ll never miss a Friday post—even when you’re out of town.

While automation can truly be a lifesaver, don’t use it as an excuse to disappear or ignore your social media pages.

You still want to log in regularly to respond to customer questions, comments, or concerns. Similarly, you’ll want to make sure you respond to trending topics in your industry.

And don’t forget to post about local events to stay relevant.

4. Respond to Feedback Respectfully

You’re likely to receive feedback from your target audience at some point. The feedback will be either positive or negative. Either way, respond nicely and set a good example.

This works on many different levels.

Your community may use your Facebook profile to review your company’s services. If you’re grateful and enthusiastic in response to positive feedback, that makes you look good.

If you’re polite, respectful, and non-defensive in response to negative feedback, that also makes you look good.

You’re far more likely to leave a good impression of your HVAC business if you stay positive. If you ignore people who try to engage with you, that can hurt your local reputation.

And if you get into arguments with disgruntled customers, that will almost certainly hurt your business.

5. Be Consistent

It is ok to experiment with a few different ideas when getting started. However, once you figure out what’s working for you, stick with it.

Consistency will keep your business moving in a positive direction.

For example, don’t change your profile picture every month. If you do, that will make it more difficult for people to recognize your posts.

Many people recognize businesses based on the profile picture associated with their posts. If you’re constantly changing yours, it will be hard for people to keep track of your social media presence.

Similarly, don’t suddenly go from posting twice a week to twice a day. Building a brand is about letting people know what they can expect from your business.

If you’re inconsistent, people don’t know what to expect.

6. Stay Up to Date on New Tools and Features

Social media platforms are constantly changing and evolving. Stay updated on any new tools or features that are available.

This can help ensure continued success for your HVAC social media marketing campaign.

For example, Facebook often tests new ways for consumers to find businesses in the News Feed. You will want to make sure your page is optimized for any changes Facebook has made.

7. Check Out Your Competitors

Another way to develop your social media strategy is to see what other HVAC companies are doing. Don’t be afraid to scope out the competition for ideas and see what worked for them.

But be careful! You should always try to differentiate yourself and be unique to your brand.

Make sure you aren’t copying another HVAC company’s social media marketing strategy.

Getting Started With Social Media Right Now

If you’re ready to jump-start your HVAC social media marketing, we’ve got you covered. Here are several things you can do right now, today, to get started.

• Use your existing Facebook account to check out other HVAC company profiles in your area. Pay attention to how often they post, what they post, and how much engagement (customer comments) they’re getting. Be sure to make note of anything that stands out.
• Ask your staff (or your family, your friends, your business connections) what Facebook business profiles they follow and why. Focus on asking folks who fall into your customer demographic. (Your 8-year-old niece probably won’t be much help!)
• Create your Facebook business profile. You likely have everything you need to set up your profile right now. Go ahead and knock out this critical task.
• Plan your first four posts. Four posts will get you through your first month at a rate of one post per week. That’s a solid start. Planning posts ahead of time will also take a lot of the pressure off.