LinkedIn for Contractors: Part of an Ongoing Series on Social Media Marketing
Social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram are invaluable tools for contractors to get their names out there in their areas, educate followers about their work and define their brands. But when it comes to the “networking” part of social networks — for professionals like you, trying to link up with other professionals (many of whom may be able to throw some work your way!) — LinkedIn for contractors is the clear MVP. There may be more people active on other apps, but LinkedIn is often home to the people you will most want to impress.
In the past few months, we’ve looked at how contractors can best utilize Facebook and how to share your story on Instagram. This time around, let’s look at how you can make crucial connections on LinkedIn, both on your personal account and the one for your business.
The Value of LinkedIn for Contractors
We’ve noticed a lot of folks come in hot on LinkedIn — they write a dynamite summary for themselves and their business, make all the connections they possibly can and even get a few endorsements for their expertise. They write articles to post on the platform and share photos and videos of their work, and then… they don’t see a lot of engagement with their work and, eventually, abandon updating their profiles. It happens all the time!
The tough thing about using LinkedIn for contractors is that you probably won’t see large numbers of likes, comments and shares rolling in for your updates the way you can with Facebook or Instagram. That same instant gratification of engagement we’ve gotten used to elsewhere is simply not the norm here.
But it’s important to not give up! LinkedIn may not have all your cousins on it, but it is frequently browsed by high-value contacts: project managers, general contractors, commercial business owners and more. In total, LinkedIn is host to 660 million professionals worldwide, and growing by the second. Network with as many of these folks as you can, and any time you’re sharing news about your business or the industry as whole to your other social channels, make sure to post it to LinkedIn.
Tips for Contractors to Conquer LinkedIn
LinkedIn is the perfect place to share photos and videos of your new projects, as a “proof of concept” for your expertise. Keep updating your profile’s “About” summary with your latest accomplishments, and don’t be afraid to brag! Seriously, LinkedIn is no place for modesty: 55 percent of business decision-makers use content posted to the platform for vetting the organizations they want to work with. So, every time you post your work to LinkedIn, you will increase the odds that, the next time one of these connections starts a project, they will think of you for their finishing needs. And then you’re just a quick “InMail” message away from bagging that job.
Be sure to fill out your profile to completion (pages with complete information get 30 percent more views on average), including any awards or certifications you and/or your team have picked up along the way. Here are several other best practices to remember when you post content to LinkedIn:
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Address the audience you want to talk to in your post directly, even if it takes reposting the same content multiple times and swapping out, “Hey general contractors” to “Hey architects,” and so on
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As with other social media apps, hashtags are your friend! Three to four hashtags work best — use more common hashtags for visibility, and then one or two unique hashtags for you and/or the project you’re working on, so it’s searchable
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If you post a video (and you should — they get three times more engagement than text posts!), upload it directly into LinkedIn, rather than using a YouTube link, for a better reach
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Again, you’re using LinkedIn to, ideally, network for future work, so always be professional, don’t use offensive language and save the memes for Facebook
For those of you in the trades with a busy schedule of contract work, it can be tough to carve out the time to keep your social media profiles up-to-date and consistently pumping out content. But we hope we’ve shown here why LinkedIn for contractors can be an important source of business; taking just a couple minutes off the jobsite every day to follow some of these tips could prove to be a major game-changer. And, hey, while you’re on LinkedIn, give Trim-Tex a follow and never miss a tip or tool of the trade from us!