Following FB and similar social media

[chpthril]

I know there are couple TO's that follow facebook, and im interested in what you would find more interesting and entertaining.

A) follow along a build in progress with step by step pics

or

B) a gallery of the finished build.

From my perspective, A is harder (more time consuming) especially needing to followup with a final post to wrap up the build. But is it entertaining enough that people are waiting for the next batch of pics? B is the most efficient as im typically collecting pics for the website anyway, and would upload the same ones. Create the FB album for the build, add some commentary and upload. Not as existing, but maybe more refined and polished?

Interested in actual FB users thoughts. Im sitting in on a FB/social media seminar Tuesday morning.

Thanks,

[D&P Powell]

I prefer B personally. I don't always see everyone's post for various reasons (mostly just scrolling). I like the idea of seeing everything at once for that reason. I might miss subsequent posts if done in format a.

[bsreid]

B. Don't expect us to remember everything that happened, also not everyone will know what's going on if they just see it from stage 1.

Also, do you use Instagram? It seems like most of the younger generation uses that.

[chpthril]

I do not IG yet, but I understand that theres away to basically do both at once.

I do know that the younger crowd is now on IG since us old folks took over FB. With that said and not knowing the demographics, is IG where I need to be? Is the younger crowd the ones I want to show off a 5K stereo build in a 100K boat?

Good point bs, ill be looking to ask this in this class of the other two im signed up for.

Keep the feedback coming.

[bsreid]

When you sign up for Instagram you can link it to your Facebook account so that it automatically post them together.
The younger crowd that is into these boats will definitely love the pictures of the loaded out stereos and boats, just maybe not be too interested in buying. One thing they will do is share it to people who are interested in buying. Look at wakeboatporn, I bet a huge portion of their followers are under 30.

[chpthril]

Agreed. if I was a Kardasian, followers would = sales. However, for me, buyers = sales. So not looking for a number of followers, but the quality of the followers. Quality as in boat owners, not the teenage kids of boat owners per say. Then again, I may be totally wrong, which is why im sitting in on this seminar

[Yojax10]

Guess I am part of the minority here, but I would enjoy A. I enjoy seeing how things are done, might learn something that I can use later.

[JLG]

I personally don't do FB or IG and prefer Twitter as the news is current and updates faster. If I am to look at stereo build pics etc I prefer the start to finish as I try to be a DIY if possible.

If in your place and if wanting pics to show your stunning work and shops abilities, I'd say the after pics are plenty as it shows your entire build and your shops capabilities.
For forum use and helping of others the entire process is helpful.

I personally won't take a boat, car, motorcycle etc to a shop if they don't have previous install pics posted online or testimonials. Sometimes showing a persons 100K boat torn to pieces deters a person. A nice clean after install pics is worth a lot IMO.

[BlackoutATX]

I would focus your initial efforts on Instagram. Anything you post on there can be simultaneously posted on Facebook with the touch of a button. With Instagram, and any other social media, its all about exposure. More exposure equals more followers. More followers equals more sales. Utilize hashtags as much as you can. It will seem stupid at first. But it is a must. The more hashtags you can throw on a post, the more likely it will be seen by random people. I have a list of hashtags I copy and paste into almost every post I do on our business Instagram account. I would also make sure you stay active. Try to post something every day. As to the initial question, I would lean towards B. But have a link somewhere to more pics of the build. Best of both worlds.

[Stingreye]

I am likely in the minority here too. If I am hiring a pro, I like to see the progress and know no corners were cut. You do such a professional job Mike, I think it would be useful to have the build pics. For other builders who work is not as clean as yours, they are better off showing the final pictures that might hide some of the workmanship that's not as good as yours. You will start have the "final pics" as part of your build. There is no doubt its more work but you don't lose anything. You can always segregate it into 2 sections, finished installs and see the process. I also think it will help when a guy comes out and you can say I will do x, y, and z and show him it in a previous build. If the competition doesn't mention it, then when he asks they say "we do that too", you will still look more professional. So on the whole, when you bid out the projects I would use the previous build to show what and how you work. I guess my suggestion is make a point of USING your actual builds when you bid on projects. If you are doing w bid on a Tige RZX, then include the link to the build and say we will build a box similar to xyz. I think if you can make it an integral part of the overal marketing package, it will be more useful for you. Option #2 will likely get lost with other cool boat stereo pics at times.

For example, when I got bids on renovating my pool. One contractor had progress builds..... See here we bring out our own porta potty so we aren't using your bathroom, here we masked xyz to ensure we didn't have any issues, permits call for this area here to be done. He was very professional and had it all laid out from start to finish on what we would do with those pics. He also laid out the time frame, here is where we expect to be after 1 week , 1 month etc. The other guys seemed to "wing it" more. I also think it would help with your pricing. He used a physical binder to show me but I am sure a build posted on the net would serve a similar purpose.

The "kids" aren't your target market....but..... most guys buying 100k+ boats likely have kids in their 10-24 range I would guess. They might be forwarding pics from instagram to pops. I think you can also put instagram posts into facebook right, two birds one stone? Then again I am not an instagram guy.

[Mike88]

Totally agreed with Stingreye, mike.
I could not say better haha. I'm in the renovation business since like what.. 15years now haha.. men that makes me feel old ! And it's always better when you are well prepared. People love to be aware of everything and professional people when it comes to money.
Now these days I even make PowerPoint project when I make a complete kitchen or big project. It takes me more time yeah instead but I love it and almost every submission I make are accepted. Mostly because others barely make a plan on a napkin haha..
that's what make the difference. People that loved their jobs or just make it for the money.

Good luck mike! You know, you are kind of the teacher of everyone here haha and your job deserve to be well known

[BCRider]

Build as you go are good but most people want finished product. That being said, how many pictures of Rev 10's on a tower do I need to see? You need to run the full scope of some build some finished product. I also agree with Stingreye but you still need to be on IG as well. It may be the adults that buy the boats but you know if that kid is hounding his dad long enough about some stereo he will probably do it. When you post on IG you also get to hashtag a company like #wetsounds or note @wetsounds which means they see that you posted something as well. If Tim's marketing department turns around and shares that look at what that exposure can turn in too. I'm 37. I go on Facebook to see what my friends are doing. I go on IG to see what people like you are doing and look at cars, sports, girls, etc. I also tend to share a lot more of the photo's I see on IG with my friends than what I do with Facebook.

[Dandy]

Mike,
There are a lot of good comments here. I use FB - originally didn't want to, but like you needed to know how it worked for my business. I have recently started to use IG, mainly to see if my kiddo is doing anything she shouldn't be. The kids have really taken over SnapChat. I think that FB is us older folks, keeping up with news (fake or otherwise), kids pics... IG has become more of the mid 20s-mid 30s and us old folks are creeping into that as well.

My suggestion is to post random pics as you are working through a project, posting to IG with @ and # as indicated above and cross-posting that to FB. If you post on FB first, I do not believe you can cross over to IG without a complete repost. I would also suggest that you create an album for each project on FB. This would allow your clients to see the project from start to finish. If you create an album, try to put information on each picture to indicate what is being done.

Posting through the process will keep you posting and in front of people. An album would give a complete overview of a project so that everyone can see the details and quality in your work.

There are some apps out there, such as HootSuite that will allow you to post to several different social medias from the one app.
https://hootsuite.com/

Personally, for our small business I HATE the social media expectations. It is very time consuming and difficult to put a value on. In addition, with FB, I would suggest sharing some personal things (like you have with your dogs), it shows that you are a person and not a corp - people find it relocatable. It is also good to share industry news, this way people don't feel that you are always advertising and promoting, it brings a sense of value to your page that will keep the right people interested and following.

Again, just my thoughts.

[chpthril]

Great suggestions, keep them coming even if im not replying right away, just busy, but reading.

I dont mean for it so sound like im casting off the younger crowd. To put it another way, I want to master my universe before moving on to conquer the next. I want effectively reach my target market, then reach out for the sub or secondary market.

on a side note, 99% of what my teenager came to me a said "we need this for the boat", it wasnt happening. However, if it was my idea, oh yeah, it was happening.