The Easy Guide To Social Media For Plumbers & Heating Businesses

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1. More jobs

As social media becomes more engrained into daily life, people have started to use it more and more to find products and services: One study from Hubspot found that 22% of people search using social media more than a traditional search engine (like Google), which is 47% higher than just last year. 

In essence, the more visible you are online, the more people will find you, follow you, trust you, and remember you. This is especially the case with the younger generation that also happen to be harder to find with traditional marketing tactics.

We recently recorded a podcast episode with Ryan Mills from G.D. Mills who gets 30% of his work from social media. Check out the episode.

2. Partnerships with industry brands

Partnerships and brand deals can earn you a nice little bit of extra income. If you manage to grow a decent size following (even just a few thousand followers can be enough), you can very easily find yourself doing paid content/collaborations with other businesses, or even becoming a brand ambassador for businesses like us (Gas Engineer Software) or companies that make products for the industry (like Anton and their flue gas analysers).

3. Trustworthiness and recognition in the heating & plumbing world

Would you trust a plumber you know absolutely nothing about other than his name, phone number, and perhaps a few reviews, or one with several thousand followers online, photos and videos of his work, and lots of community engagement?

For many, the answer is simple. Having a social media presence can greatly elevate how you and your business is perceived both by customers and industry figures.

4. Feedback from customers

Feedback is always important, whether it’s a nice comment that motivates you or constructive criticism that helps you improve. Being active on social media is an easy channel for your customers to get in touch and engage with you.

We’ve also written a full guide on review marketing which you can read here. 

What social media platform should you choose?

There are several social media platforms you could choose from. Generally, we would recommend choosing one, growing a decent sized following, then use it as a springboard to grow the rest. If you try to focus on too many at once (while running your business!), you’ll be spreading yourself too thin.

So which one should you choose? 

We asked our users which social media platforms they used most, and here’s what they said: 

• Facebook – 62.2%
• Instagram – 40% 
• Other – 31.1%
• TikTok – 15.5% 
• LinkedIn – 11.1% 
• X (Twitter) – 8.8%

Read more: 3 Marketing Mistakes To Avoid With Your Heating Businesses

Facebook

Facebook is the classic social media platform. It’s the best platform to go with if you want to start engaging with communities more, but is also a great place to find jobs. You can post a variety of content on Facebook, but be sure to join heating & plumbing groups and those for your local area where potential customers will also be.

Once you do a few jobs, you might find yourself getting recommendations and referrals through Facebook groups and chats too.

Instagram

Instagram is another great one to choose because it allows you to have a profile grid displaying all your recent content. Stories are especially popular on Instagram, but you can also post a variety of other content. 

Compared to Facebook, Instagram is better for content creation but slightly lacking in community engagement. It’s also great for finding jobs, and you’ll also find a slightly younger audience here.

TikTok

TikTok requires a slightly different approach to both Facebook and Instagram, but is the fastest-growing social media platform at the moment. It’s also the easiest to get organic growth (without paying for ads or promotions).

*Other platforms like Youtube, Snapchat, LinkedIn, and Twitter/X can all help, but we recommend sticking with these three.

What type of plumbing content should you post?

There’s a few golden rules you should follow for social media marketing as a heating & plumbing business:

1. Don’t blindly cross-post content

By this we mean don’t consistently post the exact same content to Facebook, Instagram, TikTok – wherever. Each social media platform has its own algorithm (meaning different content might be favoured) and a different audience with different preferences. 

For example, you may find more success posting behind-the-scenes content on TikTok, tips on Facebook, or photos of your work on Instagram. It’s always best to experiment here to figure out what works best for you.

Note: If you do want to cross-post but edited a video directly in an app, you can use websites such as SnapInsta.app and SnapTik to remove the watermarks that would exist if you download a video from the app.

2. Don’t just do one type of content

No matter what social media platform you’re posting to, they all prefer a variety of content formats. Aim to do a mix of reels, stories, posts, and carousels.

Here’s some of the content that Ryan Mills from G.D. Mills Plumbing & Heating posts on his Instagram page – note there are some finished pieces, behind-the-scenes, and even tip content:

3. Experiment to find out what works

Even for social media marketers, it takes a little bit of experimentation to get right. Stick with it for a while and keep an eye on what posts generate the most engagement with your audience.

4. Show yourself and your work

Posting your work shows that you are proud of what you do and helps potential customers understand what they can expect.

This kidof trust can be all that’s needed to encourage someone to pick you over another heating & plumbing company. 

Likewise, showing your face occasionally helps personify your business and make it more ‘real’ to your audience.

5. Use hashtags

Hashtags play an important part in social media algorithms and provide another route for people to find your content. The type of hashtags you use will depend on the content you are posting, but we recommend making a list of relevant hashtags so you can simply paste them in whenever you make a post.

Here are some example hashtags you could use: 

#PlumbersofInstagram

#PlumberTok

#PlumbersofTikTok

#PlumbersLife

#Trades

#Plumbers

#Heating

Free content calendar

We’ve created a content calendar perfect for your heating & plumbing business. Download it for free, choose which platforms you want to focus on, and plan your content for the month ahead.

Content ideas:

• Tips & guides – Great for engaging with the heating & plumbing community and showing off your expertise to potential customers
• Daily work – Whether in progress or finished, customers want to see your work.
• Behind-the-scenes content – Introducing your team, make some lighthearted content, or even memes. 
• Testimonials – A happy customer is always something to show off! 

How often should you post?

Ideally, you should be posting on social media daily, but posting on Mondays to Fridays is standard for small businesses.

Tip: You don’t eed to be a professional photographer or video editor to create content that your audience engages with. The most important thing is the content—a quick video or photo taken & edited on your phone is more than enough.

Who should you follow on social media in the plumbing and heating industry? (Good examples)

If you want some good examples of heating & plumbing businesses doing well on social media, check out these accounts:

G.D. Mills Plumbing & Heating

Ryan recently recored a podcast episode with us and gets around 30% of his work through social media.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rdmills88

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rdmills8

Jones The Gas

Dean posts testimonials, educational content, and behind the scenes work.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jonesthegas 

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@jonesthegas 

Plumbing By Rach

Rachel posts a great selection of behind the scenes videos of her work. 

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@plumbingbyrach 

TomPlumb 

Tom shares his perspective on working on newbuild sites and garners thousands of views per video.

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ASMRPlumb 

For more content inspiration, Matthew Marciniak (mmplumber) has high quality video content of his work. You don’t need to go to this level of effort to grow on social media, but Matthew’s content is worth aspiring to.

Gas Engineer Software

Give us a follow on our social platforms where we post tips, guides, and news for everything heating & plumbing!

The parts most people forget…

Instead of simply posting content and closing the app, remember to: 

• Comment on other heating & plumbing related posts
• Share content you like on your stories
• Like other posts

These kind of interactions do two things: they help with the algorithm, which means more people see your content, and they are great ways to engage with the community and get your name out there.

Need some help with where to get started?

Once you’ve created your pages, you can use our content calendar to help plan your content. 

Remember, growing your social media is FREE.

It doesn’t cost a penny to start up your social media pages and the effort you need to put in with content is minimal. Therefore, social media marketing is a low effort, high impact endeavour to grow your business and customer base. 

What is Gas Engineer Software?

Social media is a great way to grow your business and find extra jobs, but it does take a bit of time to get going. 

Gas Engineer Software is an all-in-one job management software for heating and plumbing businesses. From handling customer data to creating quotes, invoices, gas certificates, schedules & much more we help people like you save 6.6 hours per week on average. 

Learn more about our software or get started with a free trial today.