The online world is continuously growing and showing no signs of slowing down. With this ever-evolving digital landscape, it’s important to take a step back and make sure you are covering the online essentials for your HVAC business.

But where are you supposed to start? It can be overwhelming coming up with an HVAC digital marketing plan, but if you start with strong basics you can continue to work on your strategy and evolve it based on your successes or failures.

Here are 5 of the best online practices your heating and cooling company should be doing to stay ahead of the competition.

1. Choose The Right Online Platforms

There are countless different online platforms for you to represent your business on, but which ones actually matter? You must take into account the app’s popularity, services, and users to determine what social media accounts you need for your HVAC business.

For example, TikTok is soaring in popularity right now as more people get on and explore all the different types of video content on there. You could create a TikTok account for your company and create videos on different services you offer and general home improvement ideas, but it’s important to also recognize the audience on each platform. TikTok is extremely popular with the younger generations; in fact, around 25% of people on TikTok are 19 years old or younger. Probably not the best audience if you are targeting homeowners.

HVAC companies should at the very least have a Facebook, Google My Business, and Yelp account. Depending on the area and your customer demographics, it may be beneficial to have a LinkedIn and Instagram as well.

But don’t just settle for the most popular; think outside the box. Try making an account on HomeAdvisor. People use HomeAdvisor to search for home contractors they can trust, and it can be used to get more leads and build awareness.

2. Create a Social Media Posting Calendar

Once you are on the right platforms, it’s time to think about what you should be posting. When posting, the content should be relevant to your audience and have a voice unique to your brand. Don’t be afraid to have fun with your posts! If you aren’t enjoying posting the content, people may not enjoy consuming it.

You also need to think about when you post. You want to post consistently so that those who follow you know you are active and then those who don’t have a better chance of seeing your content. You should be posting at least every other day.

As for the time you should post, that can vary based on the platform and your audience. Typically, peak Facebook hours are from 1-3 pm during the week. Once you have a few weeks of content posted, you will be able to look at past data and determine for yourself when your business’s peak hours on each site are.

To help keep track of when you post, create a posting calendar. By using either an online calendar or a physical one, you can plan out posts weeks in advance by platform, content, and time. Here’s an example calendar for the week:

Monday: Share tips and tricks for HVAC technicians on LinkedIn at 9 am.

Tuesday: Post the summer sales event on Facebook at 1 pm.

Wednesday: Share recent positive reviews on LinkedIn and Facebook at noon.

Thursday: Post a blog about green initiatives you are taking on LinkedIn and Instagram at 3 pm.

Friday: Tell followers about the air duct cleaning special on Facebook at 2 pm.

Sunday: Post a friendly Sunday greeting on Facebook and Instagram at 11 am.

3. Fully Optimize Your Google My Business Listing

Google My Business, now known as Google Business Profile, is one of the best ways for potential customers to discover you and your services. Studies show that 60% of users have searched and contacted a business directly using Google My Business. It can be one of the first things someone sees on the right-hand side of the screen when they are searching for your company or similar services, so it is something you don’t want to miss out on.

Even if you already have a Google Business Profile, take the time to look back and make sure it is updated and includes all the right factors like the correct name, address, website and social links, hours, holiday hours, service options, and high-quality pictures.

It’s also beneficial to use Google Business Profile’s FAQ section. Not only will this improve your local SEO, but adding an FAQ section is a great way to answer common questions your customers might have by making the information readily available as soon as they search for you on Google.

4. Encourage and Respond to Reviews

If you are a home service business owner, you know how important reviews are. People will be less likely to invite you into their home and give your business a chance if you don’t have any reviews. Believe it or not, 72% of people say they use Google reviews to help them find a business, so it’s important to make sure you are getting reviews that potential customers can utilize to choose your HVAC company over another one.

There are a few ways you could increase the number of reviews you have. Talk to your technicians and have them encourage customers to leave a review after a service. You could even ask them to leave a review in the follow-up email or receipt. On top of that, you can utilize social media to ask past customers to leave a review for you.

However, don’t just ask for reviews in the same place. People look at and leave reviews on Yelp, Google, Facebook, and more.

Just getting reviews isn’t the only thing you should be focusing on; you should always be responding to reviews in a timely and professional matter. Whether the reviews are good or bad, just remember that your response to reviews are public. People will be able to see that you take your customers seriously and care about their input.

Think about it. If you had to choose between two HVAC companies with the same reviews, would you pick the company that ignores all the reviews or the company that responds to each person?

5. Start Email Campaigns

Everyone is always checking their emails. Whether they are reading in-depth or just glancing at the subject line, emails can be an opportunity to grab someone’s attention or keep your HVAC company in their head.

Everyone knows that in the HVAC industry, seasonality is important. Combining seasonal themes and deals with email campaigns is an effective strategy for customer retention. If you don’t already collect emails, start doing so and create an email list so you can be the first person someone thinks of when they need HVAC services.

There are plenty of services you can use to create email lists and set up automated HVAC email marketing. You can use emails to target both existing customers and potential prospects. The content should be different since one audience has done business with you and the other still needs you to gain their trust.

With all of these online strategies applied to your HVAC business, you will start to see more leads, more often. If you need help with your Google Business Profile, social accounts, email campaigns, or any other digital marketing for HVAC business owners, look no further. Hudson,Ink specializes in contractor marketing and has been helping companies grow for over 20 years. We know the HVAC business and are here to get you more leads and a higher retention rate. Reach out to Hudson,Ink today to take your HVAC marketing and business to the next level.