By now many wood flooring pros have put social media to work for their businesses: our State of the Industry survey results show that last year 85 percent of wood flooring retailers were using Facebook for business and 25 percent were using Instagram. For wood flooring contractors, 57 percent were using Facebook and 29 percent were on Instagram.
An interesting stat we don't have is: How many of those accounts are set up correctly as a business account, not a personal account? It's still commonplace to see companies operating on social media with a personal account, but there are many reasons why your company should be set up as a business account, and many tools that become available to you once you do so. Here are some of the most important reasons to be set up correctly:
1) It looks professional
Most consumers today are familiar with following businesses (and reviewing them, too) on Facebook and Instagram, and it can look amateurish for your company if those consumers have to "friend" your company on Facebook (they'll even get notifications about your company's "birthday"—like they would for Aunt Susie).
2) You can schedule posts
The ability to schedule posts is extremely helpful for time management, but you can only do so if your accounts are set up as business accounts.
Facebook makes it simple to schedule posts within the app either on desktop or mobile. When you create a post, instead of clicking "Share now," use the dropdown menu next to it to choose "schedule," then simply pick your date and time (see the screenshot at right). Once you've scheduled posts, at the top of your posts on your page you'll see a box that tells you how many posts you have scheduled. If you click there, you'll see the list of posts and be able to change scheduled times and edit the posts.
Instagram doesn't allow you to post from desktop at all and doesn't allow you to schedule posts via desktop or mobile. To schedule posts on Instagram, you'll need to use a cross-platform scheduling app such as Hootsuite or Buffer (both have free versions).
3) You can boost/promote posts
Yes, you can create actual ads on either platform, but the simplest way to advertise your business on Facebook or Instagram is to simply "boost" (on Facebook) or "promote" (on Instagram) your posts. Once you've posted you'll see a bright blue box show up on the bottom right of your post that says either "Boost post" or "Promote," and it will walk you through choosing your budget, audience (you can target demographics and geographical areas) and duration. Many companies find it doesn't take a large investment to have an impact, although success hinges on having an interesting post to start with!
4) Multiple people can post to the account
With a legit business account, you can give access to multiple people to post to the account, which can make posting less overwhelming. Just be sure you're coordinating your efforts so everyone knows what your strategy and schedule are (if you don't have them, consider creating a strategy and a schedule!).
5) You can see insights
How many people are engaging (liking, sharing, commenting) with your posts? Which was your most popular post? What are the peak times when your followers are online? These stats and much more are available in your insights, which are available for all Facebook and Instagram business accounts. Taking even a brief dive into your insights is a good idea so you can see what content is working the best and plan future content accordingly.
To find out how to up business Facebook and Instagram accounts correctly, see How to Set Up Business Accounts in Facebook and Instagram.
