You don’t need 100,000 Instagram followers.

You don’t need to go viral on TikTok.

And you definitely don’t need to start dancing next to a boiler because somebody told you that’s what the algorithm wants.

You’re a tradesman.

Your social media has a job to do.

And for most local trade businesses, that job isn’t making you internet famous.

It’s helping the right customers find you, trust you and eventually contact you.

500 local followers can be better than 50,000 random ones

Follower numbers look impressive.

But let’s say you’re a plumber working across Liverpool.

What’s more useful?

500 followers who live around Liverpool and Merseyside

or

50,000 followers spread across America, India, Australia and everywhere else?

Unless you’re planning on flying to California to repair someone’s tap, most of those followers aren’t potential customers.

Reach is useful.

Relevant reach is better.

Stop judging your business by likes

You post a bathroom you’ve spent a week working on.

It gets 14 likes.

You think:

“Well that was pointless.”

Was it?

What if one of those people is thinking about having their bathroom done next year?

What if someone saves the post?

What if a previous customer sends your profile to their neighbour?

What if somebody finds your Instagram six months later after you’ve been recommended?

Not every useful interaction results in a like.

Social media for a local business isn’t just about today’s engagement.

You’re building a library of evidence that says:

This is what we do.

This is where we work.

This is what our work looks like.

These are the people behind the business.

Your profile is a portfolio

This is how we’d encourage tradesmen to think about Instagram and Facebook.

Not just as social media.

As a portfolio.

Someone has been given your name.

They look you up.

They find:

Bathroom.

Kitchen.

Bathroom.

Customer review.

Before and after.

Video of you working.

Another review.

Job completed in their area.

They’ve now seen a considerable amount of evidence that you’re a genuine business doing genuine work.

That’s useful whether those posts got 12 likes or 1,200.

You already have content

This is another thing tradesmen overthink.

“I don’t know what to post.”

Look at your camera roll.

That’s your content.

The leaking mess you arrived at this morning.

The half-finished installation.

The finished job.

The new van.

The awkward problem you managed to solve.

The message from a happy customer.

The job you’re particularly proud of.

You don’t need to invent a lifestyle around your business.

Document the work you’re already doing.

Not everything needs to be a Canva graphic

We love good design.

But your entire social media feed doesn’t need to look like a catalogue.

Sometimes a great photograph of a finished job is enough.

Sometimes a quick video is enough.

Sometimes a screenshot of a lovely customer review is enough.

Designed content has its place.

So does real life.

Ideally, use both.

You don’t need to post every day

There’s loads of social media advice telling businesses they need to constantly post.

Three times a day.

Seven days a week.

At exactly 6:43pm because that’s apparently when the algorithm is hungry.

We wouldn’t worry about it.

If you can consistently create two or three genuinely useful posts each week, that’s a perfectly reasonable place to start.

Especially when social media isn’t actually your job.

Consistency matters.

Quality matters.

Relevance matters.

Burning yourself out trying to make seven posts a week probably doesn’t.

You don’t need to be on every trend

If something trending genuinely fits your business and you want to use it, go for it.

But don’t feel like you have to.

Your potential customer probably cares considerably more about whether you can build their extension properly than whether you know which audio is trending on Instagram this week.

Social media should fit around your business.

Your business shouldn’t start fitting around social media.

What should you actually be posting?

Keep it simple.

Show:

Your work.

Your knowledge.

Your customers’ experiences.

Your personality.

Your local area.

The people behind the business.

A good feed might contain:

Before and afters.

Finished jobs.

Work in progress.

Customer reviews.

Helpful advice.

FAQs.

Videos.

Team photos.

Local jobs.

Occasional offers or availability.

That’s plenty.

Local matters

If you’re trying to find customers in Liverpool, talk about Liverpool.

Completed a job in Maghull?

Say so.

Working in Crosby today?

Mention it.

Finished a project in Aintree?

Show it.

You’re not trying to convince everyone on the internet that you’re the world’s greatest electrician.

You’re trying to make someone nearby think:

“I’ve seen these before.”

That’s a much more useful goal.

Social media shouldn’t become another full-time job

This is probably the most important bit.

You’re already running a business.

If you’re spending hours every evening designing posts, researching hashtags, editing videos and worrying about follower numbers, something has gone wrong.

Social media is supposed to support your business.

Not take it over.

Create a simple system.

Take photos while you’re working.

Save good customer reviews.

Post consistently.

Reuse content where appropriate.

And stop worrying about whether every post is going to go viral.

You’re Building Trust, Not an Audience

There are tradesmen with enormous social media followings who’ve deliberately built content businesses around their trade.

Brilliant.

That’s a completely valid business model.

But it doesn’t need to be yours.

If your goal is to get more plumbing jobs around Liverpool, judge your social media based on whether it supports that goal.

Not whether somebody in Australia liked your Reel.

Your social media doesn’t need to make you famous.

It needs to make your business easier to find, recognise and trust.

Don’t Want to Manage It Yourself?

You absolutely can.

We’ve created free guides covering Facebook, Instagram, Canva and other parts of marketing your trade business so you can set things up and manage them yourself.

No paywall. No email address. No paid download.

But there’s a difference between being able to do something yourself and actually wanting to spend your evenings doing it.

If you’d rather send somebody your job photos and let them worry about turning them into content, that’s where we come in.

Toucan Do Business can help manage your social media, create your posts, write your captions and keep your business visible while you’re doing the actual work.

You don’t need to become an influencer.

You just need the right customers to know who you are.

Fancy a Brew? ☕

Come and have a chat with us.