EP #17 – Getting More Customers Using Social Media w/ Ryan Mills

Overview

How much time do you spend a day on social media? And do you consider it a viable source of work?

For Ryan, who runs G.D. MILLS up in Edinburgh, it definitely is. We invited him on this week to talk us through how he uses social media to get up to 30% of his work.

Tune in for a bunch of tips & advice!

Listen to the episode:

Highlights

Ryan’s journey with social media

• First opened up a Facebook about to post bits and pieces, nothing proper. It then went from there posting boilers, bathrooms on Instagram and TikTok. (1:10)
• Initially, it wasn’t about getting customers and work. It was a natural progression and a way to get feedback. (2:28)
• In the last 3-4 years, Ryan has been getting a lot of work through Instagram etc. (2:55)

Social media is a long-term strategy to find jobs

• Social media is a long-term game, but it slowly snowballs. (5:01)
• About 30% of new work for Ryan comes from social media, and he doesn’t do any other active marketing. (11:28)
• It took 2-3 years before Ryan started to see some results. The most important thing is to be consistent. (7:08)
• You need to enjoy doing it – or you won’t go anywhere and it’s a waste of time. (11:06)
• Word of mouth is still the best way to get jobs – but social media can play a role in this. You can start out and build up trust on Facebook, move to other platforms, share content, and start the journey. (31:18)

Ryan’s tips for heating businesses on social media platforms

• If you’re confident enough to show yourself (especially your face) and your work, that helps you get work. (3:59)
• It pays off to learn what the algorithm wants. For Instagram, this has recently been reels and trending audio. You also need to make sure the first few seconds attract their attention. (8:04)
• You want to do a reel or post and stories every day. (9:18)
• Some of the posts can be just a photo – simple and basic. You don’t need to spend hours editing on each post – consistency is more important. (21:38)
• On negative comments – just rise above it and ignore them as best as you can. Some people can be very negative online. (16:30)
• Ryan posts pictures of his work, tips, tutorials – anything and everything that a heating engineer would be doing. (18:45)
• A free video editor on your phone is enough to edit videos and content. It doesn’t need to be anything fancy. (20:26)
• Ryan’s tips are to be consistent with posting, be yourself, and engage with other accounts – likes, comments, and so on. If you’re just sitting in the background and not engaging with any else’s content, it’s hard to get noticed and favoured by the algorithm. (22:57)

Comparing the different platforms

• TikTok is a great platform for growing, but it takes a little effort to learn unless you already use it. (15:45)
• Facebook can be one of the best ways to get work. Once you do a few jobs, it’s easy to get recommendations from group chats and pages. Instagram, meanwhile, is a great place for building brand awareness. (25:28)
• On posting the same content on every social media platform – if people are following you in more than one place, they’ll just be seeing the same content. The different algorithms also mean content performs differently. (29:50)