The Sherwin-Williams Virtual Social Media Conference offered useful tips from Pros like you

Social media is a great way to get your painting business noticed by all the right people, but how do you ensure your social media efforts are a success?

The Sherwin-Williams Virtual Social Media Conference set out to help painters improve their social media presence with advice from industry experts. The event took place on June 27, 2024, and featured a lineup of Paint Pros from across the country who had experienced the firsthand benefits of social media for their business—and wanted to share their insights with others.

Platforms

The first session, “Top Social Media Platforms & How to Build Your Audience,” featured Nick Slavik, owner and proprietor of Nick Slavik Painting & Restoration Co. in New Prague, Minnesota, and Austin Houser, owner of Base Coat Marketing in Wilmington, North Carolina. Slavik and Houser offered tips on how to choose the right social platforms to market your business, suggesting focusing on the platforms with the highest ROI for your business and where your specific audience is most likely to be found.

“The bottom line is there’s only a few channels that are going to produce most of your results,” Houser said.  “When we look at the residential side of the painting industry, Facebook and Instagram have most of the audience that are most active most of the time, so your time and dollars are going to go further there.”

Both said their businesses had seen huge success from heavily investing in social media marketing—both in terms of lead generation and networking with other Paint Pros. For those hesitant to invest heavily in social media, Slavik tried to give them an encouraging nudge.

“Just do it,” Slavik says. “I’ve never met a painter who consistently posted genuinely on social media that didn’t see some change or benefit to their business.”

Content

The second session, “Compelling Content Creation,” focused on creative ways to generate interest and engagement online with unique content. This segment featured Juan Vasquez, co-owner and founder of Illusions Painting Inc. in Sand City, California; Corrie Leister, owner of Inspired By U in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania; and Christian Manhard, owner of Moose Painting in North Conway, New Hampshire.

Leister said her business tries to balance making three kinds of posts—personal, purposeful, and promotional posts—without leaning too far in any direction. She said all three have value when balanced right.

“We do a lot of purposeful posts where we’re posting our processes or systems—what we’re doing and how we’re doing it,” Leister said. “We also do personal posts. They get to know our team, what we stand for, our cultures, and our values. People get to know us on a more personal level. And because of that, people have hired Inspired By U—even when we’re several thousand dollars more—just for that experience. Finally, we do promote, but if you’re constantly posting promotional posts, it goes in one ear and out the other for customers. So we try to just throw in promotional posts every now and then among the other types of posts.”

Manhard said the important thing is to keep consistently creating content and not let perfectionism stop you from posting.

“It’s okay to make mistakes,” Manhard said. “The main thing is to have fun and film everything always. If you film everything, you don’t have to post everything. But find what resonates with your brand, and post and promote that. It’s your digital real estate of you and your business. Yes, you have your website, but this is where people will land and see what your business is about.”

Takeaways

The third session, “Actionable Takeaways,” highlighted specific social media approaches that Paint Pros found had worked for them before. Speakers included Kassity and Jordan Moore of Ohio City Painting, Alex Williams from Sherwin-Williams, and Slavik.

The speakers all agreed that one of the most important qualities to pursue in social media is authenticity. The Moores noted that their very personal form of social media engagement helped them to build a very strong following that enabled them to succeed.

“Your goal should be to build a community that will not allow your business to fail,” said Kassity Moore. “With your posts, you’re constantly providing value by either inspiring, entertaining, or educating your audience. And that means they’re going to remember you and choose you should they ever have the means to hire you.”

The Pros also noted the usefulness of the “Social Media for Painting Contractors” guide published by Sherwin-Williams, which offers step-by-step advice for creating a business presence on many popular platforms.

“Literally every point of that guide has been borne out through my data, my feelings, and my real boots-on-the-ground experience from running a $3 million painting business,” Slavik said. “You might read that pamphlet and say, ‘These are very obvious things.’ Here’s the thing: Can you be professional and consistent enough to actually do them and get a result? Do not sleep on that guide.”

Conclusion

The conference concluded with a live Q&A with Slavik, Vasquez, and Kassity and Jordan Moore, as they took questions from the audience and sent participants off with advice and encouragement.

At the end of the day, Vasquez says, social media marketing may feel awkward at first, but it won’t take long to master it and start reaping the rewards.

“Keep practicing,” Vasquez says. “It’s just like when you learned how to paint. You were so nervous with the brush and couldn’t get a straight line. After using it for a few months, guess what? You have one of the straightest lines. It’s the same thing. Just be consistent.”