Technology and global markets have changed the way businesses operate. Such trends impact the moving industry as companies extend their service areas as well as their online reach. Social media has contributed to the dynamic business environment by attracting millions of daily users to a handful of sites where customers and businesses routinely and naturally converge.

Additionally, the popularity of mobile devices has given businesses the opportunity make their everyday business operations fast and easy. By using social media promotion and software solutions, you can make your business stronger and more profitable than you could ever imagine.

Social Media Promotion

Shoppers escape exposure to many conventional marketing channels by spending so much of their time online. Rather than looking in a phone book or newspaper for the products and services that they need, people turn to search engines and social media sites to find solutions. Knowing this, you must have a social media strategy as part of your overarching marketing plan.

Even if you create an impressive website, you still need to engage with your target market on sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Google Plus. As you interact with prospective customers and the greater online community, you demonstrate that your business has a human touch that gives it a distinct character and voice. As you promote your moving business on social media, you want to make sure that everyone sees that you exist primarily to serve others. Sales and profits, therefore, are secondary to your mission.

Social Media Engagement

Rather than simply posting special sales pitches to your social media profiles, take a proactive approach that leads to engaging other users on a personal level. Through the tools available on each social media site, you can listen to the concerns moving customers have and learn about the problems that they experience. You have a chance to create value for them by giving them tips and information it makes their move go well, even if they do not choose your company.

As you talk with social media users, always be prompt with your responses and leverage potential customers using the values of their community and personal relationships. In general, people get weary when they are barraged with incessant sales pitches. Instead, they are attracted to companies and businesspeople who demonstrate an authoritative position in the marketplace and display a sincere concern for the welfare of others.

When you engage your target market, you show customers that you have the knowledge, skills and other abilities needed to satisfy their needs. When members of your audience and their friends and followers need to move, they naturally think of you as the best choice. Effective engagement, therefore, results in close relationships, a solid understanding of your market, and a steady stream of customers who trust your brand.

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Creating a Content Strategy

You can make your moving business stand out from other social media users by maintaining and optimizing your profile by publishing content that your audience finds valuable, fun, and informative. Part of the process of optimizing your social media presence involves using a variety of content formats. Rather than posting only in plain text, use a variety of videos, images and blog posts. Doing so creates excitement and stimulates the intellect of your readers.

Ideas for your social media posts include company news that keeps everyone informed about the activities of your team as well as the evolution of your firm. You can create news by announcing the achievements of your employees, the acquisition of new equipment and your involvement in the community. These types of news items help people intimately get to know your team and your brand.

Fun topics, such as pictures and lists of your favorite or most frequently moved items add intrigue to your social media presence and let your audience know that you are on social media to have a good time. Other topics such as bloopers, behind the scenes videos and customer testimonials add to the fun and raise the interest of your customers.

Add value to the community by posting tutorials that everyone who needs to move can use. People can benefit from the information you provide, because they don’t always realize all the special considerations and headaches that moving involves. You can also organize contests, giveaways and other promotions that encourage people to revisit your social media pages and interact with your brand.

As you interact on social media try to write and create visual content that appeals to people who have no knowledge of the movie industry. Most people and companies don't frequently move, so you need to generate a steady flow of leads and prospects to fuel your business. Such a need requires that you maintain a regular social media schedule where you post and share information frequently enough to keep your audience engaged.

Social Media Monitoring

Part of your social media strategy should include social listening, where you monitor what people say about your business as well as the circumstances that affect people who are in the process of moving. Numerous available third party social media management tools give you the ability to automate social monitoring, so you can stay aware of customer sentiment and your brand’s reputation while staying focused on your business.

When properly executed, your social media monitoring tactics will help you find out whenever someone in your neighborhood is moving. In response, you can proactively offer your services to them. Social media monitoring will also help you find out when customers are not happy with your service, giving you a chance to reach out to them before your reputation suffers.

Reputation Management for Social Media

Customer service is the Achilles’ heel of many firms, so you have a chance to use social media to give your company an edge over your competitors. When people know that they can trust you with their property and possessions and make amends when something goes wrong, they will likely turn to you every time they need to move and recommend you to everyone they know.

For the most part, the quality of your customer service will determine your reputation. Avoid the mistakes that other moving companies make when they think that they will never see their customers again. Some customers might never again need your services, but they know many people who will, at some point, need to move. Therefore, if you create a bad reputation for yourself and your company, you will hurt the long-term performance of your business.

Always respond to feedback and reviews left concerning the performance of your company and the quality of your service. Rather than creating fake positive reviews, encourage your past customers to follow you on social media and leave their comments. They can become your advocates by sharing their positive experience with your company. Always provide honest answers and do everything you can to make sure every one of your customers is completely satisfied.

Software Solutions

You should consider acquiring software that was developed specifically for the movie industry. Such applications use the experience of thousands of firms to create streamlined processes that help you manage scheduling, storage, transportation and billing. You may also need other business software applications that support general business functions. The following steps will help you identify the software solutions that will best meet your needs.

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Before you start shopping for software, write down exactly what you need it to do. You should understand that no application will do everything that you want, so make a list of the features that you must have in order to operate and then, on a separate list, the features that you would like to have. Some features that will interest you address some of the routine tasks you will perform as a mover:

  • Estimates. You can find software designed to help you create precise estimates for moves that guarantee your profitability while supplying value to your customers.
  • Scheduling. The software you buy can help you plan for the allocation of your human and material resources. Scheduling features ensure that you never schedule too much work for the amount of labor and equipment that you have available at any time.
  • HR management. As a business owner you will need to manage payroll and track hours worked by employees. Software can help you quickly get the job done while maintaining a high degree of accuracy.
  • Fleet management. Software can help you track the maintenance needs of your trucks and vans as well as their utilization and location.

Other software applications that might interest you specialize in the management of leads and prospects as well as the coordination of your marketing activities. Bookkeeping software can help you manage your inventories and create a framework for paying your bills and invoicing your customers.

As you shop for software solutions, consider the base price of the software as well as recurring costs such as subscriptions, training, equipment and support options. When you are aware of the total cost of ownership, you can compare various software packages and quickly eliminate the ones that cost too much. Ideally, your product research and shopping activities will create a list of several solutions that might work for your company.

Closely evaluate your short list of applications using trial periods and customer reviews. Get a feel of the quality of customer support that you will receive from each software provider and search online to learn about any possible security issues with the packages that you are considering. After trying each application, you will know which ones have a design and set of features that will best work for you. Include all your staff members in the process of choosing software, because they will need to be comfortable with it as they perform their daily duties.

Social media will serve as an essential promotional tool for your moving company that will help you engage prospects, provide customer service, and manage your reputation. When you have an effective social media strategy in place consider the many software solutions that are designed to help moving companies like yours so that you can operate efficiently and provide the best possible service to moving customers.