Is social media worth it for a local service business?

Usually not first. If people in your town search for what you do and can’t find you, or find you with no reviews, fix that before you make a single video. Short videos can help once that’s done, mostly by showing real jobs to people who are already checking you out. We build a video tool, so we’d rather you heard this from us.

What owners say

• In one survey, 83% of small firms named referrals as a top source of new customers. That’s LocaliQ, which sells marketing.
• Using social media to promote the business ranked 56th of 75 problems in the NFIB’s 2024 survey of small employers, with 5.3% calling it critical.
• 28% of owners say doing more marketing feels too technical, and 25% think it won’t make a real difference. That’s BrightLocal, which also sells to them.
• Owners on Reddit ask whether content brings inquiries, and they’re careful to separate that from likes.

Do these first, in this order

1. Claim your Google Business Profile. You need to meet customers in person during your stated hours, and if you go to them you can show a service area rather than a home address.
2. Claim your place on Apple Maps through Apple Business, which is free. Apple says place cards show across Maps, Safari and Spotlight.
3. Make your name, phone number, hours and service area match everywhere. Search and AI answers repeat what they find, so a mismatch gets repeated.
4. Ask real customers for real reviews right after a good job. Never buy them or write them. The FTC bars fake reviews.
5. Give each service you really offer its own plain page: what it is, where you do it, what it costs if you can say, and how to reach you.
6. Post real photos of real jobs. Google says business profiles and good images can help you show up in its AI answers too.

When video is worth it

• You’ve done the list above and want more people to remember you.
• Your work is visual: a before and after, a finished job, a quick repair.
• You can name who it’s for and where: “a burst pipe at 2 a.m. in Ocala” beats “quality service”.
• You’ll keep it up for months. One a week you can hold beats daily for a fortnight.

If your calendar is already full from referrals, you may not need any of it. That’s a fine place to be.

Lou by Luven AI is being built to make short videos from your site and your photos, and post them once you approve. It belongs after the list above. It isn’t open yet, and we have no results from local businesses to show you.

How we write these: with AI help, from the sources we link, with dates. Counts marked as ours were made by an AI reader with no second check. If something’s wrong, email everest@luven.ai and we’ll fix it and say so.