There was a time when any installer without a website would feel a little uncomfortable when someone asked them for their web address. Jesse Bradley, owner of SBC Septic Services in Penticton, British Columbia, has never had a website, instead relying on Facebook and increasingly using Instagram to promote his company.
“It’s generally people who are over 40 who ask, ‘Where's your web page?,’” Bradley says. “They can't believe that somebody just has a social media presence and they tell me it isn’t good enough — but it is.”
SBC still counts on word of mouth and the organic advertising on the sides of the company’s service trucks to generate business, but it’s the company’s Facebook page and Instagram account that help web searchers find them and learn more about the business.
“If you want to see the power of those two platforms, when I changed our company name from SBC Excavation to SBC Septic Services in 2020, it almost immediately turned off all the phone calls I didn’t want,” he recalls. “The requests to excavate driveways dropped to near zero.”
Bradley posts frequent project stories on his social media sites, complete with detailed progress photos as part of an effort to promote customer education.
“The good stuff is underground and this gives people a chance to see it before it's covered up,” he says. “When I was in excavation, I used to ask myself why septic systems were so expensive and why they needed professionals to design them. We’re showing them it’s not just a hole in the ground with some rocks in it. It’s a miniature wastewater treatment system designed by a professional.”
Bradley says that customers still need to be reminded to pump their tanks regularly, particularly when they see lush, emerald green grass growing in the dispersal area.
“They think it’s great,” Bradley says. “But unfortunately it means the system is reaching the end of its service life.”
Bradley isn’t shy to call out the brand names and suppliers he uses in hashtags on his Instagram posts.
“When you use hashtags featuring the names of your equipment brand or truck brand, it just reaches further and further into the community of Instagram,” he says. “When I tag South Okanagan Concrete Products, our septic tank supplier, they spread that post through their community as well, because they’re proud of their product. This feature is one of the reasons that the Instagram platform has grown so much.”
Read more about SBC Septic Services in a profile in this month's issue of Onsite Installer.
