7 Facebook groups: win the thread
Facebook is the #2 place in the country where people ask "who do you recommend?", right behind Google. But the value is NOT on your business page. It is in the comments on a neighbor's post.
Build your map: 12 groups, not 50
In the Facebook search bar type your town plus one word at a time, and filter to Groups. Only join groups with posts from the last 24 hours, and only 1 or 2 per day:
"[town] Homeowners" · "[town] Community" · "[town] Neighbors" · "Buy Sell Trade [town]" · "[town] Moms" · "[town] Recommendations" · "[town] Real Estate Investors" (landlords buy repeat work)
In Spanish: "Latinos en [town]" · "Hispanos en [town]" · "[town] en Español" · "Negocios Latinos [town]". Spanish language groups have far fewer contractors inside. If you speak Spanish, that is an unfair advantage almost nobody uses.
Spend the first 30 days as a neighbor, not as a business
The first month: zero posts about your business. Comment to help. Answer questions about your trade. Fill out your PERSONAL profile so it says your trade and your town, with a good job photo as the cover. Post as YOU, a person. Business pages barely get seen for free any more, and many groups block them as ads. The page is for proof: photos, hours, reviews.
Win the recommendation thread. That is the whole game.
Every week somebody posts "can anybody recommend a good [your trade]?". Turn on notifications for your best 3 or 4 groups and answer within the first hour. Four lines in public: your name, that you are local (say the town), one line of proof, and a free check. Then ONE private message, and that is it. Never comment "I sent you a DM".
Why speed wins: in a secret shopper study of 466 service businesses, 95% did not answer within 5 minutes and 40% never answered at all. Getting there first and sounding human beats being big. And fifty lurkers read that comment, not just the person who asked. The proof goes in the comment.
Ask to be TAGGED, not praised
A neighbor tagging you is worth ten comments of your own. Today only 42% trust online reviews as much as a personal recommendation (down from 79% in 2020). A tag IS a personal recommendation.
The post that always works: before and after
Take the "before" photo before you set down your tools, on every job, standing where you will take the "after". Every week or two, post a pair with the name of the neighborhood (never the house number) and what the customer got: "no more draft in the back bedroom". It reads like content, not like an ad, and that is why it survives the hard group rules.