Hardwood Floors June/July 2018

By Katrina Olson

such and such on Instagram and decided to give you a call.’ So it does actually translate to calls, and those calls often lead to sales.” VALENTI CAPITALIZES ON PLATFORM’S GROWTH

Following are some examples of how savvy wood flooring professionals are using Instagram to build their brands and grow their businesses. From engaging with customers and fellow craftspeople to driving quotes and sales, each user’s story is a little different. NEUROH SEES BIG RESULTS AFTER SMALL CHANGE Kyle Neuroh, owner of Neuroh Hardwood (@neurohhardwood) in Nashville, Tennessee, started using Instagram for his flooring installation and finishing business just over a year ago. “I noticed a trend toward people using Instagram. I saw it as a way to set myself apart in my area,” shared Neuroh.

@valentiflooring

@neurohhardwood

Julia Valenti and her husband, Phil, own Valenti Flooring (@valentiflooring) in Ronkonkoma, New York, on Long Island, which offers materials supply, installation, repair, restoration, and dustless refinishing. They specialize in creating custom designed floors for upscale clients. Valenti has been using Instagram for five or six years because, as she put it, “Social media is the future of our market. If you’re not representing yourself in the digital world, you’re losing business.” Like most business people, Valenti has limited time to dedicate to social media, so she’s selective about which platforms she uses. “I have to make the best use of my time and pick the outlets that are the most financially rewarding. Snapchat is more of a youth-populated app with not as many serious potential clients,” explains Valenti, “but more people are looking on Instagram for home renovation and design inspiration. We also cross-post from Instagram to Facebook, which has an older audience with more money, so there’s more potential for us.” Like Neuroh, Valenti gets feedback from customers and receives calls for quotes because people saw their work on Instagram. Of course, they also get plenty of referrals, but Valenti says being present on social media helps. “If you have work that’s worth looking at, post it! It can only help you.”

Neuroh had previously used Facebook, but wasn’t happy with the results, especially when he learned that Facebook had changed its algorithms to intentionally limit organic distribution of content. According to Facebook, “We expect organic distribution of an individual page’s posts to gradually decline over time…The best way to get your stuff seen if you’re a business is to pay for it.” Rather than paying to boost Facebook posts or run ads, Neuroh moved to Instagram. “I’ve gotten more feedback, more activity, and more followers in one year of using Instagram than in four years of using Facebook. On my Facebook business profile, I might get a handful of views or likes – maybe two or three for a specific post. I get hundreds on Instagram. It was like night and day as far as people seeing and interacting with our content.” But does that interaction translate to sales? For Neuroh Hardwood, it does. “Sometimes I’ll have a client say, ‘Hey, I saw

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