Nearly all consumers today are on the Web to search for businesses - and most of them are on Facebook.

Facebook is the largest social networking platform by FAR, with more than a billion total monthly active users. A good Facebook presence can help you engage your fans, and grow your business.

But with so many ways to promote your HVAC business on Facebook, it’s hard to know where to start.

The first place to start is to identify your audience.

Creating buyer personas helps you to have a better understanding of your audience. The more you know about them, the better you can target your message. Once you create your ideal buyer persona, you can begin to create a marketing strategy.

You also have to figure out what your goals are or what are you trying to achieve by having your business on Facebook. Is it to create brand or product awareness? To increase your reach and page likes? Generate traffic to your website, or increase sales? By identifying your goals, you can figure out which strategy will help you to achieve each goal.

If your business doesn’t already have a Facebook page, CREATE ONE!

Make sure your Facebook page adequately reflects your business. Be sure to identify keywords that describe your business in your Facebook profile, to lead new and existing customers to your page.

Make sure to pay close attention to your Cover image, Profile image, and About section on your HVAC business’ Facebook page.

Facebook has certain image specifications for each image, so be sure to upload images that are within Facebook’s guidelines. Use your business's logo as the primary photo for your Page, and pick a cover photo that is attractive and showcases what your business does.

Your cover image is prime real-estate on your Facebook Page, and it’s the first thing your visitors will see. List your HVAC business’ address and telephone number so that customers can leave reviews and your Facebook page can be searchable through Google.

It’s not enough simply to “be” on Facebook. You need to create interesting content for your fans.

The most successful Facebook posts – the ones that drive the most people to comment, share and like – are short and visual.

Look for ways to add a visual element to your posts, whether it’s a short video clip, a photo from the office, or just a shared image. Now that most companies are leveraging social media for business, the issue of over-promoting and spamming is bigger than ever.

Your job is to break through a lot of the noise and directly impact your potential customers with your content. If you’re using your business’ Facebook page for self-promotion, you’re missing the point. It’s called social media for a reason.

Some businesses fall short by posting too much about only their business and soliciting to fans, that they drive them away.

There is a well-known 70/20/10 rule for managing your content on Facebook: 70% of the content you share on Facebook should be material and content that your target audiences will find valuable in the HVAC industry. This would include blogs posts related to your business, or things that add value to build your brand recognition. 20% should be sharing others’ content or interacting with other businesses on Facebook. 10% should be promotional content.

This would be anything with specific calls to action including specials and promotional offers.

After all that is done, monitor your success.

Facebook’s Page Insights tool helps take the guesswork out of sharing. The tool, accessible from your Facebook Page’s Admin menu, provides valuable information on follower activity. It can tell you what time most people view your content so you can plan your promotions. Find your rhythm by testing your frequency of your posts and watching your numbers to optimize on posting to your audience.

After that, post and repeat!