Elevating Your Social Media Ft. Hunski Hardwoods

March 22, 2022

Elevating Your Social Media Ft. Hunski Hardwoods

“With social media, you’re pretty fluent at all that stuff, and you’re a great content creator. So I’m trying to focus on that. There’s been a challenge of what to post. Everyone uses social media to help grow their business, and it’s just being consistent with it.”

Nick Hunsaker

Nick and his father have built Hunski Hardwoods together based on strong relationships with people and an early and effective online presence through SEO and their website. However, in the modern online landscape, having effective social media is arguably the most essential aspect of your online presence. Steve is an expert in using social media to its fullest potential, and he helps provide Nick with some much-needed direction.

“So there’s a couple of things. I call it People, Product, and Process. Those are your three main pillars; for people, that means you, your dad, your subcontractors, anybody that’s part of the process. It’s about showing them and telling stories about them. That’s people.

Process means showing pictures of you milling, felling trees, and using the caption to tell the stories from there. Instagram used to be about photos, but it’s more about video right now. The more you can get people to look at your videos; the longer Instagram rewards your page with the algorithm so that you can get more views.

The last is the product. This is showing you walking through your yard of the 1000 logs and just saying, ‘Oh, my God, we’ve got so much work to do. Please buy these logs off of us.’ Then you can put a call to action. Again, don’t just take a picture; take a video of the table and of you walking around it with the finish on top.”

Steve Larosiliere

Understanding What Your Social Media Needs

Not all social media platforms are created equal, and some require different approaches than others. Keep in mind the most effective practices for each social media platform as you develop your online presence. However, no matter what platform you are using, it’s essential to have fun with your process and keep coming up with new ideas to put into action.

“Instagram is all about vertical orientation, so don’t post photos. You can take two pictures at once, one horizontal, one vertical, then take video, one horizontal, one vertical of the same thing. It avoids that black bar on top, which aesthetically looks better. That way, you’re taking up the entire screen.

So that picture of you milling large Monterey, Cypress cookies today. These slabs are so cool. I would take a video of them, find a trending song on reels, then post something like, ‘Oh, look at these Monterey cypress cookies!’ You should also take a video of you spraying a cookie with water because people love seeing the grain shown off.

The Instagram algorithm is so weird. I just reposted a video of somebody putting a finish on a table. 45,000 views. I have another client. Matt Ruben. I told him, “Reels, reels, reels, reels, reels, only post reels.” He was like, ‘I just did what you said. And I got 15,000 followers in a month.’”

Steve Larosilere

Take Advantage of Every Moment

Many of these tips for maximizing the impact of social media are very basic, but it takes a while to form the habits needed to take advantage of them. Nick found that when he sprayed water on a cookie for him to see the grain, he had a natural reaction of how incredible it is. The trick is to always be ready to catch those transitory moments of the woodworking process.

“That’s how you kind of need to think. Going into each day, you know what you’re going to do. So start planning in your head, ‘Okay, this is an opportunity. I have to turn on the planer or the surfacer and the mill. Then I’m going to set up my tripod, and I’m going to put it on time-lapse. Add it to your day.

Then think about things that would be cool, and grab them as soon as the opportunity presents itself. Again, don’t turn it horizontal; just hold the phone vertically. Remember to think about the three pillars, people, product, process, throughout the day. If a customer comes by, make sure you take a selfie with them, or take a video with them and be like, ‘Hey, what did you come and pick up today? Why did you buy from us?’

Then you can tag them, and then they can reshare it. Even with you and me right now, I’m interviewing you because I want to be able to add value to my listeners. For you, you need to add value to your followers, and I’ll give you a little bonus one right now. I think you may be able to turn your 1000 log problem into a business opportunity.

You can set up milling days, where you can throw a party, and it’d be like from 10 to four. People can come by and pick a log, they can get in the queue, and you will mill it, stack it, sticker it, and put it in the back of their truck. They can air dry it or put it into your ‘to-dry’ pile, and you can dry it for them. Then they pick it up in however many weeks but make a party out of it.”