The usual advice is to be everywhere. For a home service company that is wrong, and expensively so: three abandoned profiles do more damage than one maintained profile, because a page whose last post was 2023 tells a homeowner you might not be trading.
Here is an honest read on each platform for the trades, including the ones to skip.
Facebook, where your customers actually are
If you do one, do this one. The audience for home services skews toward homeowners aged 35 and up, which is precisely Facebook’s remaining core.
More importantly, it is where the local recommendation happens. Someone posts “can anyone recommend a plumber?” in a neighbourhood group and gets fourteen replies. Being tagged in those threads is worth more than anything you publish yourself.
Two practical notes. Local community groups are usually more valuable than your own page: join the ones covering your service area, and be useful rather than promotional. And keep your page’s hours and phone number accurate, because it is a listing as much as a feed.
Nextdoor, the one most contractors miss
Nextdoor is built almost entirely around neighbours asking each other for recommendations, which is exactly how home services get chosen. For the trades it punches well above its size.
Claim your business page. Then treat it like Facebook’s community groups: answer questions in your area, help where it costs you nothing, and let the recommendations follow. Overtly selling on Nextdoor is noticed and resented quickly.
Worth knowing that a single bad thread can travel further here than elsewhere, because the audience is genuinely local and reads carefully.
Instagram, for visual trades only
Ask honestly whether your work photographs well.
Roofing, remodelling, landscaping, hardscaping, pool work: yes. There is a real before-and-after, and it carries. Drain cleaning, water heater swaps, electrical panel work, much less so, and forcing it produces a feed of things nobody wants to look at.
If your trade qualifies, Instagram is worth real effort. If it does not, it is the first platform to drop.
YouTube: high cost, long life
The videos that work for contractors are explanatory rather than promotional: what a failing part sounds like, what a repair actually involves, what a quote covers.
The catch is production. A useful video is a genuine time investment, and half-hearted ones do nothing. But unlike a social post, a good one keeps earning for years and shows up in search.
Reasonable if you have someone who enjoys making them. Not a priority otherwise.
TikTok: probably not, and that is fine
The audience skews younger and rents more, which is the opposite of who buys a furnace. Contractors do occasionally do well there, and when they do it is almost always because one person genuinely enjoys making the videos.
If that person is not on your team, this is not a gap in your marketing. It is a platform that does not match your customer.
LinkedIn, only if you sell to businesses
Irrelevant for residential work. Genuinely useful if you do commercial contracts, property management, or new construction, where the buyer is a facilities manager rather than a homeowner.
Split by revenue: if commercial is a meaningful share of your book, LinkedIn deserves attention. If not, ignore it entirely.
Choose by what you will maintain
The platform question matters less than the sustainability question. One account posted to consistently beats four that go quiet, and going quiet is the default outcome when a contractor commits to four.
For most home service companies the honest answer is Facebook plus Nextdoor, with Instagram added if the work photographs well. That is the whole list.
Whichever you choose, the profile details should match your website and your Google Business Profile: name, phone number and hours drift apart across platforms faster than anything else.
Frequently asked questions
Which social platform is best for home service companies?
Facebook, because its core audience is homeowners aged 35 and up and because local recommendation threads happen there. Nextdoor is a close second for the trades specifically, since it is built around neighbours recommending services to each other.
Do contractors need to be on TikTok?
Usually not. The audience skews younger and rents more, which is the opposite of who buys heating and roofing. Contractors who succeed there almost always have one person who genuinely enjoys making the videos; without that, it is not a gap worth filling.
Is Instagram worth it for a plumber?
Less than for roofing or landscaping. Instagram rewards work that photographs well, and much of plumbing does not. If your trade produces a real before-and-after, it earns its place; if not, it is the first platform to drop.
How many platforms should a contractor be on?
One or two, maintained. Three abandoned profiles are worse than one active page, because a feed that stopped two years ago suggests the business may have stopped too.
Where to start
Pick the one platform you will genuinely keep up with, and close or quietly leave the others rather than letting them sit stale. If you are unsure which, it is Facebook.
Real Time Marketing has worked with home service contractors since 2016: plumbing, HVAC, roofing, electrical and other trades, nationwide, from our office in Bradenton, Florida. Agreements are month-to-month. See our social media marketing service or book a strategy call.
