You jump on Instagram with the intention of posting a picture to attract customers. You tell yourself, "I'm just gonna make one quick post." Sure you are.
Forty-five minutes later, after watching a guy replace bearings in a rusted-through keyed shaft motor from 1985 and a rather intense retort to another pool pro about chlorine lock, you've already lost the plot.
An hour later, you realize you still haven't posted the picture.
Social media is screen-time crack for business owners.
There are things in the real world that need your attention, unlike those cliff-hanging fishing videos that show the cast, the strike, the fight, almost landing the fish... then cut off, leaving you screaming, "WHAT KIND OF FISH WAS IT?!"
The worst part? I know better, but I watch the damn things, too.
I sit there thinking, "This is stupid."
Then I watch another one.
And another one.
Next thing I know, I've watched 15 minutes of people daring Mike Rowe to spend a day doing what pool pros do for a living. I leave irritated…
Mostly because I know they got me.
THE SMARTEST TECH IN THE ROOM
Facebook doesn't make money because you are marketing your company. Facebook makes money because you forgot to.
That's a hell of a business model.
Here's where social media really screws with your head. It doesn't just distract you. It convinces you to talk to the wrong people.
Think about why you opened social in the first place. You wanted to give your business some exposure, to post a picture to remind homeowners, apartment managers, hotel engineers, HOA board members, and property managers that you exist.
Those are the people who pay your bills.
But here you are, watching people hit 94-foot jumpshots and rabbit-body-cam footage of a race through the underground, or you're lost in a pointless argument with your own colleagues about enzymes, natural pools, salt pools, liquid chlorine, trichlor... take your pick. The topic changes. The fight never does. Half the time, we aren't even arguing about science anymore. We're arguing because nobody wants to be the first guy to say, "You know what... you've got a point." The biggest goal for some is to prove they're the smartest tech in the room. You know that person. Don't be that person.
I get it.
You're out there by yourself all day. The customer sees the finished pool. They don't see the biohazard you walked into that morning. They don't see the pool filter that exploded when you overtightened the band clamp. They don't see the hundred little problems you fixed before lunch. Sometimes you want to talk to people who get it.
So you log in at the end of the day to market your business, but like every high school kid in America, you end up marketing yourself.
STOP SCROLLING
For me, my posts were primarily Green-to-Cleans. Swamp-to-Swims. Call 'em whatever you want. People can't get enough of before-and-after pictures. Doesn't matter if it's Reddit, X, or whatever app is stealing everybody's time this week. Show a pool that looks like the Creature from the Black Lagoon lives in it, then show it crystal clear two days later, and people upvote like crazy.
As miserable as those swamp vomit green-to-clean jobs were, they made great content. Maybe I'd pull out a turtle. Maybe a snake. Maybe some long-haired mystery creature that looked like somebody wrung out a shag carpet and threw it over a skeleton. People loved those pictures because they weren't just another clean pool. They were proof somebody had to deal with the nasty stuff nobody wants to think about.
"Hope there isn't a body in there."
Pool guys and gals don't laugh.
We've all thought it.
That's just another Tuesday.
But seriously, folks, every post ought to do something. Teach somebody something. Make 'em laugh. Get 'em talking. If it doesn't do at least one of those things, you had no reason to go to social media in the first place.
Sooner or later, all that posting has to put money in the bank. If it isn't getting somebody to visit your website, pick up the phone, fill out a contact form, or remember your name when they need a pool guy, you're not marketing.
You're just entertaining people you'll probably never meet. Then the books, grams, toks, and tweets do exactly what they were built to do. They distract you just long enough to forget why you opened the app in the first place.
A manufacturer drops some shiny new widget. Somebody tags you. Your buddy posts a picture of the new truck he probably shouldn't have financed. Then somebody asks a poll question.
Damn it.
You know the answer.
You know 'THE' answer.
So you stop scrolling.
One guy says phosphates. Another says phosphates are a scam. Then somebody drops cyanuric acid into the comments, and the whole place catches fire. Twenty comments later, you're explaining water chemistry to three strangers, two anonymous accounts, and a guy whose profile picture looks like he should be a character on The Simpsons.
A couple of hours go by. You lean back in your chair feeling pretty good about yourself. Then it hits you. You never posted the damn picture!
GET IN, GET OUT, QUIT MESSING ABOUT
Before you open social media, know exactly why you're opening it. Post today's Green-to-Clean. Answer yesterday's comments. Reply to your messages. Check your analytics.
You've got to treat Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, or whatever like a 7-Eleven in a bad neighborhood. Get in. Get what you came for. Get the hell out.
If you catch yourself watching a guy pouring undiluted acid directly onto a cartridge, then the books, the grams, the toks, and tweets won.
Unless you're getting paid to grin like the girl in the Obsession movie while holding up a bottle of whatever this week's miracle product is, likes don't pay for a damn thing. I don't care if it gets 50,000.
Did anybody visit your website?
Did the phone ring?
Did somebody fill out your contact form?
Did you book an estimate?
Did you sell anything?
That's the only scoreboard that matters.
The electric company doesn't accept Facebook likes. Your mortgage company doesn't care how many people hit the laugh emoji. Your truck payment has never once been impressed by a viral post. Did you realize you still haven't posted that damned picture yet?
Social media isn't broken.
It's doing exactly what it was designed to do.
