Cutting In with Bobby’s Decorating Company

In today’s digital age, social media has become a powerful tool for decorators and other tradespeople looking to showcase their skills and grow their business. But how can you navigate the fast-paced world of social media and what steps can you take to increase the success of your socials? To shed some light on the subject we sat down with David from Bobby’s Decorating Company who has shot to social media success with almost 75 thousand followers across Instagram, Facebook and TikTok sharing a range of decorating tips, tricks and insights from life in the painting and decorating trade.

In this Q&A we delve deeper into David’s experience so far with social media and the challenges posed by social media today. David also shares his top tips on how to grow your social media and increase the number of jobs you win off the back of growing your following. Plus, we discuss the challenges posed by digital marketing, collaborating with brands and how to keep your social media content fresh.

What inspired you to focus on social media?

“When I first went alone a little over 6 years ago I was encouraged by friends to start a Facebook page to get my name out there. Being not to keen on Facebook I opted for an Instagram page which I was told wouldn’t generate nearly as much work as Facebook.”

“My initial goal was just to have work consistently!”

What do you look to achieve with your social media?

“My main goal to achieve through social media has and will always be to keep the jobs rolling in. Some people don’t believe me when I tell them, but 90/95% of my work comes through social media (Instagram). Obviously now I’m more established I have return customers and recommendations/word of mouth but the bulk is still coming through the DM’s!”

Why do you mostly post video content and would you recommend this to others?

“My work is majority video (Instagram Reel) format because reels gain the most reach. The more people I reach, the more people follow me, the more people follow me the bigger my company becomes and the more work rolls in- it’s simple.”

“There’s so many quality decorators on the app but they don’t have a clue how to use social media and it’s why their pages fail to grow. I wouldn’t only recommend using reels but I would also recommend following pages outside of our niche (decorating) – there’s some brilliant accounts on Instagram that teach you how to make engaging content, the importance of using hooks in your reels etc people don’t want to watch a boring 1 frame video of you waffling on or showing us around your job.”

“The human attention span is shorter than ever and you now have less than a second to grab someone’s attention. Think how quickly you doom scroll- how long do you give until you flick on to the next video? Ask yourself – would I stop and watch the video I just post.”

What challenges did you face when building your page?

The challenges initially faced were growing my page past my friends from my personal page. Of course you follow decorators and get followed back, but they’re not potential customers. But the introduction of reels eliminated that – there’s no limit to the amount of people you can reach. I’ve had half a dozen or so reels hit the 1m mark now and 1 that even hit 7.6 million people – that’s insane!”

How do you come up with fresh ideas for content?

“I feel like coming up with new ideas is becoming harder and harder as more and more decorators join Instagram; the amount of times I’ve had an idea and before I’ve had a chance to make the content I’ve seen another decorator do it first so I’ve totally scrapped it as I don’t want to look like I’ve stolen it from them! But just scrolling through Instagram or TikTok’s you can get ideas from others niches and make it relatable to our trade. Sometimes keeping it fresh can just mean being yourself – surely my account is proof that you don’t have to be a robot to grow and get the work rolling in.

“In a world full of fakeness – just be you.”

Have you seen your social media success translate into business success?

The more my page grows the more work enquiries roll in. It’s crazy the amount of enquiries my page generates – I think I could probably fill my calendar 4 or 5 times over but it’s just impossible to get to or even reply to everyone! I know it’s not hard to fill your diary being a 1 man band but I’m just saying the work is out there – you just need to put yourself out there.”

What has your experience with brand collaborations been like?

“So the last 12-18 months I have done a bit of collaboration work with other brands.”

“It’s been a great experience and it’s always good to step out your comfort zone, and who can say they don’t love a cheeky little freebie haha I wouldn’t say the collars have massively benefited the business in a way of bringing in more work, but the products I’m being asked to review and sent to trial are obviously beneficial to the business.”

Top 3 tips for decorators starting social media

1. Put yourself out there – “POST! Don’t be scared to post and put yourself out there”
2. Make engaging content – “Learn how to make catchy, engaging content. Scroll through the FYP, see what videos have gone viral, how they work, try and learn something from videos that are clearly reaching many people.”
3. Stay consistent – “Don’t give up. You’re not going to go viral all the time, or most the time, but the more consistent you are with it, the better you will get with it and you will inevitably see growth!”

What’s your focus for the year ahead on social media?

“I feel I’ve grown my page now to a point I’m happy with; more than enough work is coming through the doors and more messages in my DM’s than I can keep up with! The next natural stage of progression I feel is paid collaborations with brands I truly believe in.”

We’d like to say a big thank you to David for sharing his experiences and we can’t wait to see his journey continue. You can follow David on his socials to stay up to date with his latest content, catch him on TikTok, Instagram and Facebook.