Why Your Gold Coast Tradie Business Doesn’t Need More Instagram Posts

You know that nagging feeling that you should be posting more on social media?

Someone told you that you need to be on Instagram. Or Facebook. Or TikTok now, apparently. They said you need to build your following. Post three times a week. Show behind the scenes content. Engage with your audience.

So you feel guilty every time you don’t post. You spend Sunday night trying to think of something interesting to say about plumbing or electrical work or painting. You take photos on job sites. You worry that your competitors are posting more than you.

Here’s the thing. You’re worrying about the wrong part of your marketing entirely.

How People Actually Find Tradies on the Gold Coast

Let me walk you through what actually happens when someone needs a tradie.

Their hot water system breaks at 9pm on a Tuesday. Or they notice a leak under the sink. Or they finally decide to get those walls painted before Christmas.

They don’t open Instagram and start scrolling through tradie accounts hoping to find someone. They don’t check Facebook to see which electrician posted a nice photo last week.

They open Google. They type “emergency plumber Burleigh” or “electrician near me” or “house painter Southport.”

Then they look at the map results. Those three businesses that show up with the little red pins. They scan the star ratings. They check how many reviews each one has. They look at the photos.

If something catches their eye, they click through to the website. They want to see if you’re legit. If you service their area. If you can handle their specific problem. What your pricing looks like.

Then they call. Or fill out the contact form if it’s after hours.

That’s the journey. Google. Map. Maybe website. Phone call.

Social media doesn’t come into it at all.

The Foundation Most Tradies Are Missing

Here’s what I see constantly with Gold Coast tradie businesses.

They’re stressing about their Instagram feed. Meanwhile, their Google Business Profile hasn’t been touched in two years.

They’re planning content calendars. But if you Google their service and suburb, they don’t even show up in the map pack.

They’re trying to grow their following. Yet they have 8 reviews from 2019 and nothing since.

They’re posting photos of their work. But their website is a single page with a phone number and nothing else. No service areas listed. No indication of what they actually do. No way for someone to get a quote outside of calling.

You can’t skip the foundation and jump straight to social media. That’s like worrying about what color to paint the house before you’ve poured the concrete slab.

What Actually Needs to Be in Place First

Before you waste another minute on social media, you need three things sorted.

First, a properly set up Google Business Profile.

I don’t mean claimed and verified. I mean actually optimized. Your services listed. Your service areas set correctly. Your opening hours accurate. Photos of your work, your team, your vehicles. Posts at least once a month. Every category and attribute filled out.

This matters because 46% of all Google searches are looking for local information. And when someone searches for your service on the Gold Coast, that map pack at the top gets more clicks than anything else on the page.

If you’re not in that map pack, you don’t exist to most people searching for what you do.

Second, reviews. Lots of them. Recent ones.

Someone searching for a tradie sees three businesses in the map results. One has 47 five-star reviews from the last six months. One has 12 reviews from two years ago. One has 3 reviews.

Who do you think they call?

You need a system to ask every happy customer for a review. Not once in a while. Every single time you finish a job they’re happy with.

Third, a website that actually helps people decide to call you.

Not a fancy website. Not an expensive website. Just a functional one that answers the questions someone has when they’re trying to figure out if you’re the right tradie for their job.

What areas do you cover? What services do you offer? Do you do residential, commercial, or both? Can you show examples of your work? How do they get a quote?

That’s it. You need those three things dialed in before social media even enters the conversation.

Why Social Media Can Wait

Let’s be honest about what social media actually does for tradie businesses.

It builds brand awareness. It keeps you top of mind for people who already know you. It can help with referrals from existing customers who see your posts and think of their mate who needs a plumber.

But it doesn’t generate leads from people who don’t already know you exist.

Think about it from your own experience. When was the last time you needed a tradie and thought to check Instagram first? Never. Because that’s not how it works.

Social media is for businesses selling products people browse for. Clothing. Food. Lifestyle stuff. Things people discover while scrolling.

Nobody discovers their need for an electrician while scrolling Instagram. They discover it when a light switch stops working.

The Order That Actually Makes Sense

Here’s the right order to build your marketing for a Gold Coast tradie business.

Stage one is your Google Business Profile. Get it optimized properly. Make sure you show up in map results for your services in your suburbs. This is where 80% of your leads will come from.

Stage two is reviews. Build a system to get at least two to three reviews per month. Every month. Consistently. This is what gets you from position three in the map pack to position one.

Stage three is a functional website. Doesn’t need to be beautiful. Needs to be clear. What you do. Where you do it. How to contact you. Examples of your work. Done.

Stage four is making sure people can actually reach you. That means a phone number that’s answered during business hours. Or an SMS option for after hours. Or a contact form that goes to your phone, not an email you check once a week.

Get those four things right and you’ll have more work than you can handle on the Gold Coast.

Then, if you still have time and energy left over, think about social media. But not before.

What Happens When You Skip the Basics

I’ve seen this play out dozens of times.

A tradie spends three months building up their Instagram. Posts consistently. Gets a few hundred followers. Feels like they’re doing the right thing.

Meanwhile, a competitor down the road has never posted on social media once. But they have 60 recent reviews and a properly optimized Google Business Profile.

The Instagram tradie gets maybe one enquiry a month from social media. The other tradie gets five to ten leads a week from Google.

Same services. Same area. Same quality of work. Completely different results.

Why? Because one focused on where customers actually look, and the other focused on where marketing gurus said they should be.

The Real Cost of Social Media

Let’s talk about what posting on social media actually costs you.

Not money. Time.

Taking photos on every job site. Thinking of captions. Scheduling posts. Responding to comments. Checking your insights to see if anyone engaged.

Let’s say you spend one hour per week on social media. That’s 52 hours per year.

What could you do with 52 hours instead?

You could ask every customer for a review and respond to every review you get. That would take you maybe 10 minutes per customer. At 52 hours, that’s 312 customers you could follow up with properly.

You could create actual service pages on your website for every suburb you work in. Detailed pages that rank in Google. That would take you maybe 2 hours per page. You could knock out 26 suburb pages.

You could optimize your Google Business Profile properly. Add posts. Update photos. Fill out every field. Answer questions. That would take you maybe 5 hours total to get it perfect.

See the difference? 52 hours on social media might get you one or two leads if you’re lucky. 52 hours on the basics would transform your lead flow entirely.

When Social Media Actually Makes Sense

I’m not saying social media is useless for every tradie business. There are times when it makes sense.

If you’ve already got everything else sorted. Your Google Business Profile is optimized. You’re getting consistent reviews. Your website is clear and functional. You’re showing up in map results. You’re getting plenty of leads.

Then sure, add social media as an extra channel. Use it to stay top of mind with past customers. Share your work because you enjoy it, not because you think you have to.

If you do specialized or premium work that has a longer sales cycle. Maybe you do high-end renovations or custom builds. People might follow you for months watching your projects before they’re ready to book.

If you genuinely enjoy it and it doesn’t stress you out. Some business owners like sharing their work. If that’s you, and it’s not taking time away from actual lead generation, go for it.

But if you’re a standard tradie business on the Gold Coast doing everyday plumbing, electrical, painting, building work, and you’re stressing about social media, stop. You don’t need it yet.

What You Should Be Doing Instead

This week, forget about social media entirely.

Go to your Google Business Profile. When was the last time you updated it? Add five new photos of recent jobs. Write a post about a common problem you solve. Update your service list. Make sure your areas are correct.

Then go through your recent jobs. Pick the five customers who were happiest with your work. Text them. Ask if they’d mind leaving you a review. Send them the direct link to make it easy.

Then look at your website. Can someone figure out in 10 seconds what you do and where you do it? If not, fix that. Add a simple headline. List your services. List your suburbs. Add a contact form that actually works.

Do those three things and I guarantee you’ll get more leads in the next month than six months of Instagram posts would ever bring you.

The Simple Truth

Your customers aren’t on social media looking for tradies. They’re on Google looking for solutions to problems.

Your competitors who are booked out three weeks in advance aren’t posting on Instagram every day. They’re showing up first in Google map results because they focused on what actually matters.

You can spend your limited time trying to build a social media following. Or you can spend it making sure you’re visible when someone in your area needs exactly what you do.

One strategy makes you feel like you’re doing marketing. The other one actually brings you customers.

Your call.