Let me ask you something. When was the last time you posted on social media for your pest control company?
If you’re like most owners I talk to, it’s probably been a few weeks. Maybe a few months. Or maybe you’ve never posted anything at all.
And I get it. You’re busy. You’re running routes, managing technicians, answering phones, dealing with customers. The last thing you want to do is pull out your phone and start filming yourself talking about ants.
But here’s what you need to understand. Social media for pest control isn’t optional anymore. It’s not some nice to have thing you’ll get to eventually. It’s one of the most powerful marketing tools you have access to, and it costs you exactly zero dollars to use it.
I’m Jonas Olson, CEO of Pest Badger, a $10 million pest control company. We have over 140,000 subscribers on YouTube, 60,000 followers on Instagram, and millions of views across TikTok, Facebook, and other platforms. I’ve had individual videos get 10 million views. Not paid ads. Organic content.
And I didn’t start with a big team or fancy equipment. I started with my iPhone, terrible lighting, and absolutely no idea what I was doing.
The first 50 videos I made? They sucked. Nobody watched them. I was embarrassed just posting them.
But I kept going. And eventually, I figured out what works. Now we post five to seven times a week with short form content and another two to three times a week with long form. We get millions of views every single month. And more importantly, we get leads. Real customers who found us on social media and called us because they’d seen our content so many times they felt like they already knew us.
That’s the power of social media marketing for pest control. And I’m going to show you exactly how to make it happen, even if you’ve never posted a single video in your life.
The Platforms That Actually Matter for Pest Control Companies
Let’s start with the obvious question. Which social media platform should you be on?
The answer? All of them.
But if you’re just getting started and you can only pick one, start with Facebook.
Here’s why. Facebook is still the largest social network. They have over a billion users. And more importantly for pest control companies, they have an older demographic. People who actually own homes and have money to spend on pest control.
When you post on Facebook, your community sees it. Your friends see it. People in your town see it. It’s geographically targeted in a way that TikTok and YouTube aren’t.
With TikTok, when a video goes viral, it goes viral across the country. Maybe across the world. Which is great for building brand awareness, but if you’re a local pest control company in Green Bay, Wisconsin, those views from California and Texas don’t turn into customers.
Facebook is different. Most of your audience is going to be local. So the leads you get are way higher quality.
That said, you absolutely should be on TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram too. TikTok is the easiest to grow on right now. The algorithm is insane. You can go from zero followers to thousands in a matter of weeks if you get the formula right.
YouTube is the best for long term growth. Videos on YouTube can rank and get views for years. I have videos from two years ago that still get thousands of views every single month.
Instagram is great for that younger demographic. We get a ton of leads from Instagram, and the engagement is usually really good.
And here’s the underrated platform nobody’s talking about. LinkedIn.
I slept on LinkedIn for way too long. I was late to the party. But the growth potential on LinkedIn right now is crazy. When someone comments on your post, all of their connections see it. It spreads fast.
If you do any commercial work, LinkedIn is where you need to be. Business owners, property managers, facility managers, they’re all on LinkedIn.
So yeah, you should be on all the platforms. But don’t let that overwhelm you. The beauty of short form content is that you can film one video and post it everywhere.
What to Actually Post (Without Running Out of Ideas)
Alright, so you know which platforms to be on. Now what the hell do you post?
This is where most pest control owners freeze up. They think they need some genius content strategy or a full production team.
You don’t.
Here’s what you need to understand. Your customers have questions. Tons of them.
How much does pest control cost? What does a technician actually do when they show up? How long does the service last? What’s the difference between quarterly and monthly service? How do you get rid of bed bugs? What about termites? What about ants?
Those are all videos.
Go through the questions that come into your office every single week. The questions your CSRs answer on the phone. The questions your technicians get at the door. Those are your content ideas.
Just pull out your phone and answer them.
Now let’s talk about format. Short form is king right now. That’s your 30 to 60 second videos. Those are what cast the widest net. Those are what get millions of views and build your following.
But you also need long form. Long form is what keeps people engaged. Long form is where you provide real value. Long form is where you actually teach people and build trust.
Think of short form as the trailer. Long form is the full movie.
For short form, you want to be moving around. Show the bug. Show the house. Show the service. Don’t just sit in your truck talking to the camera. Movement catches people’s eyes.
For long form, you can sit down. You can do a more in depth explanation. You can go into detail.
And here’s something most people don’t realize. You should be in the video. Not always, but most of the time.
Early on, I was in every video. I was the face of the brand. But I didn’t want to build the whole platform around just me, because then I’d have to keep producing content with me in it all the time.
So I started filming my technicians. And some of our best videos now are actually our technicians, not me.
Film them doing the service. Film them answering questions. Film them in action.
And don’t worry about it being perfect. Just document what you’re doing. Every single job is a little bit different. The house is different. The customer is different. The level of infestation is different.
You guys are out there doing inspections all day long. Mosquito jobs, termite jobs, ant jobs. You have so much content available. You’re just not filming it.
How Often You Need to Post (And Why Consistency Beats Perfection)
This is the number one question I get. How often should I be posting?
When you’re just starting out, start slow. Once a week is fine.
Here’s why. Your first 25 to 50 videos are going to take you forever. You don’t know how to film yet. You don’t know how to edit. You’re going to be embarrassed. You’re going to overthink everything.
So don’t try to post every single day right out of the gate. You’ll burn out in two weeks.
Start with one video a week. Get comfortable with the process. Learn how to edit. Figure out what you’re doing.
Then ramp up from there.
Right now we’re posting five to seven times a week with short form and another two to three times a week with long form. But it took us a long time to get there.
And here’s what’s more important than how often you post. Consistency.
Pick a schedule and stick to it. If you’re posting every Monday at noon, post every Monday at noon. Don’t miss weeks.
Think of it like a TV show. When you were a kid, your favorite cartoon came on Friday nights at 8 PM. Every single Friday. You knew when to expect it.
Your subscribers are the same way. If you post every Monday, they start to expect it. They look forward to it.
The algorithm also rewards consistency. If you post three times one week and then disappear for a month, the algorithm thinks you’re not serious. When you come back, nobody sees your content.
But if you’re consistent, even if it’s just once a week, the algorithm sees you’re committed and it keeps pushing your content.
Now here’s the other thing about timing. Does it matter when you post?
Honestly, not as much as you’d think. We’ve tested this.
Generally, mornings work well. Lunchtime works well. Evenings work well. Those are the times people are scrolling.
But the most important thing is that you post on a consistent schedule. Same day, same time, every single week.
How to Actually Go Viral (The Formula Nobody Talks About)
Alright, let’s talk about virality. Because this is what everyone wants to know.
How do you get a video to go viral?
First, let me break down what viral even means. For some people, viral is 10,000 views. For others it’s 100,000. For us, if a video doesn’t hit at least 10,000 views, we consider it a bad post. Our viral videos are hitting 100,000 to 10 million views.
But when I first started? My first viral video hit 100,000 views and I thought I’d won the lottery.
So what made that video work?
I didn’t even know at the time. I had just bought a brand new aerator. I’d never used one before. I filmed myself walking backwards toward the machine saying, “Hey, I just got this brand new aerator, never used it, come check it out.”
Then I turned around, jumped on the machine, showed how it worked, and explained what it does to the grass. That was it. Maybe 20 or 30 seconds total.
It hit 100,000 views and I was like, that was the dumbest video ever. Why did that work?
Then I went back and studied it. And I realized it was the hook.
Every viral video has the same basic structure:
The Hook (3 seconds): This is your headline. You have three seconds to grab someone’s attention or they’re swiping away. That aerator video worked because I immediately created curiosity. “I’ve never used this thing before, let’s see what happens.”
The Big Reveal (6 to 7 seconds): This is where you show them what they clicked for. In the aerator video, this was me jumping on the machine and showing it in action.
The Insider Tips (7 seconds): Quick education. What does this thing actually do? How does it work? Why should they care?
The Call to Action (5 seconds): Tell them what to do. Like the post. Comment below. Follow for more. Whatever you want them to do, tell them.
The entire video is 20 to 30 seconds max. That’s it.
Now here’s what makes a video actually go viral. Three key metrics:
View Duration above 100%: This means people are watching it over and over again. Every single viral video I’ve had, the view duration is 110%, 120%, sometimes higher. People are looping it.
Swipe Away Rate above 80%: This means when people start watching, they don’t swipe away. They watch the whole thing.
Click Through Rate above 10%: This means when people see the thumbnail, they click on it. The thumbnail is huge. You can A/B test thumbnails now and see which one performs better.
If you nail those three metrics, the algorithm will push your video to millions of people.
The Content Strategy Nobody Follows (But Should)
Here’s something most people don’t understand about going viral.
It’s not about one video. It’s about the system.
My first 50 to 100 videos? Nobody watched them. I’m talking maybe a few hundred views each. And that was fine because that was my training ground. That’s where I learned what worked and what didn’t.
Then I got one that hit 100,000. I went back and studied every single detail of that video. What was the hook? Where did people drop off? What kept them watching?
Then I made more videos like that one. And a few more hit big numbers.
Then I analyzed those. What did they have in common? I started to notice patterns.
So here’s the strategy. After you post a video, go back and look at the data. See where people dropped off. See what the click through rate was. See how long people watched.
If a video did well, make more like it. If it did terrible, figure out why.
At the end of every week, we go through all our short form content and analyze what worked and what didn’t. At the end of every month, we do the same thing with long form.
We’re constantly iterating. We’re constantly improving.
And here’s a trick most people don’t use. You can take the same video, change the hook, and post it again. Sometimes a different hook makes all the difference.
Or you can take a video that did really well, remake it with a slight variation, and post it two weeks later. People don’t remember. If it worked once, it’ll probably work again.
I tell all my friends in the industry to just copy my videos. Seriously. I’ve already done the work of figuring out what works. Why reinvent the wheel?
The Hook That Makes or Breaks Everything
Let me spend a minute just on hooks because this is the most important part of the entire video.
Your hook is your headline. 80% of your success comes from the hook.
There’s a marketing principle from Dan Kennedy that says 80 cents of every marketing dollar you spend should be on the headline. Same thing applies here.
You have three seconds. Three. If you don’t grab someone in three seconds, they’re gone.
So what makes a good hook?
Curiosity: “I’ve never seen this before…” “You won’t believe what we found…” “This is the craziest infestation I’ve ever seen…”
Shock value: Show the bug. Show the nest. Show the damage. Make people go “oh my god what is that?”
Direct value: “Here’s how to get rid of ants in 24 hours…” “The one thing pest control companies don’t tell you…”
And it’s not just what you say. It’s also what’s on screen. The caption matters. The thumbnail matters. The music matters. The visual matters.
One of our most viral videos was just one of my technicians standing in front of a pond holding a mosquito dunk. The hook was him showing the dunk and saying what it does. Then he threw it in the pond and explained how it kills mosquito larvae.
That’s it. 20 seconds. Filmed on his phone. No tripod. No fancy camera. Hit millions of views.
Why? Because the hook was clear and the video delivered on the promise.
The Mistakes Killing Your Social Media Growth
Let me save you some time by pointing out the biggest mistakes I see pest control companies make with social media.
Mistake 1: Not being consistent
This is the number one killer. People post one video, don’t get results, and quit. Or they post for two weeks, then disappear for three months.
Social media is like anything else in life. You have to stay consistent. It’s almost a full time job at this point for us because our channels are so big. We can’t stop.
But when you’re starting out, even once a week is fine. Just stick to it.
Mistake 2: Overthinking the equipment
People think they need a $10,000 camera, professional lighting, a full production crew. So they order all this stuff, it sits in a box, and they never use it.
The majority of my content, if not all of it, has been shot on an iPhone. That’s it.
You don’t need fancy equipment. You need to pick up your phone and film.
Mistake 3: Not being yourself
You almost have to become a different person on camera. You have to be more energetic. You have to be louder. You have to have personality.
That’s hard to get used to at first. My videographer used to make me redo the hook five times because I wasn’t energetic enough.
But you get comfortable with it over time. And when you do, that’s when your content starts to pop.
Mistake 4: Posting and disappearing
Early on, make sure you respond to every comment. Even the dumb ones. Even the negative ones.
Thank people for watching. Engage with them. It helps the algorithm. The more engagement your video gets, the more the algorithm pushes it.
Now that my channels are huge, I just post and go. I don’t even look at the comments anymore because there’s so much negativity. It’ll ruin your day.
But when you’re starting out, engage with everyone.
Mistake 5: Not tracking what works
You need to go back and analyze your videos. See what’s working. See what’s not.
If you just keep posting random content without looking at the data, you’ll never improve.
Look at your view duration. Look at your swipe away rate. Look at your click through rate. Those three metrics tell you everything you need to know.
The Tools You Actually Need (Spoiler: Not Much)
Let’s talk about tools because this is another area where people overthink it.
Editing Software
When you’re starting out, you can edit right on TikTok or Instagram. Seriously. You don’t need to spend $200 on software.
If you want a little more functionality, use CapCut. It’s free. My nine year old daughter lives on CapCut. She’s better at editing than I am.
Don’t spend money on editing software until you’ve made at least 100 videos.
Camera
Use your iPhone. I have a $10,000 camera setup in my studio. We have multiple cameras, drones, all kinds of crazy equipment.
But the majority of my viral content? Shot on an iPhone.
Even older iPhones work fine. You don’t need the newest one.
And honestly, videos filmed on iPhone often perform better than the ones on a professional camera. The algorithm knows it’s coming from the actual person creating the content.
Microphone
Get a lav mic. They’re like 30 bucks on Amazon. The sound quality is way better than just using your phone’s built in mic.
That’s it. That’s all you need.
Tripod
If you’re filming by yourself, get a cheap tripod. They’re $30 to $40 and they fold up to the size of a pencil.
I carry one everywhere I go. I’ve made content in airports, hotels, cruise ships, you name it.
Drone (Optional)
If you want some cool B-roll footage, you can get a DJI Nano for like $200. It’s a tiny drone that follows you around and films you.
You don’t need it when you’re starting out, but if you want to level up your content, it’s a good tool to have.
Scheduling Software
When you’re starting out, don’t use any scheduling software. Just post manually from your phone.
For YouTube especially, the algorithm wants to see that you’re physically posting the video. They don’t like scheduled posts as much.
Once you’re posting five times a week or more, then you can use something like Loomly to schedule posts across all platforms at once.
But for YouTube, always post manually.
The Long Game (Why Social Media Compounds Over Time)
Here’s what most people don’t understand about social media for pest control companies.
It’s a long game.
Your first 50 videos are going to suck. Your first 100 videos might suck. Nobody’s going to watch them.
And that’s okay. Because that’s your training ground. That’s where you get good.
I didn’t understand why my first viral video worked. I just got lucky. But then I went back and analyzed it and figured it out.
Then I made more videos using the same formula. And more of them went viral.
After a while, you start to get a feel for what works and what doesn’t. You can look at a video idea and know whether it’s going to hit or flop.
But you can’t skip the training phase. You have to put in the reps.
And here’s the beautiful thing. Once you build a following, it compounds. Every video gets easier to push because you already have an audience. Every new subscriber makes the next video more powerful.
I remember the first time someone recognized me at Pest World in Boston. Two guys walked up and said, “Hey, you’re the TikTok guy!”
I had no idea what they were talking about. But that was the moment I realized this was actually working.
Now it happens all the time. People know me from social media. They’ve seen my content. They trust me before we even meet.
That’s the power of social media marketing for pest control. You’re building a brand. You’re building trust. You’re building a following.
And when someone in your area needs pest control, who do you think they’re going to call? The company they’ve never heard of? Or the one they’ve been watching on social media for the past six months?
The Content Mindset (How I Think About Every Piece of Content)
I’m going to share something personal here.
My dad passed away a few years ago. And one of my biggest regrets is that we don’t have more videos of him. I don’t have hours of content where I can hear his voice and see his face and remember what he was like.
That’s actually how I think about all the content I create now.
I’m filming all of this for my kids. So that long after I’m gone, they can go back and watch these videos. They can see what I was thinking, what I was doing, what I cared about.
This content lives forever. You film it once and it’s there forever.
So yeah, social media is great for marketing. It’s great for building your brand. It’s great for getting leads.
But it’s also about creating something that lasts.
The Reality Check You Need to Hear
Let me be real with you for a second.
The hardest part of all of this isn’t the editing. It isn’t the equipment. It isn’t figuring out the algorithm.
The hardest part is picking up your phone and actually filming.
Everyone’s busy. I get it. You’re running a business. You’re managing technicians. You’re dealing with customers.
But you’re already out in the field every single day. You’re already doing the work. You just need to film it.
It takes 10 minutes to record a video. My first videos took two hours. Now I can rip through them in five minutes because I’ve done it so many times.
But you have to start. And your first ones are going to suck. And that’s okay.
Make it fun. Bring your kids with you. Bring your technicians. Turn it into a competition. See who can get the best content each week.
Don’t take it so seriously. Just document what you’re doing.
Because here’s what I know. In the last 28 days, our content got 4.5 million views. That’s 4.5 million times someone saw our brand, saw our trucks, saw our technicians, learned something from us.
How much would that cost in advertising? Tens of thousands of dollars. Maybe hundreds of thousands.
But it cost us zero. Because we just filmed what we were already doing.
So yeah, social media for pest control works. But only if you actually do it.
Stop overthinking it. Stop waiting for the perfect moment. Stop buying equipment you don’t need.
Pick up your iPhone, film yourself answering a common customer question, and post it.
That’s it. That’s the whole strategy.
Do that once a week for the next six months and I guarantee your business will never be the same.
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Want the complete playbook on pest control marketing and growth? Check out Zip Code Kings, the definitive guide to building and scaling a pest control company from the ground up.
Related Articles
- Social Media Tools for Pest Control: Why You Don’t Need a $10,000 Camera (Just Your iPhone) – Jonas Olson
- Pest Control Content Marketing: The Exact Formula Behind My 10 Million View Videos on Social Media – Jonas Olson
- Social Media Tips for Pest Control: Why Consistency Beats Frequency Every Time – Jonas Olson
- Pest Control Social Media Posts: Why I’ve Made Thousands of Videos and Still Haven’t Run Out of Content – Jonas Olson
- Top Social Platforms for Pest Control Businesses: Why Facebook Still Wins (But LinkedIn Is the Sleeper) – Jonas Olson
