tprc. is a full-service PR & digital marketing agency. We create bespoke strategies and campaigns that are designed to deliver results.
Social media marketing has a lot to offer construction businesses prepared to invest the time, resources, and creativity into doing it well.
But what does doing it well actually mean, and what can a dedicated social media strategy achieve for businesses working in the construction industry?
As an agency that has worked with companies in all corners of the sector, we have learned from experience what works and what doesn’t, and what social media is best equipped to deliver.
In this article, we explore those learnings to bring you a complete guide to social media marketing for businesses in the construction industry.
Back in the early days of X (then Twitter) and LinkedIn, social media was touted as the silver bullet for marketing. It was free, enabled businesses to connect directly with their customers and other audiences, was easy to use, and novel, which meant everyone was talking about it.
Because of this, many individuals and companies overestimated the impact it was going to have on their bottom line.
The reality is, however, that yours is just one voice in many trying to be heard and to do that, you need to say things that are worth listening to.
Now, what this means is unless you say things that are highly controversial, extremely funny, or very poignant, building an audience will take time. If you’re going from a standing start, expect follower numbers to grow relatively slowly, and engagement to follow.
Do not make the mistake of thinking once you’ve published a post, people will come running, because this is unlikely.
However, publish interesting content, turn up and be consistent, and man your social channels so you can respond to engagement – it is social media after all, which implies interaction and conversation – and over time you will be rewarded with a significant and engaged network that will have tangible benefits for your business.
So, what has our experience taught us about why construction companies should use social media and what for?
Quite a lot, actually, over the years!
In terms of the basics, social media is useful for the following:
Being front of mind for your clients is the best way to be invited onto tender lists or to win negotiated work from existing customers. Ensuring brand awareness remains high is key to achieving this.
Active social media platforms publishing a range of content is a very helpful tool in ensuring awareness of your brand remains high. To increase the likelihood of your clients and other target audiences following you, follow their channels and share and engage with their content. The chances are they will follow back and start to see your content on a regular basis.
Construction is all about creating memorable and exciting buildings and buildings are visual. Visual content such as well composed photographs and video – even if it is only captured on a mobile phone – make for effective social media content.
Use this to document the progress of a development. Take footage from interesting angles and if possible, get drone footage.
Social media is a great place also to mark key dates in a scheme’s progress such as breaking ground and topping out.
However, a word of caution. If your visual content is likely to include people working on site, always make sure all H&S regulations are being adhered to. They should be anyway, but if you publish content of anyone contravening them, prepare for an unpleasant backlash.
For construction consultants, architects, or merchants selling into the building trade, social media can be a great way to generate new business leads.
For consultants and architects, using it to demonstrate knowledge, thought leadership and creative flair will showcase your business as forward thinking and inventive.
For merchants, posting about special product offers or sales can help generate new business, particularly if you have an e-commerce facility where people can buy online.
Attracting talent is one of the biggest challenges of ambitious, growing businesses. To do it, you need to demonstrate more than just the opportunity for career progression, but a whole range of other benefits, too.
Social media is a great place to do this.
What are the business’s values and how does it live these – this is an excellent way to differentiate your company from competitors. What activities beyond work can your people get involved in? What technologies will they get to use and if you still work from an office, how cool is it?
How do you invest in your people?
All these things help to position a business as a desirable place to work, and along with showcasing developments, they lend themselves well to visual content for social media.
Posting this type of content regularly will build a picture for your followers of what your business is like to work for, and if you paint the right one, you will make the job of recruiting much easier.
People do business with people, so the old saying goes. This becomes even easier if your people become familiar through social media and appear approachable, easy going, and professional.
You can achieve this by dedicated posts about the individuals in your business, but in our experience it is much better to do it via video shorts which feel authentic and allow their natural personalities to come across.
That way, the audience is far more likely to warm to them and are more likely to reach out when they need your services.
Developers and main contractors must be good neighbours to their communities. The best go the extra mile by working with local community groups such as those dedicated to getting young people into work or education or a myriad of other good causes.
Social media is a great way to reach out to these organisations and a great way to celebrate a partnership. Sharing content from charity partners or organisations will also engender good will as it helps spread the charity’s message for them.
Posting regularly is integral to social media success and we would recommend picking one of two channels to begin with, so this is easier to manage. Presently, LinkedIn and X (Twitter) are probably the most relevant to businesses in the construction sector, although those selling directly to tradespeople, particularly those with e-commerce functions, should also consider Facebook.
There are many ways to come up with post ideas.
One great way is to plot out a social media calendar. This looks at the activities of the business over a certain period of time – three months, six months, a year, etc – and plots posts around these.
If it is the progress of scheme, plot the key dates and ensure someone gets photographs and video from the construction site in time to post.
If you are involved in charitable activities around key dates such as Children in Need, note this in the diary and capture content for your social channels.
Keep a regular check on your industry media too. If big stories break, one of your team might want to give their take on it – social channels are a great place to do this – or they might want to write an analytical or thought-leadership blog about the situation, which can be linked to through social channels.
Social media can be used to showcase online editorial coverage achieved by your PR strategy, or to highlight interesting media stories relevant to your audience. It can be used to post your own business news such as the appointment of new members of staff, projects started or completed, testimonials from clients about your work, and all sorts of other topics, too.
When posting, always consider tone. Ditch corporate language (as a PR and marketing company, we would advise to do this across all content) and marketing spiel, and go for a warm tone using humour where appropriate. This is far more likely to get engagement because your audience will recognise there is a person behind the channel.
Social media can be tracked in the native platforms. But if you have several channels, doing this manually is inefficient.
However, the good news is there are many platforms that can be used to manage social media, track mentions, and breakdown how your content is performing.
Tools like Hootsuite, Buffer, and Sendible enable you to managing all your profiles in one place and post across all of them at the same time. Mostly, they offer a free version of the software which will allow scheduling posts, but will have limited features.
You can also track hashtag mentions, so if there is breaking news in your sector that is relevant for you to comment on, tracking these will enable you to keep up to date with the latest developments. Obviously, don’t forget to use hashtags yourself, as these are particularly relevant to LinkedIn and X.
Finally, it is important to have fun and experiment to see what works. Remember, social media is about connecting with people and building a network. It isn’t always possible to predict what your audience will respond to online and what they won’t, but by trying different things and speaking in an authentic and informative way, you will build a picture.
Once you know what your audience enjoys, double down on that and you will start to build a loyal, relevant, and engaged following that over time will have a positive impact on your bottom line.
If you would like help in achieving this, don’t hesitate to get in touch.
