The Inside Scoop on Social Media Marketing for Construction Companies

What is Social Media Marketing?

Social media marketing is any kind of unpaid activity you do on your social media channels. If you post your blogs to LinkedIn or Facebook, or if you share regular business updates on Twitter, that's all considered social media marketing. It's often confused with social media advertising. They're actually two very different things, though they're both useful marketing tactics.

Social media advertising is any paid social media activity. So while posting your blog post to Facebook would be social media marketing, boosting that post and putting a bit of money behind it would be considered social media or Facebook advertising.

Yeah, it's confusing. If you want a bit more background check this out for everything you need to know about the social media marketing vs social media advertising breakdown.

Is Social Media Marketing Actually Useful for Construction Companies?

Most construction companies we talk to tend to be a little reluctant about jumping into social media marketing. If you primarily do construction work on commercial buildings and for other companies, it's hard to see how social media could add anything to your bottom line. Even if your construction company does interact directly with consumers or homeowners, social media might not feel like a natural fit. So why invest in social media marketing for your construction company?

• Do you have a social media account? Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram?
• Do any of your coworkers have social media accounts?
• What about some of your favorite clients?

It's important to remember that even if you're strictly a B2B construction company, every company you work with is made up of people. Most people these days have at least one social media account, if not multiple.

In the United States alone, there were an estimated 243.6 million social network users in 2018. That's about 75% of the nation's population. Realistically, this number has only gone up in the past couple of years.

If you think about it, somewhere in those 243 million people, there are construction project managers, facilities managers, homeowners, business owners, entrepreneurs, and more. To put it plainly — your target audience and ideal buyer is on social media. You should be too.

But Can Social Media Marketing Actually Drive Results?

We know your ideal buyer is on social media. How does that drive results for your construction company and potentially contribute to your bottom line? The answer is, it depends on the quality of your social media marketing strategy, and your goals for your social media accounts. Social media marketing works in a few ways. It can be:

• An amplification platform for your brand. A way to get your great news and exceptional content into the hands of the people who want it.
• A tool to increase your brand awareness. The more recognizable your brand, the more people are likely to remember you, and choose you for their next construction project.
• A way to connect with your audience. By engaging with your followers on social media, you can invest in some social listening. When you're able to determine common pain points and questions your audience has, you can develop solutions that address them.
• A lead generation machine. If done well, you can use social media to drive leads to your website and construction company. It's important to understand what that looks like, however, so you're measuring your results properly.

All of these methods work. All of these methods are useful. All of these methods will help your construction company grow. From gaining a better understanding of what your ideal buyer wants and needs to amplifying your brand awareness, all these benefits of social media marketing can drive results for your construction company.

Here's some helpful info about how Instagram specifically can drive results for commercial construction companies. With that in mind, let's take a look at how your construction company can get started with social media marketing.

How Construction Companies Can Get Started with Social Media Marketing

Getting your social media marketing strategy off the ground can take a bit of work. For construction companies especially, the toughest part seems to be just getting started. Follow these 6 steps to give our construction company's social media marketing a bit of structure, so you're sure to stick with it.

• Set a Goal
• Pick a Platform
• Post Consistently
• Vary Your Content
• Get Involved
• Make Social Media Marketing Part of Your Content Strategy

01. Set a Goal

The key to successful social media marketing for construction companies is goal setting. Social media marketing is a powerful tool, but it's only going to work for you if you understand the platform, your goals for that platform, and how to measure your progress towards those goals.

For example,let's say you're planning to get started on Facebook. You want to get the word out about your construction company and how well the projects you're building turn out.If your goal is getting the word out, you shouldn't be measuring clicks.

Yes, getting clicks and visitors to your site from your Facebook page is awesome, but it's not an accurate measurement of your awareness goal. Instead, you'd want to measure impressions and views. How many people are seeing your posts? Are they getting shared? The more visibility you get, the closer you're coming to reaching that awareness goal.

And now that I've mentioned it, you should have a tangible awareness goal. Maybe it's to average a certain number of views or impressions per post. Maybe it's to increase the number of followers you have. Choose a number and a time frame that's realistic, and then measure that goal as time goes on.

The same method applies to any other goal. Maybe you want to drive conversions through LinkedIn. Decide how many conversions you want to see in the next month. Then, measure the clicks from your LinkedIn posts. Track those visitors' journey. Do they convert on your site once they make it there? If not, why?

Goal setting and progress tracking are keys to ensuring that your social media marketing strategy is producing the right results for your construction company.

02. Pick a Platform

This brings us to our next point — choosing a social media platform. Not all social media marketing for construction companies will produce the same results. Each social media platform has different advantages and features. You'll want to choose the platform that's best suited to your construction company's social media marketing goals. Here's a brief rundown of some of the best social media platforms for construction companies, and what goals each platform best serves:

• Facebook - Great for general awareness. If you want to get the word out about your company, and get more eyeballs on your projects and your brand, Facebook is a good place to start.
• LinkedIn - A smart choice for commercial construction companies. You'll find content here is geared to professionals, and you can do a lot to raise brand awareness in a professional setting here, as well as drive some very targeted conversions.
• Houzz - Perfect for construction companies that have contact with direct consumers. If you set yourself up as an authority in your industry, Houzz is a great place to start. Houzz provides plenty of opportunities for construction pros to interact directly with consumers to offer advice and build your reputation as an authority in the industry.
• Instagram - Another great place to highlight your work and drive brand awareness. Best for sharing before and afters, highlighting new products and beautiful work. Instagram is visually-focused, so this isn't the place to drive conversions, but Instagram is an effective tool for growing your brand.

We recommend you start with just one platform. The key to successful social media marketing for construction companies is consistent, quality posting. If your company is new to social media marketing, don't overcommit or overextend. Start with just one platform, two at the most, and focus on growing your following there first, before you expand.

03. Post Consistently

Like I said: The key to successful social media marketing is consistent, quality posting. Post at least twice a week to start. And be intentional about what you're posting. I won't go into all of it, but different types of posts get more attention from different platforms.

For example, Facebook is likely to limit the reach of a post that it thinks is marketing in preference of what it calls, "meaningful content" or content that brings people together. A post about how great your company is probably won't get the same reach that highlights a photo of your team or a project you've recently complete.

Do some research into the platform you've chosen and come up with a plan that includes:

• Posting best practices for your platform
• How often to post
• What to post

Deciding what to post is often the toughest part of social media marketing for construction companies, so let's take a look at some best practices there.

04. Vary Your Content

When your construction company is getting started with social media, it's easy to think of one type of post: say an employee spotlight, or before and after project photos, and stick to those while you get a feel for the platform. It's great that you're posting consistently, but it's likely the followers you have will start to grow weary of seeing the same types of posts in their feed all the time. Do your best to vary your content so your followers always feel like they're seeing something new or interesting from you. For example:

• You might post one employee spotlight post.
• Then, a few days later you could post a before and after project post.
• A few days after that you could share an article you found helpful from someone in your industry.
• Next, you could share one of your own blog posts.

Varying the types of content your construction company put out works for you in a variety of ways:

• It helps ensure you're putting out content that speaks to more than one of your buyer personas. You're likely to pull in more followers with varied content.
• It keeps your followers entertained, with new content they can get excited about.
• It's likely to help you maintain a solid reach with each of your posts.

Any social media platform is likely to start limiting your post's reach as they see that fewer and fewer people care about the content you're putting out. When you put out new, different, and exciting or interesting content each time you post, you're more likely to increase the engagement that the post gets. When more people like, comment, and share your posts, you get a larger reach, which eventually turns into a greater following.

If you ever get stuck, consider incorporating video. There is nothing that social media users love more than video. Whether it's a timelapse of your job site or a quick video how-to, video constantly drives the most engagement regardless of social media platform.

Not sure how to make sure you're always posting something new and different? Consider a content calendar specifically for your social media platform. This can help you outline what you're going to post, and when. This way, you can decide what types of content you'll put out, and you'll be able to see at a glance that what you have coming up is new and different from what you've already posted.

05. Get Involved

Once your construction company gets your social media marketing strategy up and running, it's time to get involved. No matter what platform you choose, your active engagement is essential to the success of your social media strategy. If someone comments on your post, respond. Even if you're just thanking them for their comment.

If you're on a platform like LinkedIn, Houzz, or Facebook, get involved in groups that are relevant to your construction company. LinkedIn is especially great for this, but Facebook and Houzz also have a ton of industry-specific groups you can get involved in.

Find a few groups that are interesting to you or relevant to your construction company, and start a conversation. Respond back to other group questions, ask questions yourself, and when it's right, share some helpful information. The more involved you get on these social media marketing platforms, the faster your presence is going to grow, and the more authority you'll build in your industry. Even on Instagram, your company can get involved by commenting on the posts of others in your industry, sharing posts you find interesting on your Stories, and just by responding to your followers when they comment on your post.

Like just about everything else, when it comes to social media marketing for construction companies, you're going to get out what you put in. If you're actively involved with followers and other industry pros on your platform, you're going to see much better results than if you're just passively posting once a week or so.

06. Make Social Media Marketing Part of Your Construction Company's Content Marketing Strategy

Like any other inbound marketing tactic, social media marketing is just one small weapon in your construction company's arsenal. It's going to provide you the very best results when you use it in conjunction with other marketing tactics. Social media marketing can fit seamlessly into your existing content marketing strategy. Here's how it works:

• You produce content, on your website, for construction magazines, for other industry professionals, etc.
• You share that content, probably via email marketing at the moment. The more eyes you get on your content, the greater your lead generation potential.
• Social media marketing is another amplification tool. In addition to sharing that great content to your email subscribers, you can get it out on Facebook, LinkedIn, Houzz, or whatever social media platform you choose.

That style of content marketing opens you up to a significantly larger pool of potential leads. And if you stick with social media marketing and put in just a little bit of effort, that pool is just going to keep growing with more and more qualified leads. As your following grows, you're sharing your brand and your message with more of those qualified leads. That will keep building on itself according to your social media marketing goals.

Implementing Social Media Marketing for Construction Companies

Social media marketing might feel like a big plunge, but when implemented properly, and with a bit of effort, it can be exceptionally successful for your construction company. Start small, and stick with it. The more quality content you post and the more you engage, the larger your following will grow. This generates more brand awareness, and will eventually contribute to more qualified leads coming right to your construction company, ready to make a purchasing decision.

As you become more comfortable with social media marketing, you can work to expand your tactics to another social media platform, and even start investing in social media advertising campaigns. Social media marketing for construction companies is a great way to increase brand awareness, grow your following, and help expand your pool of qualified leads. But, it's not always easy.

Let's Talk Growth!

If you're new to social media marketing, or if your construction company wants to start social media marketing, but isn't sure how the Evenbound team is here to help. We're here to answer any questions you've got, and we've got a ton of experience helping construction companies grow. Just let us know what you need.