If your goal as a construction company is to use social media for recruitment, client networking, brand awareness, showcasing projects and innovations, or more, this share is for you. I get that social media probably sits at the very bottom of your to-do list, but this is your sign to change that, and open the doors of possibility and opportunity that social media can offer to your business.
It is found that most building companies have not explored the full potential of social media and only using it as a sporadic one-way communication tool. Construction organizations must invest sufficient time and resources to support daily operations, maintenance, and security of social media resources in order to gain best results.
We're breaking down here the 5 key elements you need to get your socials sorted, and have an effective strategy that works for you, and builds your brand (not the other way around).
Vision + Goals
Target Audience
Brand (Look and Sound)
Content Pillars
Content Formats
1. Your overall vision and goals.
You can’t afford to ignore the process of setting goals on social media. Below are just a few of the reasons why specific goal-setting is an absolute must-do for businesses.
Goals hold you accountable: By defining goals, you’re able to point to the specific steps and actions you’re taking to meet your business’ needs and are more likely to create better, more engaging content because of them.
Goals allow you to focus on the data: Social media objectives are contingent on metrics. Putting together a high-performing piece of content means understanding what’s moving the needle in terms of engagement, clicks and revenue.
One thing is for sure, the goals we want to achieve should ultimately lead back to the life we want to live. How do we want to feel? How do we want to spend our spare time? What do you want to focus all of your energy on? What impact do you want to have on the community or the world? What do you want people to remember you for? Your goals should point you in the right direction to living a life you love, and one of positive impact.
It’s important to note that the most effective strategies online are tied directly to your overall business goals. For example, if your business goal includes booking out your client base, your social media goal should relate back to generating leads or conversions.
From here, you want to make sure that everything you share on social media is in line with achieving these goals. That will help you prioritize your workload, and make sure you're sharing quality content that will help you reach your targets.
Establishing social media goals now will help guide your content and strategy moving forward, and will ultimately be your roadmap and checklist for achieving success on Instagram. Some business goals will link over with your social media goals, and that’s okay! Some common social media goals include:
Increase your followers
Increase your brand awareness
Reach potential new clients
Build a strong and loyal community
Convert followers to clients
Drive more sales/leads
2. Target Audience
A social media target audience is a group of people that you've identified that you want to appeal to. This can be based on demographics such as age, job title, income level, education, location, or behaviour. Your social media target audience consists of the people who are most likely to be interested in your service.
Typically, defining your social media target audience is similar to drafting your company's buyer personas and will help you develop brand guidelines.
You'll answer questions like, "What content will your audience relate to?" and "What tone or voice should you use?"
This is important so you can speak the same language as your audience, making them more likely to interact on social media, develop brand loyalty, and ultimately purchase your service.
3. Brand (Look and Sound)
Just like social media only makes up one piece of the marketing puzzle in your business, having a logo and offerings is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to your brand. Your brand can be split up into 2 sections; the visible brand, and the perceived brand.
Developing a brand identity requires more than creating a logo. Although a logo can be the symbol of a business, it is not the entirety of a brand. In fact, creating a logo is just one small step toward developing a strong brand identity.
With millions, if not billions, of businesses trying to make a name for themselves, having a strong brand has become crucial for businesses to differentiate themselves from their competitors.
A company’s brand identity is the combination of visual and content choices that represent your company’s personality. It’s the face of your brand.
Your brand identity is composed of the visual brand elements you’ve chosen, like your color palette, but it also includes your brand’s voice and tone. If created successfully, your brand identity will represent and allude to your brand values and mission.
Creating a strong brand identity will help you develop a brand image that’s recognizable to your target audience, even if they only see one small element of it.
Here’s some of what brand identity includes:
Brand visuals, like colors, logo, fonts, layouts, and design elements like photography and illustrations
Brand voice and tone, including a slogan or tagline, social, email, and in-product content messaging, ad copy, and website copy (which we will cover I Step 3 of this guide)
Building an effective brand identity that really connects with your audience requires a deep understanding of who they are, what they want, and what piques their interest.
When it comes to how your brand sounds, I want you to think about it like this: Why do you find some personalities irresistible while others you would rather avoid like a party you were dragged to in your 30s? Well, when you connect with a person on a deeper level and feel like they get you… you wanna stick around, right? The same is true for your brand.
And just like your personality…your brand has a unique personality, too. It has the power to attract the right people into your world and repel those who are not in alignment. How do we do this? By communicating your vibe, point of view, values and tone of voice.
Now, your brand voice is WHAT you say (what you stand for, what you stand against, your values, etc) while your tone of voice is HOW you say it. Both represent and communicate your overarching brand personality.
4. Content Pillars
Content pillars are 3 to 5 topics your brand will consistently discuss, amplify, and create content for on social media.
First, content pillars will help you get clarity on your niche. Being an expert in one area or a few specific things will help your audience grow faster.
A good way to think about this is an upside-down pyramid. The more focused and niched you are in the beginning, the easier time you’ll have growing an audience of people that trust and love you. And then you can expand to other subjects.
Your content pillars will be specific to your brand, but can encompass multiple themes. For example, as a builder, you might focus your content pillars on new projects, behind the scenes of jobs, your team/about your business, and past projects you've worked on.
5. Content Formats
It's important to recognise that not all content formats will connect and resonate with everyone. Choosing the correct content-type matters, especially when marketing budgets are scarce. But by keeping these factors in mind, you should be able to focus on formats that get the job done and really connect with potential clients.
Above all else, the correct content format is the one that suits your audience best. Content marketing is all about reaching out to specific types of people - the people who are likely to buy particular products or services.
In reality though, most companies arrive at a blend of different content styles. The most successful experiment constantly and test each type until they find a mixture that meets their goals. They tend to build profiles of different age groups, creating content that reflects the consumption patterns of those groups. And they always stay in touch with their audience to make sure that content strategies are not alienating potential clients.
As we've seen, adapting your social media strategy effectively, and purposefully: where you post, who you target, and how you are perceived, plays a major role in building know, like and trust as a construction business on social media. Get the mix right, and you're likely to do well. Make a blunder, and you can miss out on sales bonanzas.
Want to hand this all over to an expert? We're experts in social media, so you can continue to do what you do best - building, constructing, and being a tradesmen. Our social media clients don't have to lift a finger when it comes to trialling and implementing these elements, they have everything managed by us, are confident in their presence and have their socials performing as they should. Click here to enquire with us about social media management, deep dive strategy sessions, or 1:1 training today.