How to Use Social Media to Promote Your Construction Business

Most business owners know the importance of building a unique “brand” for their construction company. Many know that using social media (SM) to brand their business can play an integral part in their branding efforts, but that’s where they often begin to encounter problems.

Marketing using social media can be quite intimidating for the average person… especially if you’re not one of those who spend hours every day scrolling, flipping, and swiping through various social channels. So the CapitalPlus marketing team came up with a few helpful tips to help you get started.

Tips for Getting Started Using Social Media to Promote Your Construction Business

1. Social media is SOCIAL, not salesy. We all have that “friend” that is always asking us to buy something — fundraising candy bars, tupperware, raffle tickets, etc. Don’t be that person! Less than a quarter of your posts should be promotional, the rest can be used to inform, educate, or entertain. Think of your followers as friends.
2. Don’t think of social as a direct revenue generator. Think of social more like the name recognition of your business cards (when was the last time you asked about the RIO of business cards?)
3. Conduct research to determine which social media channels your current customers spend their time. Start with the one or two channels they frequent. Facebook/Instagram and LinkedIn are popular in our industry.
4. Your brand needs its own personality and voice to make it stand out, not only in your customers’ minds but to differentiate your business from your competitors.
5. Keep your images, colors, and messages consistent across the platforms. This allows potential new customers to begin recognizing your brand.
6. Use a variety of post types – some text only, some image-heavy, some videos, and infographics.
7. Post consistently. You are much better off posting twice per week than 10 posts per day and disappearing for a year.

What Can a Construction Company Post About on Social? A Few Ideas:

1. Inner-office events – birthday parties, anniversaries, promotions, the staff’s new babies, pets, hobbies (people want to feel they know the people they are working with!).
2. Newly completed jobs – You are proud of your work, why not show it off? Photos show just how good at your job you are. Don’t forget to tag your client… they might just reshare your stellar work on their channel bragging about the craftsmanship.
3. Announce new website updates and content – if you publish a blog on your website, share it with your followers.
4. Announce new services you offer – remember, not salesy, informational… how will it benefit THEM?
5. Educational information – share/reshare industry news that you think your customers will find helpful or interesting… even if you did not create it.
6. If you attend a trade show, expo, or other construction-related event, post what you find interesting. These events are great times to try out live, “reaction” videos. Again, don’t forget to tag the company you are recording.

Pro Tips for Using Social Media

1. Check your post after publishing. No matter how confident you are, typos and issues with images can happen. The one time you don’t check is when it WILL happen.
2. Don’t treat all channels exactly the same. LinkedIn and Facebook can have longer-form text but Instagram is all about the images and videos.
3. Monitor your channels. According to Hubspot, 84% of marketers believe social media will become the consumers’ primary means of contacting you with customer service questions. So get into the habit of checking the comments and direct messages… it will only become more important.
4. and always respond to comments, both good and bad, as quickly as possible… with a genuine response. The commenter likes to know they have been heard. And others like to see how you treat your customers… even if all you say is “I’m sorry there was an issue. Please direct message us so we can resolve it as quickly as possible.”
5. Try to tag every person in a photo. It gives them a notification that they are being mentioned giving you another opportunity for an additional like and possibly even a share. Yes, a little painful but worth it.
6. When you post, ask your staff to interact with them – like, comment, and even share. The more engagement a post gets, the more it is pushed into other people’s feeds. And NEVER “like” your own post… a rookie move that just looks desperate.
7. Polish your channels’ bio and “about” sections. Make sure your information, especially your contact info, is correct and purposely written. People will visit this area more than you think when considering using your company… recent studies indicate that 43.5% will read your bio before making the final decision.
8. While you are looking at your bio, make sure to address your “NAP” (company Name, Address, and Phone number.) That information must match what is listed on your website EXACTLY! This consistency not only helps your visitors find you but helps search engines better understand and display your contact information when people do local searches like “contractors near me.”
9. Social channels allow you to schedule posts. Scheduling helps you to be more efficient by building multiple posts in advance for publishing in the future.

LinkedIn, and most other social media channels, have options for publishing by scheduling. Facebook’s scheduling is controlled through their Business Meta Suite which requires some setup explained here.

Always remember, branding is a marathon, not a sprint. It doesn’t happen overnight. With social media marketing, it takes time as well as consistent effort to see maximum results. Promoting your construction business can, and should include social media marketing… it’s one of many tools in your branding toolbox.

---

About the Author:
John Goethert — Marketing Director
New to the team, John serves as the Marketing Director at CapitalPlus Financial Services, a direct lender based in Knoxville, Tennessee. John brings 36 years of marketing, advertising, and design focusing primarily on the B2B sector. During that time he has tirelessly worked to educate small business owners on solutions that give them control of their businesses.

CapitalPlus was established in 1998 providing over $1 billion in factoring funds empowering thousands of construction companies all over the US.

---