The new year is just getting started and we have already seen brands implementing their 2020 digital marketing strategy. One area the construction industry seem to underestimate is their social presence. Many have held onto the old school belief that social media is not right for business. Herein is where the missed opportunity lies.
Many people use social media to stay informed, entertained and connected. Your followers and customer prospects want to learn new things, stay up to date on issues that matter to them and discover new ideas and trends. They want to share entertaining articles and videos, and last but not least; they want to be a part of trending conversations. If your goal is to keep your audience informed, entertained and connected; we can guarantee that your digital media efforts will pay off.
The year has just started and it’s not too late to incorporate social media into your marketing efforts. We challenge you to remember the reasons why people use social media when you plan your 2020 social media campaigns and remember that every successful social media campaign is supported by a social media content plan.
Before we take a look at five types of content you should create, remember that every successful campaign is supported by a social media content plan. Now, on with the list:
1. User-Generated Content
According to Wordstream, UGC (User-Generated Content) is anything on the web that your audience has a hand in making. Most of the photos, videos, and posts you see are pieces of user-generated content.
Here are some examples of UGC your building products brand can leverage:
1.2 Social Proof with hashtags
UGC is an excellent way for your brand to build social proof and extend your reach into audiences that may not normally follow you.
What is Social Proof?
Are you familiar with the concept of “going along with the crowd?” Social proof is based on that concept. If a lot of people behave a certain way, people assume that must be how they should behave as well.
Here’s an example provided by Sprout Social of social proof in action: When you see a lot of people sitting in one restaurant and only a few in another restaurant, you’ll be tempted to visit the restaurant with the most people in it. This is because you assume the food in the empty restaurant isn’t as good. After all, if they served good food, people would be in them, right?
That’s social proof in action. Even if the empty restaurants actually have better food and service, since more people are in the other ones, the assumption is they’re better.
Here’s how YOU can build social proof with UGC:
Use a hashtag to get users to submit a product testimonial or showcase your brand or service. You can motivate your followers to share their installations by offering a reward. This is an excellent way to demonstrate your product’s key benefits without being over-promotional.
Online furniture store Wayfair has a fun UGC campaign that lets customers showcase the results of their online shopping sprees. Using the hashtag #WayfairAtHome, users can post pictures of their home featuring Wayfair products (source: Hubspot)
Other examples of user-generated content include:
- Testimonials & Reviews
- Facebook comments or posts
- User-generated videos
- User-generated blog posts
- Forums
- Podcasts
2. Influencer Marketing
Influencer marketing is an excellent way to share your brand’s message. Not only does it get your message in front of an audience that might not follow you, but it also builds credibility.
89% say ROI from influencer marketing is comparable to or better than other marketing channels.
87% of shoppers say they were inspired by an influencer to make a purchase.
What is influencer marketing?
Influencer marketing is when you collaborate with an influential person to promote your product, service or campaign. There are three ways to find social media influencers:
- Manual Search: Research influential leaders in your industry. Make a spreadsheet (name, main channel, domain authority, following)
- Social Listening and Monitoring tools: Monitor relevant keywords to identify top shares and find out who your audience is engaging with.
- Influencer Marketing tools: such as Ninja Outreach or Buzzsumo.
Here’s an example where AprilAireco collaborates with an environmentalist/mommy-blogger, getting their message and product in front of @rokketqueen66’s 15.2k followers:
3. Educational Content
Our next type of social content your building products brand can leverage is educational content.
Remember the reasons why people use social media? One of the most important reasons is that people want to stay INFORMED. You want your prospects and customers to feel that your content is informative and genuinely useful.
When you’re creating content, keep in mind that there should always be a “problem-to-be-solved.” Don’t just create content for the sake of it, but instead use it to address a pain point your potential customers might share. Talk to your customer service team and find out the 10 most frequently asked questions or problems they encounter.
Don’t keep those informative installers guides, specification sheets and blogs hidden on your website, instead use it to inform your audience, and to drive traffic to your website.
Take a look at this example where Schneider Electric shares its report on digital transformation with a link to their website and then uses the report as a lead generation offer.
4. Case Studies
Our next suggestion is sharing your case studies on your social platforms. Remember all the hard work that went into developing that amazing contractor application story for your website? Now make it worth your time and effort by sharing pictures of the installation and a quote on your social media pages (don’t forget to give people the option to ‘read more’ with a link to your website).
Here’s an example where Uponor North America leverages a case study on Facebook:
5. Behind-the-scenes content
Another great idea is to share behind-the-scenes images and videos of current projects. For example, if your company donated a product for a good cause, you can showcase how your product has made a difference and how the organization used your product.
Behind-the-scenes content makes your audience feel special and truly a part of your brand. Give them a peek into your business and how you operate, you’ll be drawing them deeper into your organization and also giving them a breath of fresh air from the usual posts of your finished products.
Behind-the-scenes content can include:
- Workshops
- Employee account take-overs
- Holiday parties
- Lunch meetings
- Happy hours
Here’s an example where LG shares a behind-the-scenes video of their LG Inspiration Gallery event.
Let’s wrap this up:
The key take-away here is that your brand should constantly work to inform, entertain and connect with your audience. If you accomplish that, you will begin to see the value and ROI in your digital media efforts.