5 Ways Construction Material Companies Can Make the Most out of Social Media
How can your construction material company reach the 2.206 billion people using social media? With 30 per cent of the world’s population actively participating on social media networks building material companies have an incredible opportunity to reach more potential consumers than ever before.
For some marketers, social media goals focus around reach or going “viral,” which is a term used to describe a social media post or campaign that quickly spreads across social media channels and the Internet, reaching a widespread audience (like a virus).
Only a few brands have achieved a truly viral marketing campaign and honestly, going viral on social media should never be one of your social media goals. The truth is that posts that try to go viral usually don’t. Instead, focus on growing your social media network, developing organic connections with your followers and sharing your brand story. If you can achieve these goals then you’ll enjoy a return on investment (ROI) over time, which is a worthy social media goal for your business.
Although there are instances where negative posts, pictures or videos have gone viral to the detriment of a company, in most cases brands with viral social media campaigns have achieved their success because they offered something that was unique, original and had not been done before. For this reason, it is very hard to predict what will go viral and it is extremely difficult to replicate a viral campaign.
The frustrating aspect of social media for many construction materials companies is that there is no winning blueprint to follow for a successful social media campaign or post. Still, you can follow these tips to help you produce social media content that is valuable to both your consumers and your brand.
1. Visual is Better
No matter which social media channel you’re on, your social media posts need to have a visual component. Visual content is 40 times more likely to be shared on social media than other types of content . In fact, content with relevant images receive 94 per cent more views than content without and tweets with images receive 150 per cent more re-tweets than tweets without.
What kind of visuals should you use for your social media campaigns?
- Coloured visuals – increased people’s willingness to read a piece of content by 80 per cent .
- Images – it’s best to use images created or taken by you. Canva is an easy way to make attractive images but it’s also okay to acquire free photos from photo sharing sites like Flickr or MorgueFile. However, it’s really important that you have the right to use and distribute any images you put up on your social media channels so read the fine print on these sites closely to make sure you have the authority to use the images you select. You can also purchase images through sites like Getty Images, CanStock or Istock. If you’re using images taken from a client’s DIY project, make sure you have their expressed, written permission first. Consumer DIY images are a great testimonial for the quality and popularity of your building materials.
- Videos – were recently identified as the type of content with the best ROI by 51.9 per cent of marketing professionals worldwide. How-to videos are particularly useful for construction material companies who want to show consumers how easy it is to work with their products. Make sure you put your videos on YouTube, which is the second largest search engine (it has over 1 billion unique visitors a month). In addition to YouTube it’s important to share your videos across your social media channels because 90 per cent of online shoppers find videos helpful in making decisions and 75 per cent of executives watch work-related videos at least once a week.
- Infographics – are liked and shared on social media three times more than any other type of content. Use of Infographics as a B2B content marketing tactic jumped from 51 per cent to 62 per cent between 2014 and 2015.
- Memes, screenshots and presentations – are all forms of visual content which are easy to share on social media. Memes (which are images accompanied by a funny caption) tend to gain and maintain online traction.
- 2. Make it Clever, Funny or Cute
In addition to being visual, another thing that most viral campaigns have in common is that they are clever, funny or cute. This explains the otherwise unexplainable popularity of any picture and caption that contains a cat or kitten.
3. Make it Fun, Easy and Memorable
Social media campaigns that are fun to do, easy to share and memorable also gain traction on social. The ice bucket challenge successfully went viral and raised over 100 million dollars for ALS because it was fun, easy, memorable and supported a good cause.
4. Make it Trackable
It’s important that you can track your social media posts to see how far they reach and whether they earn a return on investment. Many social media channels like Facebook and Twitter have their own analytics running, but you still need to use a clever hashtag (#) to track your campaign. When others use the # symbol or mention your construction materials brand (with an @) you can easily find and communicate with your followers and your brand won’t get lost in the frenzy should your campaign ever go viral.
5. Don’t Make it All About You
Successful social media posts and campaigns are very rarely specifically about a company, product features or description of services. Sales-heavy posts just don’t perform well. You can, however, find creative ways to feature your products while making the post all about your audience. Urban Hilton Weiner successfully created “selfie coupons” as a unique way to generate organic buzz around their products. They asked their audience to take a selfie of themselves wearing the brand’s clothing and include #UrbanSelfie. Those who did received a coupon. There are endless possibilities to incorporate a similar selfie campaign that features consumers alongside their DIY projects which feature your construction materials.
Although there is no formula for going viral, construction brands can use social media to grow their consumer base, develop connections with consumers, tell their brand story and share valuable content. With so many potential consumers on social media ensuring your strategy encompasses visual elements that are clever, fun, trackable and focus on the consumer will help your brand build a strong social media base and enjoy a solid, long-term return on investment from your social media efforts.
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