Strategic Planning
When incorporating Social Media into your Marketing program…it is important to begin with a strategy. Just like any other marketing tool, the social media strategy should incorporate the 5 primary strategic components:
- Describe your company’s unique selling proposition (USP).
- Define your target market.
- Point out the benefits of your products or services.
- Identify your positioning strategy.
- Define your social media channels.
Social Media Acceptance
2012 will see the maturity of social media for the AEC industry as more and more firms accept Social Media as part of doing business. The recent economic downturn has forced AEC firms to explore alternative avenues for promotion and market penetration. Construction marketers have to focus on producing more relevant content and ensure that it reaches their target audience at the right time in the buying cycle and through the right channels. Using social data to gather valuable insights will enable the creation of more effective, measurable marketing campaigns. This year the continued merging of mobile, search and social will play an important role as content production and sharing takes center stage. There are 5 drivers behind social media acceptance in the AEC market.
- The industry is becoming more social
- Increasing growth in mobile applications and usage in the industry
- The demand for providing marketable content to industry participants
- The pressure to stay ahead of the competition
- The need to expand market reach
Validation
Unlike a product-based company who can back up its products with “money back guarantees”, service-based businesses must rely on “word of mouth” and industry reputation to back up their social media statements.
When planning a service based social media strategy, it is important to build in a back up plan to support statements presented online. So you ask…how do I back up service related statements?
Service-based companies provide an experience. Unlike product-based firms, your ultimate “Proof of Legitimacy” comes in the form of letters of reference or recommendation. In addition to these statements, you can engage the assistance of the media with press releases, or incorporate video into your social media program showing your services in action.
Building a Following
Gaining social media acceptance involves creating a following. In order to create and grow a following your social media campaign must remain fresh and be consistent. I myself have a difficult time with this because it is time consuming and our regular day-to-day jobs get in the way. What I have found though is the content does not have to be original every time. It can be borrowed as long as the proper accreditation is given.
Fresh content can include twitter posts, social platform posts such as on Linked In, Facebook, Manta, blog posts and video posts to mention just a few. More and more are introduced regularly. Management of social content can be handled through some of the content management platforms like Tweetdeck that allow posts to be timed throughout the day to various social media accounts while you are about your regular job.
The key to creating a following is to make the content relevant to your readers. Concentrate on what you know best whether it is renovation, roofing or school design or construction, etc. Concentrating on what you know best will come through in your social media message and go a long way in generating a regular following and branding your firm as experts in the industry.
Incorporating Social Media Into Marketing Strategy
My next blog will go into depth on how to incorporate social media into an existing overall Marketing Strategy.
DAVNA Enterprises, LLC is a Marketing and International Partnership Brokerage firm dedicated to the Architectural, Engineering and Construction, Transportation and Technology industries to improve their marketing initiatives and the effectiveness of their international positioning efforts through market partnering and positioning.
