How To Start Social Media Marketing For Contractors and Construction
There's no denying that having a presence on social media is important. Approximately 4.7 billion people use at least one social media platform and the average time spent on social media is approximately 2.5 hours, 147 minutes to be exact, per day. That's why every business needs to be on social media, and the construction industry is no exception.
However, it can be hard for many contractors and construction companies to figure out where to start. That's why we had Taylor White of Ken White Construction talk to us on our new podcast, Building Builders, about how to use social media to grow your construction business.
With so much usage, social media is easily one of the best ways to grab your customers' attention. This is why building an online presence is vital for businesses hoping to compete in any industry. Consumers are spending more of their time on social media, using it to find products, and developing strong connections with brands they engage with online.
Whether you're trying to build awareness of your construction company, get new customers to buy your contracting services, or even just build brand loyalty among your existing clients, social media and content creation can be your greatest marketing tool. Before we get into our conversation with Taylor, here are a few statistics about social media.
Why is Social Media Important?
So why are these social networks so important to growing your construction business? Aside from the sheer number of users that can be reached through these platforms, there are many other reasons why contractors should be using social media.
- According to Sprout Social Index, 55% of consumers learn about new brands on social media. Prospective clients are using social media as a search tool to find products and services.
- Generation Z and Millennials (people between the age of 10 to 41) are the next generations of business owners, contractors, and clients and chances are if you're not active on social media you'll miss out on their business altogether.
- Approximately 68% percent of consumers agree that these networks enable them to interact with a brand or company. This can build relationships and trust.
- People can engage with your company by liking your posts, following your page, or leaving comments
- About 78% of consumers are willing to buy from a company after having a positive experience with them on social media.
An example of a construction company doing social media well is Ken White Construction. Ken White Construction is a family-run business that has been delivering quality work to customers for over 50 years. We recently had their Head of Marketing, Taylor White, join DOZR founder and CEO Kevin Forestell on our Building Builders podcast to discuss the benefits and challenges of social media for construction companies. Today, we wanted to share more about their story and how it can help you.
The Ken White Construction Social Media Case Study
In the last three years, Ken White Construction has built a following of over 200k followers and subscribers across their biggest platforms: YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok. With TikTok as their widest-reaching and most engaging platform of over 90,000 followers, they have mastered the art of social media marketing for construction companies. However, this wasn't always the case.
When Ken White Construction first started on Instagram and YouTube, they only had a few dozen followers. Then, Taylor posted a video of them doing some snow plowing of their facility and people started to notice as being in Canada, people need snow plowing on a consistent, yearly basis.
He quickly realized that social media could be helpful when that video led to people calling in saying they saw the video and wanted to get work done (another reason why you should have your contact information on social media). What was once a simple post has now led to an engaged audience of both contractors and clients across the world.
As they started to gain followers, they would also get messages from people reaching out to say "I work in the area and I'm looking for a new job" or "I saw what you guys do online and I want to check that out". To Ken White Construction, reaching prospective employees on social media is one of the most important parts of being active online. As Taylor said on the podcast, "don't promote that you're hiring ... show what it's like [to work at your company] and the people will come".
Understandably, many contracting business owners and general contractors may have concerns about sharing videos of their work online, worried that competitors will steal ideas, techniques, or even future projects from their company. Taylor acknowledges that this can and will happen, but when you build a strong online presence and a great working environment, ultimately competing businesses can't take away the quality of your work. "[Our] secret sauce is social media, [our] secret sauce is our culture, and you can't steal that from me".
With all that said, what are some best practices for actually getting started with social media for general contractors and contractors?
Best Social Media Marketing Advice for Builders
Okay, so we all agree social media is important for any business, construction or otherwise. But what platforms are most important to be active on? Where should you start?
Taylor makes it clear that the key to success on social media is to understand your audience. "These large corporate companies don't know how to recreate what we're doing because ... a lot of people just throw money at it. It's just the wrong type of content." He mentions that it's important to not just hire a social media manager for the sake of hiring a marketing expert. You need to "make good content and [hire] somebody who understands [what good content is] in your business".
Taylor presents a major barrier for companies who hope to grow their social media following: not being willing to open up their business and "show everything" online. The mentality of "we can't show this" and "we can't talk about that" prevents consumers from getting to know you, your business, and your team which can limit their trust in you.
While you're creating content, it's important to be authentic and honest with your consumers. If you refuse to pull back the curtain and none of your posts go deeper than surface level, your followers won't feel a connection to your brand.
For example, it's okay to admit that "every day's not awesome". Being in the cold of Canada, Taylor admits that his team is going to have some long days that they have to grind through, and you can share that side of your business too. It shows your customers that you care enough to work through the hard days and it shows a more personal side of yourself and your employees.
A great way to build your audience is by collaborating with others in the industry who are active on social media and what some would call micro-influencers. A micro-influencer is somebody who posts relevant content in your industry and has a significant following but whose total follower count on the platform is under 100,000.
There is a multitude of reasons why micro-influencers can be great for your brand but the main one is this: they actually have more influence than those with much larger follower counts. With over twice as high an engagement rate as large influencers, reaching out to these types of people and getting their support can explode your social media growth while also still sharing relevant information with your audience.
First Steps To Your Social Media Accounts
- Choose a username that fits with your company name, otherwise, customers won't be able to find you
- Upload a professional photo, often a version of your company logo, as your profile picture
- Add specific keywords your audience may search to your bio/description areas
- Be consistent in your username, profile picture, and bio across platforms
- Post as much as you think is necessary and interact with comments on your content by liking or replying
- Get back to any customer who messages your social media pages as quickly as possible
What Type of Contractor Content Should I Be Posting?
The type of content you post is by far the most important piece of information in this article. Your content needs to engage and interest users, but also not bother them. After poor customer service, the next four most common reasons that followers choose to disengage with a brand on social media have to do with the type of content that they are posting. Your content needs to remain relevant and not seem like it's just constant advertising to your followers.
When determining what content to post on social media, you need to think about who your target audience is and what they like. After you've determined who you're trying to reach, Taylor encourages questions like "what are they listening to? What do they find interesting? What apps are they spending their time on?" Once you've answered these questions, you can develop a social media strategy and tailor your posts to your audience.
Whether it's adding some comedic content, unique visuals, or just putting it to a song your audience likes, your content needs to distinguish itself as different from competitors. Many larger corporations may use similar footage to what you use in your posts, but they assume consumers will watch it if it gets to their feed. What Ken White Construction has found is that "you can throw hundreds and thousands of dollars at one video, but if it's boring and looks like an ad, people aren't going to watch it."
Even if a follower does take the time to watch that content, it won't give them the desire to work with you as a customer and join your team. Just a change in the music in the background of your post can encourage a positive response to the exact same content. This is especially true in Instagram Reels and TikToks, where audio is the most significant piece of any post.
What type of content does Ken White Construction actually include in their posts that drive their social media success? On TikTok, it's real job site footage with engaging audio showing the daily lives of those in contracting. The background music gets the interest of their audience and keeps them watching as they show the work their team is doing. This type of content is common on their Instagram page as well but interspersed with clips of relevant podcasts, spotlights on pieces of equipment and employees, and videos taking consumers all the way through a job. These walk-through videos are great as quick clips of each step of the project, or time-lapses that show the entire project in a minute or less.
Their YouTube channel has product reviews, tip videos, and longer job walk-throughs, as well as more personable videos where Taylor tells consumers about the business and its employees. Because of the content they produce, Ken White Construction has built a globally recognized brand for both contractors and potential clients.
Below we'll have a quick breakdown by social media platform of what type of content is best for your company, but just remember the following lessons from Taylor. Advertise your brand as authentic and unique. Understand your customers and your employees. Broadcast your company culture, and show everyone that your team does great work and has fun doing it.
The Best Social Media For Contractors and the Types of Content to Make
- Supports every type of content, but videos are the best
- Viewers expect longer videos than on other platforms, so you can pack in more information
- Easy to share contact information and location
- Dominated by pictures and videos - a great place to show off job sites and work
- Users have short attention spans, grab their attention right off the start
- Use trending sounds or create your own with Instagram Reels
- Text posts can work as long as they're short and visually appealing
TikTok
- Almost exclusively short (20-35 second) videos
- Use trending sounds or create your own - similar content can be posted here and on Instagram Reels
- Being captivating is as important as being relevant - users can't see your value if they won't watch your content
YouTube
- Entirely video-based platform
- How-to videos, time lapses of job sites, and customer testimonials fit best on a YouTube Channel
- YouTube Shorts is similar to Reels and TikTok, but not as proven a commodity - still worth trying, even just to repost your content from those platforms
- Tailor your video to the right search query and you could reach millions of viewers even if you only have a few subscribers
Final Thoughts
Taylor makes clear the most important lesson we can learn from social media for construction companies is the following: you can't just throw money at the problem by hiring a marketing professional and start creating content that won't help your business.
You have to understand your audience, know what they care about, and provide content that's relevant to them. Find out what they want to see online and give it to them. "You can throw a big budget at it but the guy with just the iPhone that gets [construction content] ... he's [going to] win over the people with [a] $400,000 budget".
Social media is capable of being your best method of advertising and is absolutely vital for your business to be able to compete with the best in the industry. Be funny, be relevant, be interesting, and engage your audience on whichever platforms they use daily. The brand awareness and loyalty you can build through social media will often lead to the use of your services over the competition, especially because you can show them the quality and consistency of your work.
You don't need a large budget, an editor or videographer, or any previous knowledge of social media. As Taylor mentions, you just need to get started. Listen to the full episode with Taylor now.
