Construction firms should use Social Media Marketing for one very simple reason – survival. To put it bluntly, your target audience and industry colleagues are out there, waiting for a construction firm just like you to talk to them about the industry in general and specific local projects. They’re more than happy to give feedback and pleased as punch to develop a relationship with a similar company, which may well develop into something more profitable.

You may of course feel that this “new technology” (although actually, it isn’t all that new) is simply a fad which will pass and that you don’t have time to dedicate to posting regular content. Shame then, that your competitors have been quick to jump on the bandwagon and are as we speak, strengthening their brand, developing their reputation, making contact and building relationships with significant people – in short, stealing your thunder.

Social Media Marketing should by now be playing a lead role in your marketing communications plan, which in turn should be tapping into your business plan. If, for example, one of your objectives for this year is to strengthen relationships with all commercial property developers in a 50 mile radius, you can bet that after the initial contact has taken place, those developers will be looking you up on Google, so you’d better have an excellent online profile in place. Social media – Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn will all help you in this respect, as will regularly updated blog posts.

Arguably, the construction industry has for too long, been relaxed about its sources of referrals, relying heavily on local “networks” for its instructions. However, the economic downturn has helped to turn this approach on its head, with social networks now broadening into a global environment and firms operating within this sector developing increasingly commercial practices in order to remain competitive.