Social Media
Ridgemount are sponsors of the Construction Media Index 2022. In this article Kate Sugarman comments on some of the findings from the report on use of social media by construction decision makers.
Why social media works
The social media landscape is changing all the time: algorithms develop, new restrictions emerge, consumer habits change. What we find, however, is that managed right, social media channels offer great brand exposure that can deliver impressive measurable results.
Put simply, with 200,756,193 active websites on the internet we are consuming content at an unprecedented rate, so how do you get people to look at yours?
The answer is simply by targeting the exact people you want to talk to and to be as interesting as you possibly can be. Be sure that you know where your people are and when they are most likely to be online.
Simple? Well the digital world makes all of this easier than you might think. Information has never been as readily available as it is now and profiling your audience should be a cinch with a bit of research.
Social media is a powerful tool for marketers. It gives them the ability to connect directly with their audiences in real and measurable way. The capability of the various platforms is unrivalled because it is fully trackable in a clear and tangible way.
Want to know how many people have read your ad? No problem. Want to know how many people clicked through to your website? You got it.
It’s not so long ago that these things weren’t possible. You would spend thousands of pounds on a campaign and never know if it hit the mark. There were plenty of measurable goals but no one could say 100% the exact number of people who had seen and responded to an ad, or read an article.
What started out as a simple tool to connect people with long lost friends and relatives, has grown and become an established way of communicating.
As well as connecting with your current audience, you can reach out to new people who have never heard of you, confident that your audience will be relevant.
You can build and expand on your brand, increase sales and drive more traffic than ever to your website. You can see what people are doing once they get there and immediately change your user journey if something isn’t working out in the way you want it.
Brand awareness is just as important as ever – it’s still true that when any of us go to a supermarket, we’re more likely to choose a brand we know over one we’ve never heard of, and it’s no different for the construction industry.
Why should an electrician choose your cable over the 100’s of others available at the merchant? Or pay a premium for your brand of power tools over your cheaper competitor? The right content, aimed at the right audience, allows your targets to know a lot about you before they even make it to the shop.
They can know what you stand for, why you’re better and what your story is. They know because they have watched your videos, read your blogs and seen what influencers are saying about your products.
Social media is evolving all the time and the opportunities are endless. Wise brands know this and are engaging all the time: from Twitter arguments between fast food chains to entire concerts being streamed on VR headsets in a post Superbowl Show, there really is no limit and there are opportunities for every budget. Provided you have something to say, people are ready to listen and connect with your brand in a personal way.
Kate Sugarman, Head of Digital
Ridgemount
