If you own or work for a residential contractor, you can never have enough social media post ideas for builders. The reality is that, from a marketing perspective, social media still reigns supreme. But it is a beast to conquer, wouldn’t you agree? It has become so crucial to success in these digital times, yet so overwhelming! It is hard to know exactly how to make your value proposition stand out in all that traffic. We reviewed highly visible posts across all the channels, and we came up with tips and the best social media post ideas for builders. A foolproof recipe for your social media success!
In this article:
- Social Media Tips for Builders
- Instagram Examples and Tips
- Twitter Examples and Tips
- LinkedIn Examples and Tips
- What to Do with Leads from Social Media
The Rule of Thumb is not to be too self promoting. Pull rather than push sell. Inspire and not promote an agenda. Post useful information for the benefit of your social media followers, not persuade them that your organization provides the best solution (they will come to that conclusion all by themselves), and finally, to walk the walk (demonstrate) rather than talk the talk. For more details on a social media approach, please read our article Social Media for Construction Companies.
Clearly, what works for residential contractors is not going to do the trick for commercial or general contractors, so we break it down into those categories over three different categories. There will be some overlap, but also some distinct differences. And examples to inspire you. The first article in our series of three focuses on Residential Contractors:
Social Media Tips for Builders & Residential Contractors
Who doesn’t have a dream house? Or look for ideas to improve their dream house? Some people even spend their Sundays looking at houses on the market, no, not to buy, but for ideas, kid you not. So here is your chance to showcase some of your residential projects to a wider audience… online! And some tips and tricks to get traction along with an example or two.
Tip1: Invite engagement.
You can engage your audience with a question (Would you like to call this your home office?) or a poll (Which room in this beautiful home do you like the most?)
Here’s a good social media post example that got almost 2K views on Instagram (IG).
They asked the question, “What space in this beautiful home do you like the most?”
And here is another example that got more than 7K views (video works!)
They asked a similar question, “Which room in this beautiful home do you like the most?”
Tip 2: Provide relevant and useful information.
A good example is this tweet by Journal of Biophilic Design (@JofBiophilicDsn)
“Happy first day of winter! Since today has the shortest amount of daylight hours, check out our latest blog post on The Benefits of Natural Light and Outdoor Living.”
Tip 3: Start a company blog and link to it on social media.
Be sure to read our article on how to get leads and these search engine optimization tips from marketing guru Neil Patel to make your blog discoverable by Google!
Tip 4: Link to short “Did You Know” or “DIY” YouTube videos.
Post and link to short “Did You Know?” or other helpful videos on YouTube that will get you views. Don’t forget to hashtag them #DYI 🙂 On Twitter alone, that hashtag gets 138,446 views! It is also a popular hashtag on Instagram.
Here’s a great social media post idea for builders in the form of a YouTube Video.
How to Grout | DIY for Beginners – this video has about 4 million views!
And another social media post idea from YouTube. How plumbing fixtures can help homeowners save on their utility bills.
Tip 5: Post pictures of completed projects
Post pics of completed projects you have designed, or contributed to as a contractor. Social media users love that stuff, whether it is on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook. Post pics of your progress on construction projects too! Good example of a Twitter post by @RonchessGlobal that got engagement was an update on reinforcement work for the construction of a double cell box culvert on the Isa Kaita road project. 57 Retweets and 158 likes!
Tip 6: Brag a little. Showcase awards!
Tip 7: Be creative. Timelapse video really works!
Here’s a great social media post idea that wins points for creativity and innovation. @power_construct posted this timelapse video on Twitter. You can do the same with your home renovation project or home building project.
Instagram Examples and Tips | Social Media Post Ideas for Builders
- Use hashtags liberally: Start typing what comes to mind, e.g. #<keyword>. IG will show you options for that hashtag. Take your pick, and remember to try many different angles, for example, #home #homesweethome #homes #DreamHome #HomeInspiration #HomeInspo #HomeIdeas #newhome #homegoals #homebuilders #realestate #RealEstateForSale #realestatephotos #realestatephotography #luxuryhomes #luxuryliving #moving #floorplan #builder #interiordesign
- Strong and striking visuals do well on IG. Look for project opportunities to capture those. Challenge your team to do the same. Cell phones these days take great pictures – post them and say something about the challenge and accomplishment! Here is an example of something striking that got a lot of attention on IG, 169 to be precise (now we can’t come up with the “likes”of this every day, but it can serve as inspiration to take a pic of some project you are proud of!)
- Another tip to get the attention on IG is to post a slew of slides (different stages, different features, different angles, etc.
- When you post to Instagram, text on images also gets attention.
- On IG, first post the description of the image with no hashtags and then comment on the post with the hashtags. IG followers are curious about comments on posts!
Here are some great social media post ideas for builders on Instagram.
Twitter Examples and Tips | Social Media Post Ideas for Builders
- Leverage ritetag.com, a free hashtag app that shows you the corresponding number of tweets, retweets and views for Twitter hashtags. This is where you get to weigh the number of tweets you would typically be competing with against the retweets and views your tweet might get. It is important when you consider Twitter limits the number of characters in a tweet to 280 and that includes your link (URL of any length will be altered to 23 characters). So, choose your words and hashtags carefully.
Use #residentialconstruction as one of your hashtags. And take your cues from this guy (not only did he get engagement, but he has gained thousands of followers!):
- And sometimes, promote your product or service but be careful that you do so succinctly, like this tweet (granted it is was posted as an ad, but is a good example nonetheless):
LinkedIn Examples and Tips | Social Media Post Ideas for Builders
- Use LinkedIn-specific hashwords to get noticed on that channel:
- #Constructionindustry – 92,123 followers
- #constructionnews – 47,119 followers
- #constructionprojects – 8,011 followers
- #constructiontechnology – 4,169 followers
- Some good examples of LinkedIn posts that rake in the likes are of residential construction projects, for example this one:
- LinkedIn members are also inclined to engage with polls, like the one below.
- Showcase any projects that drive #efficiency gains, #lowercarbon and are geared towards a more #sustainablefuture for the industry alo get attention. And work #designsoftware #computersoftware #3dmodeling #autocad #constructiontech #constructionindustry #generalcontractors #subcontractors and #constructionsector into the mix where applicable.
- It is important to keep it professional, inspirational, and celebratory of your team on LinkedIn to earn the likes and shares: Showcase expertise and innovation. Acknowledge your team. Empower your followers.
What to Do with the Leads that Come From Social Media Posts
So yes, what to do and where to go once you get the social media attention? Social media serves as a means to move potential prospects down the sales funnel, in other words, to attract interest. Once you have the interested parties, you need a system to track them as leads and convert them into customers.
First of all, it is important to monitor your social media accounts for engagement and to engage in return. Reply to any and all comments. @ Mention companies in turn. Retweet or share their posts. In other words, establish a connection and get to know your prospective leads once they qualify as such. Research them, yes, Google them if you must, to learn more about how your company can serve their needs. Then contact them on the social media platform or offline with professionally-crafted messaging that spell out your company’s value proposition (without the sales pitch!).
How to Track Leads from Social Media
At some point, it becomes important to track them as leads. And this is where you need a sales management tool that aligns with your sales pipeline. You could use an Excel spreadsheet or you could invest in construction software developed specifically for the industry like iDeal CRM for Construction. It will support you as a lead management tool to manage all your leads so you can convert them to customers. It also helps you monitor and manage bid activity, manage client data, keep track of your bid calendar & follow-up calendar.
