Construction Companies Moving to Twitter

 

As many of you know, we’ve been on Twitter for a few years (@brandconstruct). It is a great tool for disseminating content and making relationships with people across the world. I am amazed at people I meet in person at conferences that know me from Twitter and we grow a friendship that we keep constant between conferences via Twitter and LinkedIn. I’ve also become friends with other marketers, some as far away as the UK.

Twitter has been a lonely place for me at times because most of the construction industry has not been onboard. That is until recently. In the past few weeks, I’ve found (and Twitter has suggested) at least 10 Twitter accounts from large construction companies on ENR’s Top 400 Contractors list. The past years years, smaller contractors have ruled the Twitterverse without the big guys taking note. Twitter has room for both, where the smaller contractors can be nimble, show more personality, and be highly specific with their geographic area or niche market. Large contractors can site industry trends, primary research they have done and stay connected with their clients via social media.

Unfortunately, many construction companies still miss use Twitter or at the very least, don’t use it to its fullest advantage.

  • One contractor I recently started following tweets are just automatic posts from Facebook. You can’t build a community on Twitter if you’re not even there.
  • Many companies seldom post. Oddly, the small contractor where an owner or executive is tweeting for the company isn’t the culprit here. Usually the rare tweets come from large construction companies that have a marketing team in-house. I know construction marketers are busy, but if you’re going to do something – do it.
  • Spam drives me nuts. Twitter isn’t about telling everyone how great you are. It is actually about positioning yourself/company as an expert and being a resource as well as making connections with people. Just posting “we build skyscrapers” all day isn’t helping anyone.
  • Over use if hashtags. Many times too many hashtags is a sign of a spammer, but sometimes its just a new Twitter user. Hashtags are great because it allows people to find specific, relevant information easily, but it can be overused and make it impossible to read. #donthashtagmetodeath

Twitter is a great place for large construction companies to get personal and create relationships, but don’t misuse it because social media can hurt you more than it can help.

Make sure you’re following The Brand Constructors on Twitter at @brandconstruct.