As a construction marketer I’m always interested in the constant development of social media marketing for business; it’s very much part of my everyday job to not only use social to distribute content, but to also engage and educate our audience on construction marketing-related topics.
Pinterest can be a questionable area for construction marketers – could this platform really grow your online reputation and contribute to business goals?
I interviewed Vera, marketing executive at the Rooflight Manufacturing Business Glazing Vision, to give us an insight into her thoughts on Pinterest marketing, and how they’ve used it to support their social media strategy.
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So Vera, how would your describe Pinterest?
I’d best describe it as an online album or digital brochure to display a range of ideas, interests and relevant products to both inspire your audience and represent the brand of your business.
What are the basic functions of Pinterest?
The platform works by simply posting, or ‘pinning’ images and videos to a range of categorised Pinboards displayed on your business page. You can then ‘pin’ images within each board that you wish to share, or ‘re-pin’, like, and comment on other followers’ images.
What type of people do you get visiting your Pinterest business page?
Our audience consists of architects, contractors and homeowners – not just those in the UK but globally. Whilst homeowners are interested in the inspirational images for their own design ideas, architects benefit from the visual aspect to aid their own projects. Most of the architects who visit our page also have their own Pinterest accounts, showing that Pinterest should not just be seen as a platform for a female, consumer-based audience but also for members of the construction industry themselves.
What should a construction marketer be pinning?
To attract the right audience and position your business in the right way, you need to be pinning things that are informative, educational and inspiring.
We concentrate on pinning high quality images of project designs, informative infographics, concept sketches, installation videos and images to support our technical blog content. To inform your architectural audience on any installation and maintenance guides, it may be worth creating a simple step-by-step infographic, which then clicks though to the full guide within the image description.
The main thing to remember is to avoid images with a lot of written content, and don’t be too salesy. Sharing and re-pinning other followers’ inspirational images is just as important; we have a ‘Get Inspired’ board to display a range of other interesting designs and impressive house extensions.
How have you built your reach over time?
I began the process by clearing out any outdated images and pinboards; this included a ‘news’ section that was no longer relevant.
Existing and new boards were then refined by projects and product range; these include renders of each product as well as high-quality photographs. Product animation videos, rooflight concept boards, and more architectural sketches were added for further insight into the rooflight installation process. Our ‘Get Inspired’ page then helped to add a third dimension by incorporating other followers’ images of rooflight designs.
I also ensured that all relevant keywords were included within both existing and new image names and descriptions, to further improve our search rankings and generate more traffic to the page.
Once these above steps were taken, I followed more key customers and influencers to ensure our marketing efforts were being directed towards the right audience.
How often do you spend on Pinterest?
Initially, while updating the platform I’d say that an hour per day was spent – after that no more than 30 minutes per day. The platform itself is quick and easy to update, with daily activity usually including a notification check, re-pinning others’ posts, updating our own and replying to comments.
How successful has this level of activity been for Glazing Vision?
Since rebuilding our Pinterest account and increasing activity over the last 6 months, the amount of sessions received on Pinterest has more than doubled when compared to the 6 months previously. In fact Pinterest now generates more sessions than Blogger, LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter month on month – and a whole 74% more sessions than Twitter.
In terms of actual business goals in the form of downloads, CPD requests, project enquiries or contact forms, our social media activity has generated 78% of our goal completions since updating our Pinterest account.
We’ve also been advising our sales team to push architects towards our Pinterest page when making a project enquiry, which has seen a positive response in terms of project completions and referrals.
Are there any things to avoid on Pinterest?
I’d say to avoid over-using Hashtags for the sake of using them; for a while now there has been an ongoing debate on the usefulness of hashtags across social platforms. I think that if you are going to use one within an image description – ensure that it’s a keyword or a relevant topic that’s trending.
Another habit to avoid is posting a load of pins in one go; it’s always best to post one high-quality, inspirational photo instead of 40 average photos in the space of an hour. Your images will start to lose their credibility pretty quickly by doing this.
One last thing is to not feel obligated to follow everyone that follows you – keep your follower list aligned to your target personas.
Do you think the platform will continue to rise in popularity within the construction industry?
Yes most definitely – just as other visual platforms will. I think architects especially are always searching for new ways to view content visually and Pinterest will only continue to assist with this, by adding new features as it evolves. I think it has so much potential for construction marketers if managed effectively and implemented into an effective social media strategy.
Any last tips for other construction marketers?
I’d say research your construction audience first to analyse their online behaviour and review what other competitors are doing (or not doing) on Pinterest.
As well as including keywords in all descriptions, remember to keep descriptions fairly short with a simple call-to-action where required: where can they go to find out more information?
Also, try to add an image description that transmits the benefit of the product and gives the customer an idea of why and how the product can help them, rather than simply writing about what the product is. This kind of information is a simple way of become an invaluable resource to your customers.
Oh and always include a ‘Pin-it’ button on your website to make the process quick and easy for visitors to share an image! You can also pin your images across other social sites such as Twitter to maximise reach.
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Glazing Vision have demonstrated how Pinterest, as well as being an effective brand awareness and traffic building tool, can also be used to convert prospects into leads and generate a range of business goals.
Take a look at Glazing Vision’s Pinterest page here.
Do you have any thoughts about using Pinterest for Business?
Or do you have any advice for construction marketers starting off on Pinterest?
We’d love to hear from you 🙂
And if you’re interested in more information about social media marketing for your construction business, download our updated Social Media Marketing eBook here.
