Posts By: Stuart Dinnie

How a tile specialist is using social media to share advice and build customer relationships

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This is the fourth blog post in our interview series that investigates how different companies within the UK construction sector are using social media for their business. Karen joins me from Reed Harris, a specialist tile importer, to discuss how Twitter and blogging have helped them connect with architects, interior designers and other construction professionals from all over the UK. I personally met Karen on Twitter when she joined over a year ago and then had the pleasure of meeting her face to face at Ecobuild last year.

I am also a big fan of her blog which is full of useful design information and inspiration. If you would like to know more about their fabulous tiles then download the Reed Harris tile guide which gives an overview of the methods and materials used in their successful projects.

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5 reasons why BIM isn’t working

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Last night saw an impressive gathering of senior industry figures congregated at One Birdcage Walk for the invite only CIMCIG chairman’s event at the equally impressive HQ of the Institute of Mechanical Engineers [IMechE]. On the menu, BIM and the barriers to adoption. Chairman Ian Exall, CIMCIG (and Aqualisa) gave a brief but concise introduction to the panel and suggested that the audience participate at will.

Speakers:

  • Paul Morrell, Government CCA
  • Mike Sheehan, Director of Sustainability, WSP
  • Alan Crane, President CIOB
  • Chris Gilmour, Design and Marketing Director, BAM Construct UK
  • Karl Redmond, Construction Sector Network, Leeds Metropolitan University

Opening gambits from the panel came thick and fast:

Paul Morrell (my interpretation of what he said): Supply chain collaboration is key to successful adoption. Contractors need to work with consultants and consultants to learn about 3d modeling from product manufacturers. There needn’t be stringent standards that everyone adopts however there needs to be enough universal standards that allow confidence in adoption so as not to give rise to fear of investment in the wrong place.

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MDi TV Episode 12 – How to set up Goals in Google Analytics for your Construction Products Website

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In this episode of MDiTV Pritesh will show you how to create and set up goals in Google Analytics to measure conversions on your website such as downloads, registrations, subscriptions or sign ups. Pritesh then explains what the conversion report looks like and how to interpret the data to find which sources of traffic are effective at achieving the most conversions. Any questions please do tweet us @PauleyCreative or let us know of any topics which you would like us to cover in any future episodes of MDiTV.

Enjoy!

Marketing implications of Google’s latest feature ‘search, plus your world’

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Last week Google launched their latest feature called ‘search, plus your world’ or search+ for short. This change sees a deeper integration of Google search with its social network Google+, thereby turning search into a more social experience. They want to improve the search experience by making results more relevant and personal to users when they are signed into their Google.com accounts. Read More

A collection of infographics for the construction industry

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Infographics have become a very popular method of presenting data and information in a visual, creative and fun way. They are vastly shared on social media and the best infographics convey complex information in a quick, and easy to digest, manner.  We have done some research and collected 12 construction-related infographics that you might find useful. If you have come across any others that should be on this list then please let us know in the comments section. Enjoy!

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Digital marketing seminars and workshops for building product manufacturers

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Last year we held two very successful digital marketing events in London and Manchester with delegates from all over the construction industry. Due to the popularity of the events, we are running a series of digital marketing seminars and workshops throughout this new year, targeted at business owners and marketers from building product manufacturers. The full day seminars will be held in London and Manchester while the more intensive and hands-on half day workshops will take place at our office in Milton Keynes.

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How important is social media to a construction news and search website?

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Welcome to the third post in our interview series with various companies within the construction industry. Today I’m joined by Paul from The Construction Index (TCI), an online search engine which is used by a large majority of the UK construction industry, the site also includes the UK’s largest construction search directory. In October 2011, Experian Hitwise confirmed that The Construction Index continued to be the number 1 website for UK construction search and construction news. It’s free to access, with no subscription or registration pay wall. The website provides a wide range of content including: comprehensive coverage of the main news and issues affecting the construction industry, online advertising, tender information, market data (which we used in our social media analysis of the top 15 UK construction companies) and a unique search facility that delivers targeted local and national results. TCI have a prominent social media presence, especially on Twitter which is how I met Paul. We have had various conversations about industry developments, interesting news (sometimes in German!) and inevitably… good food. So here we go… enjoy the post!

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Analysing Assisted Conversions and Conversion Paths in Google Analytics

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Many marketers struggle to identify which sources of traffic are most effective when it comes to converting web visitors into leads. Setting up Goals in Google Analytics for events such as downloads, registrations, subscriptions or enquiry submissions is the first step in working out which sources of traffic, and which campaigns, are most effective.

A few weeks back I decided to use one of our clients’ high volume traffic websites to test the new Assisted Conversion and Conversion Paths reports in Google Analytics V5 for a 4 week period. Assisted conversions in Google Analytics identifies which sources of traffic played a part in converting a visitor into a lead. This is an important report for identifying which sources of traffic are helping in converting visitors. Here is what the Assisted Conversion path report looks like:

Assisted Conversions

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MDi TV Episode 11 – Planning your digital marketing for 2012

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Happy new year and welcome to the first MDi TV episode of 2012. This episode will help you benchmark your current position and plan your marketing activities for the year. Conduct a review of 2011 to discover whether you achieved your objectives, how your website is performing, where the majority of your traffic is coming from, what web pages are doing well (and which aren’t) and also look at the brand and non-brand keywords that are driving traffic to your site. How can you increase traffic for non-branded keywords this year?

Doing a regular review of your competitors and the general environment is also vital. Are there any new companies in your sector? What campaigns are your competitors running? Is there any new industry regulation that you (or your customers) should be aware of? Once you have benchmarked your position, you can then allocate your marketing budget according to the specific and measurable goals that you have set for the year ahead.

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5 digital marketing predictions for 2012

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At the start of every new year there are always a host of blog posts and articles listing predictions for the next big thing or trend that will define the year. I think 2012 is going to be mainly about the maturity of social media and the acceptance that it’s now a fundamental part of business. Construction marketers have to focus on producing more relevant content and ensure that it reaches their target audience at the right time in the buying cycle and through the right channels. Using social data to gather valuable insights will enable the creation of more effective, measurable marketing campaigns. This year the continued merging of mobile, search and social will play an important role as content production and sharing takes centre stage. Below are some predictions about what digital marketing trends are going to shape the construction industry in 2012.

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