Posts Categorized: Social Media

Glossary of digital marketing and social media terms

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The new terms and abbreviations used online can be confusing for someone who is new to digital marketing and the world of social media. Therefore, we have compiled a list of some of the most commonly used words and terms to help you make sense of what people are talking about. This list is not conclusive and if you have any other terms that you think we should add then please let us know in the comments section.

Blog: A blog is an online journal that is updated on a regular basis with entries that appear in reverse chronological order. Blogs can be about any subject and are usually written in a conversational style to encourage comments and discussion.

Bounce Rate: the percentage of single-page visits or visits in which the person left your site from the entrance (landing) page. Use this metric to measure visit quality – a high bounce rate generally indicates that site entrance pages aren’t relevant to your visitors.

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How a UK architect practice uses social media to increase brand awareness

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This is the second post in our interview series with different members of the construction industry. Dave joins us from SNOW architects to talk about how his practice use social media to communicate with their audience, raise awareness of the business and generate leads.

I ‘virtually’ met Dave through Twitter over a year ago and then finally saw him in person at our digital marketing seminar in October. He has built up a large online following and often shares interesting articles on industry news and developments as well as blogging about how architects can use the latest technologies for their projects. Now, I will let him take the stage, so to say, and tell you a bit more about the company and how social media has helped him.

Introduction to SNOW architects

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Infographic: Social media analysis of the top 15 UK construction companies

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Following on from our 2010 and 2011 analysis of how the top 15 UK construction companies are using social media, we have created an infographic to illustrate the difference a year can make. To see the detailed 2011 analysis, read our blog post ‘how are the top 15 UK construction companies using social media.’ Feel free to share the infographic on your blog, just remember to please link it back to this post. Thanks!

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How a building product manufacturer is using social media for their business

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Welcome to our first guest blog post where we take a deeper look into how product manufacturers within the construction industry are using social media. First up in this series is Playrite, who manufacture artificial surfaces and synthetic grass for sports facilities, playgrounds and leisure surfaces. They have an active presence on Twitter, Facebook and regularly update their company blog.

I initially heard about Playrite and their products through Twitter and since then have shared many interesting conversations on Twitter. In October we had the pleasure of actually meeting their marketing manager, Lorna Duncanson in person when she attended our Digital Marketing Seminar. Meeting online friends offline is one of my favourite things! I will now happily hand you over to Lorna to give you a short introduction to Playrite, what they do, how they use social media and what positive results it has had on their business.

UPDATE (16/05/2012) Marketing manager Lorna Duncanson is running 5k for race for life in July so please donate here.

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A review of 15 construction companies using social media in 2011

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Read our 2015 update of this post here.

In June 2010 we carried out an analysis of how the top 15 construction companies in the UK were using social media to connect with their audience online. The analysis clearly indicated how many of these multi-million companies were simply ignoring social media by either not having a social presence at all or, if they had an account, it was used as a tool to simply broadcast company news. Whilst this is at least a start, social media channels can be used as a conversational tool to connect with members of the supply chain and your target audience, conducting research or just interacting with other people within the construction industry and having interesting discussions. Nearly 17 months have now passed and I have decided to revisit this analysis and investigate whether there have been any positive changes.

**Update: We have created an infographic comparing the 2010 and 2011 findings, to see it please visit http://bit.ly/top15infographic

The Construction Index publishes an annual list ranking UK construction companies according to turnover so I have picked the top 15 construction companies of 2011 for my analysis. Looking at the two lists, there have been a few companies who have moved up whilst others have dropped below the top 15. The notable fallers are Amey UK, Bovis Lend lease and Sir Robert McAlphine who will not be included in this updated social media analysis. Instead they have been replaced by Enterprise, Keller and Costain who have moved up into the top 15.

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LinkedIn introduces Group Statistics

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LinkedIn have launched Group Statistics whereby you can view the statistics for each group that you’ve joined. I recently just left a few groups which I felt were full of spammers, feeds, no discussions or lack of engagement, lack of value and no real growth. The new stats may help marketers identify which groups they should join to get the best value from. Alternatively if you have your own corporate LinkedIn group these stats will help you understand how your group is performing and help you identify growth, target audiences, job functions etc.

Take a look at the stats for the CIMCIG group (one of which I enjoy participating in and advise all marketers within the construction industry to join):

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MDi TV Episode 3 – Social Media Time Management

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This episode of Whiteboard Wednesday features Pritesh and Ayaan talking about how to manage your time effectively on social media. They discuss the importance of defining business goals and objectives before developing your social media strategy and then allocating your time according to how active your audience is on the various social networks. Tools such as Google alerts makes it easier to monitor product and brand mentions, whilst Hootsuite and Tweetdeck allow you to schedule tweets thereby helping with time management. Pritesh and Ayaan also suggest a 30 minute plan of activities you can do every day to manage your social presence.  This can vary slightly for every business, depending on your objectives and your internal resources (eg size of marketing team).

If you have any questions that you would like us to answer in another MDi TV episode then please drop us a line via email or tweet us @PauleyCreative.

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How social media can improve your PR campaigns

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The digital shift has had a big effect on the way news and information is published and consumed in the construction industry. PR professionals and marketers need to understand how this impacts the way they communicate with their audiences and the media. Social media has increased the number of available communication channels and facilitated real time conversations between companies and customers. It has given construction companies and individuals the opportunity to become publishers.Read More

How product manufacturers can make their email marketing more social

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Email marketing remains one of the main communication mediums in the construction industry. Building product manufacturers use it to update their customers and prospects on new products, to promote exclusive discounts and discuss industry news. There are articles floating about saying that social media will ‘kill’ email but these forget the most important point; you need an email address to have a social media account in the first place! Email is not going away but the way it is used for marketing needs to adapt and align with the changing buying behaviour of specifiers and architects.

Social media should be seen as a partner and not as a threat to email marketing. Together they can strengthen your brand message, provide new communication channels and increase your exposure to existing and potential customers. Both email and social media aim to keep your construction products top of mind for architects and specifiers by communicating with them in a relevant and timely manner that is both testable and measurable. Social media is the new tool but does not work alone. It is part of your overall marketing mix, of which email plays a large role.

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