Instagram in the Building Industry

Pictures worth 1000 words: How savvy building companies are growing their presence with Instagram:

If you had asked me about Instagram a year ago, I would have told you it’s merely a fun app to kill time on the bus to work. I didn’t see how it could have any meaningful application to benefit construction companies. Today I have a very contrasting opinion on the matter that I will try to go into more detail now.

Personally, I  discovered the popularity of Instagram within the building industry while attempting to boost Dragon Labour Hire’s presence on a variety of social media platforms (Facebook, LinkedIn etc). Looking at a few of our current clients, I was amazed how active and creative some of them were (especially the smaller resi builders) and the huge number of people following their accounts.

In retrospect, I’m not sure why I was so surprised. Instagram has become such a highly targeted visual advertising channel for so many other industries, it’s only logical that the building industry would effectively adopt the platform to promote their brand and services as well.

 

What savvy Building Companies are doing with Instagram:

Like most forms of social media, there are do’s and don’ts when it comes to using Instagram for business. Frazer Building Services and McGarry Constructions have been generous enough to let us use their pages as examples of how to get the most out of the platform. Here are 5 brief points of what they are doing right:

 

1. They put together a unique and informative profile description:
   

   Frazer Building Services’ Profile Decription

 

The way Instagram sets up their pages puts the Profile Description in prime position for the viewer. It is the first thing people will see when they click on a company’s page. Keep the description short, sharp, unique and informative. This is also the only part of the page where you can post a link to the company’s website, so be sure to include it.

 

As you can see with our friends at Frazer Building Services, they have also set their profile to a Business Account. This adds a ‘Contact Button’ to the profile, as well as providing metrics of the number of people your posts are reaching.

 

 

 

2. They keep a consistent stream of posts to the page:

 

It is important for companies to  post new photos and videos on a regular basis. This will help establish and maintain an audience that will become familiar with the brand and services. It would be wise to plan a time(s) of day that you dedicate to adding new content.

 

 

For example, Mcgarry Constructions post an average 1-2 business relevant posts per day. This a good amount of content because they will stay fresh in their followers’ mind without saturating their newsfeed and risking them to unfollow the page.

 

 

 

 

 

3. They use hashtags effectively:

Over the last 5 years we have all come accustomed to #hashtags. If you would like a better insight of what they are please follow the link here.

Clued on builders have researched and established there go-to chain of hashtags depending who they want to target. If you are unsure of what hashtags to include on your posts, a quick search on Google or other similar construction company’s Instagram pages will be a good start.

Tip: Don’t overdo it with too many hashtags. Keep them relevant to your post as Frazer Building Services has done here.

 

 

 

 

4. They are using the Instagram Story function:
   

   You will find Instagram’s story function at the top of your screen

 

Instagram is a constantly evolving application. To compete with the extremely popular app Snapchat, they have rolled out their own form of temporary video/photo story function. Without getting too technical, the story function will only show posted photos and videos for 24 hours.

This function is fantastic for builders wishing to give their followers a visual of what’s happening on site during the day. Companies who are using this effectively fill their stories with development of projects throughout the work day, light-hearted banter with on-site workers, technical hurdles they have encountered and how they are using their expertise to overcome them.

 

 

5. They break up professional posts with something fun

It is a good idea to break up your business-related posts with something light hearted and a little less serious. This adds a human element to your company which will lead to more brand trust and recognition.

Additionally, engaging your audience is a great way to separate you from your competitors. Creating a competition or hinting at a new upcoming project or feature to your followers will peak user interest and participation.

A great competition Dragon introduced last year was to get our workers to take pictures of them working on site (on their breaks of course!).  If they then posted the picture to Instagram with the hashtag #thedragongroup, they were in the running to win $100.

 

 

In an industry that has always been visually subjective, builders who pride themselves on quality (regardless of their size) can now leverage social media to help them stand out from the competition. If used properly with a great website and positive reviews from past clients, Instagram can be a main pillar in how companies bring on new clients. And the best part about it is that it’s completely free and it lets the quality of work do the talking.

 

Once again, a big thank you to McGarry Constructions and Frazer Building Services. I encourage you too see their Insta pages for yourself. See below 🙂

https://www.instagram.com/mcgarryconstructions/

https://www.instagram.com/frazer_building_services/