To further understand social media use in the construction industry, the Construction Marketing Association conducted a national survey of construction professionals. The following questions were asked:
1. Do you employ social media in your marketing program?
2. Do you manage social media marketing internally or outsource?
3. Which social networks do you employ?
4. Do you employ blogging?
5. What social media is MOST effective in achieving results?
6. What social media is LEAST effective in achieving results?
7. What results have you achieved via social media marketing?
8. Which category best describes your company?
9. What is the approximate size of your company?
Social Media in Construction Survey Results
An overwhelming majority, 90% of those surveyed, utilize social media in their construction marketing program, a true testament to the reach of social media.
Over 90% of respondents indicated that they manage their social media internally, as opposed to outsourcing it.
The majority of construction professionals indicated they use Linkedin (88%), Facebook (81%), and Twitter (71%). On the other hand, Pinterest is the least utilized social network with only 18%. However, there are still opportunities for construction brands to utilize this social media, find out Why Construction Brands Should Consider Pinterest.
61% of those in the construction industry do not employ blogging in their social media marketing program, while 39% do. If you are a part of the 61% who don’t blog, check out Blogging for Construction Marketing – Part One which discusses the benefits of blogging, blog platforms, and features. For those already blogging, learn more about the ongoing management of your blog with Blogging for Construction Marketing – Part Two.
46% found LinkedIn to be the most effective social media in achieving results. Twitter was found to be the second most effective with 29%, and Facebook was close behind with 26%. If you haven’t had much success with using LinkedIn, there is still hope. To compete with those already achieving results from LinkedIn, you can read this additional information for some pointers:
Leveraging LinkedIn: Pages and Applications
Leveraging LinkedIn Groups: Build Your Network!
Facebook was found to be the least effective in achieving results with 33%. With 600+ million users, it is crucial to have a strong foundation for your Facebook marketing strategy to increase your effectiveness. To help you learn more about achieving results with your Facebook marketing strategy read Facebook Best Practices for Construction.
69% of those in the construction industry indicated that they have increased awareness of their company as a result of social media marketing. 65% have increased their website traffic, 44% have improved their search ranking, and 40% have generated sales leads from the use of social media. On the other hand, only 17% of respondents indicated that social media has provided them with no results. Overall, it is clear social media provides results!
The graph above depicts the company type of those surveyed. The majority of survey respondents work for construction services, building material manufacturers, commercial construction, consulting, or as home builder/remodeler.
Survey respondents were representative of variety of company sizes. 27% work in companies with 26 – 100 employees, 25% have 1 – 10 employees, and 16% 251 – 1,000 employees.
Please share this post with those in the construction industry who are interested in social media! For additional information, check out the Social Media Summit Webcast Summary.
What were the total number of responses to the survey?
Owen – we had 114 responses to the survey! It was our best response yet!
Great insight. I found a few items to be somewhat curious and I wonder if this is the nature of the construction business. Recent stats indicate that 75% of B2B companies do not measure or quantify social media engagement and frankly, I was in the same boat until recently. I now use a software program (HubSpot) to track effectiveness. Using this new tool I found that Linkedin was less valuable because of its silo format. Ive also found that blogging, when done with a keyword strategy was highly effective in generating real leads.
Overall, the research shows B2B companies that blog generate 67% more leads per month than those who don’t blog. So to see that so many respondents don’t use this valuable method was surprising. Blogs are great SEO tools and allow you to bring personality to your company. Once my construction clients start blogging, inevitably their website traffic goes up. I had a 500% increase in three months posting two blogs a week.
Something to think about.
Michael Conway
@maconway123
means-of-production.com
good article on construction and survey with beautiful graphs.. love to read the article and thanks for posting.
I am finding that Google Plus and Pinterest are becoming more effective, as these networks continue to grow and Facebook becomes harder and more expensive to market on. Youtube and Linkedin are invaluable if you can get the right marketing mix.
Hi
Interesting article. Do you have a UK counterpart? I’m struggling to find good social media data for construction companies here in the UK that is up to date.
PoYung,
Check out http://www.pauleycreative.co.uk/ They have the resources you are looking for. Also, you may want to check out their infographic, “Social Media Analysis of the Top 15 UK Construction Companies” here: http://www.pauleycreative.co.uk/2011/11/infographic-social-media-analysis-of-the-top-15-construction-companies/ Hope that helps!
This is really very interesting information. Thank you so much for sharing it. Was your study done within your membership only? I have been trying to find information for AEC use of Social Media in Canada, and have been very unlucky up to now. Any chance your data includes Canadians as well?
Our study includes both members and non-members. Though we have some respondents from Canada, the majority of respondents were from the U.S. Having a hard time finding Canada-specific information. Good luck on your search, let us know if you find anything!
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