What does it mean to you and your firm to “get more out of” social media? Meeting the daily minimum of tweets and posting the occasional update on Facebook only goes so far in building awareness and generating fresh connections with your audience. To make your A/E firm’s social media more valuable, consider these tips.
1. Follow more target clients than peers
It’s easy to get caught up following other people that like the “same stuff” as you, but instead of keeping a stream of only architects and architecture firms, look for connections with your clients and their peers.
2. Read and interact with your clients’ trade pubs
If your firm practices commercial or retail architecture, identify trade publications that your clients may read. Following more of those types of accounts will make you a more valuable partner to your clients.
3. More fun, less funds
Don’t think about making money with every blog post or tweet. Have fun, share a little personality.
4. Try chatting after 5 pm
Connecting with clients on a personal level sometimes requires sharing or tweeting when you’re not in the office. We’re not talking about answering work email here, just remember that your clients care about their business even when they’re off the clock. Chime in every once in a while with a share or RT after 5.
5. Integrate your approach
Your website and your social media profiles aren’t two separate entities. In fact, they’re more like two stories in the same building. Make as many connections between your social media and your website as you can.
6. Monitor your web stats
If you don’t have Google Analytics (or something comparable), get it immediately. Knowing your most popular content, common search terms and traffic sources will help you create relevant future content.
7. Email can be social
Email marketing doesn’t stop with an open. Integrate your emails with social media platforms and consider repurposing email newsletters for blog posts.
8. Go beyond the big name tools
Start looking for blogs or online social communities that are more related to your clients and less generic. Houzz is a great example of a tool residential architecture firms can use with a much better impact than Facebook.
9. Solve a problem
If you want to prove that you care about your clients, help solve their problems when you aren’t getting paid. Creating a LinkedIn group for your clients to converge and converse can help them solve challenges while building your understanding of what your clients need.
10. Purge
If you’ve been active on Twitter and Facebook for a while, you’ve probably amassed a long list of likes and follows. Some of them are fantastic, while many may just be clogging your feed and distracting you. Twitter lists help organize your feed, but nothing is as easy as just plain deleting people. Don’t be afraid to clean up your accounts every once in a while.