I was lucky enough to be the guest moderator today for the AECSM Tweetchat. It really was a fantastic group, including some of the best AEC social media folks around!

The session today was all about “Content Leadership” and there was conversation about what the heck that means, who does it and what types of “content” firms in the A/E industry find useful.

Sometime around the middle of the chat there was an interesting divide into two conversations.
1. Content leadership in the A/E industry with regards to content marketing – i.e. writing for our clients.
2. Content leadership in the A/E industry FOR the A/E industry – i.e. writing for other architects and peers.

I’ve been thinking on this one all night long and realized it not only made people take away very different things from the Tweetchat, but it also represents a HUGE difference in the approach of architecture firms that actively market and those that don’t.

Who are we talking to?

In every page of your website, every brochure, every press release, every email, every…EVERYTHING, it’s a must to consider your audience first. I strongly believe that the ability or inability to focus on clients first (or industry) in your content is what separates firms in a philosophical way.

As a small firm in the first years, is the principal
A. creating an umbrella to practice for themselves or
B. actually intending to grow a firm?

When writing a project description for your new Higher Ed project, are you writing about
A. the Golden Ratio and cascading structures or
B. the way your new student center works at peak hours on campus?

As a religious architect, are you more focused on
A. the Pritzker Prize or
B. the Faith and Form Church Architecture awards?

Do you care more about the opinions of your
A. peers (AKA your competitors) or
B. your clients?

The answers aren’t all mutually exclusive, but if your firm isn’t answering B at least some of the time then you’re definitely missing out on the idea of “content leadership” and how to build reputation with your target clients.

Special thanks to Taryn Erickson for allowing me to host the #AECSM chat today!