Ten Ways to Strengthen Relationships and Elevate Your Brand on Social Media
Social Media gets a bad rap for good reason. It can be full of puffery, truthiness and frighteningly well-targeted ads. But that doesn’t mean it’s not useful; it means that you need to be smart about how you use it.
Social media is a powerful tool to learn about people and strengthen relationships. Here’s how architects and contractors can do it well.
Listen. The greatest power of social media is its ability to target an audience—or a person—and listen to them. What matters to your clients? What matters to your prospective clients? If you follow them and their companies on social media, they will tell you. When Twitter launched in 2006, the common advice was: listen 80% of the time you’re on the platform; speak no more than 20% of the time. That’s still good advice, and I might further inflate that percentage to 90/10. Regardless of the numbers, listen first.
Focus. Pick a platform and cultivate your following. Social media takes more time than you likely think that it does. To build trust—and relationships—you will have to hone your voice. Think about what you want to be known for, listen to what others in your space are saying, and then start to post yourself. It’s time consuming. So: decide which platform—or platforms—matter most to you and start there.
Decide where to post. Instagram and X have very different audiences, as do Threads and Facebook. Think about why you are on social media, and who you hope to connect with. For example, if you’re a builder trying to connect with architects, I recommend that you target Instagram and LinkedIn. Instagram is all about visuals, LinkedIn is closer to an online version of a professional conference. Curate your content accordingly.
Introduce yourself. In many ways, social media for business is the digital equivalent of attending a networking happy hour. It’s social, yes, but it’s also professional. As you enter a professional networking event, you’re likely thinking about how you will introduce yourself. What do you want to be known for? What do you hope to learn from the people you meet? Think about social media the same way. Decide what you want your followers to know about you and focus on that. Don’t just start talking about yourself; that will make people un-follow you, just as they would politely step away from you if you yammer on and on about yourself at a party. Talk about ideas, current events, industry trends. As you do, begin by asking yourself….
How can you help? This is the most important question to ask yourself in building a social media audience. To cultivate a following, think about how your posts will benefit your audience. What can you do for them? Can you offer ideas, inspiration, or knowledge about emerging technologies? Research is fantastic—so are breakthroughs in new materials or construction methodologies. If you can share something that will help your audience improve their business, that’s a great share.
Stand apart. What makes your firm unique? What are you doing that nobody else is doing? What’s your point-of-view on the topics that matter to your clients? Social media can be used as a blog (see the long-form LinkedIn posts like this) or it can be used to point followers to your website, where you feature stories or research or ideas, like this.
Build your brand. Ultimately, this is the baseline of what you can do to build business with social media. To do this, you can post content that matters to your audience, and then point them to related content on your website. This is critical: driving your followers to your website expands your ability to connect with people. It offers a full array of your ideas, expertise and people. Whether you are inspiring your audience with beautiful images, sharing new research or explaining a new AI tool, you can use social media to hook your audience to visit your website to learn more about you.
Trust the data. Watch your social metrics to learn which of your posts garner the best engagement and interactions. Social platforms like LinkedIn and Google Analytics have free tools that help you assess if your social media efforts are working. For companies willing to invest in data and analytics, tools such as Sprout, Hootsuite, Google Analytics and Hotjar offer meaningful insights. Watch your stats and learn from them.
Be approachable. Be sure to interact with followers, thank them, react to their comments in a friendly way. This helps to build trust and connections. While clients are key, so are potential collaborators and employees. Social media can help you build connections far beyond your next project win. Building trust and relationships will position you—and your company—for long-term success.
Share great news and keep it humble. This one is all about transparency and nuance. For an easy example, compare the following two LinkedIn posts from an architect who was quoted in the New York Times:
Post one: So excited to be quoted in today’s New York Times! Click to read more about my latest project, the award-winning master plan for lower Manhattan. (insert link to story)
Post two: Thank you, @MichaelKimmelman, for including me in your @newyorktimes story about how redesigning New York’s streets could help alleviate flooding in Manhattan. To learn more about how to improve NYC’s streetscapes, click here. (insert link to story)
What’s different here is that the first post is all about getting attention (Me! Me! Me!), and the second post is a thank-you and quick intro to why someone might want to read the article to learn more. While it conveys the same point—that the New York Times considers you an expert worth quoting (exciting!)—it is cognizant of the fact that the issues are what’s most important. It’s easy to see which post would be more likely to build trust with people who don’t yet know you well.
But that first post isn’t all bad. It would work well on Facebook, where your family and friends would love it. Remember that each platform has a unique audience. Post thoughtfully, with intent, and you will increase your online influence and build relationships, too.