The Construction Industry is Using Social Media
Sharing interesting and engaging content online through blogs and social media has become a primary part of any marketing effort. It has also, consequently, been a source of confusion and often ends in frustration for many marketing directors. I have personally seen and experienced the power of content marketing for getting new customers and, in general, helping connect a valuable service with customers who need it. I think that we all now agree that content marketing is a powerful thing. Here’s the problem, what content are we going to share, anyway? Rather than guessing or scratching our chins for eternity, let’s use a few recent surveys and see what we know for sure.
We know from the Construction Marketing Associations recent survey that:
- 97% of respondents said they use social media in their marketing plans in 2013
- 47% have blogs
- 91% are on linked in
This is great, this shows that the construction industry is getting involved and understanding that people are going to research products and services online far before they contact you. They will search the internet, or ask their network of contacts for advice online, or they will see quality content produced by a manufacturer or service provider online and they will take notice.
The Most Used Social Platform Used by Manufacturers is YouTube
Video is the Medium of Choice for Manufacturers
In a study “B2b Manufacturing Content Marketing, 2014 Benchmarks, Budgets and Trends – North America” it was found that the top social media platform used was youtube video.
This makes a whole lot of sense because there is nothing more engaging and powerful than video to demonstrate the what, how and why of a product.
The Butt-Crack of a Tradesperson Will not Sell Building Products
Only 3% Rate It as Effective, Let’s Fix This.
Using video to market building products is a double-edge sword, however. If you think that throwing up a 20 minute video from a handheld camera on a job-site is going to help sell your products and get them specified, I am afraid that you are going to be disappointed with the results. Video needs to be professional, to the point and it needs to make the product the star of the show. I’m talking about a 3o second video, a one or two minute video, which captures attention, informs, educates and convinces elegantly.
So, according to the research, only 3% of the manufacturers surveyed found their video content to be effective, lets fix this . . .
Here are three forms of engaging video for building product content marketing.
Video is the most popular medium for manufacturers to share content, and the biggest challenge is finding engaging video content to share about products.
1. The 3d Animated Marketing Video to demonstrate visually how a product works and why someone should use it
- Click Image Above to View
2. The 3d Animated Installation Instruction Video which uses high end photorealistic animation to show clearly how a product is installed or used
Click Image to View Video
3. The Snippet Animation – A very short, shareable, tweetable short video clip demonstrating a product in action.
Click Image to View Video