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Social networking sites are becoming increasingly popular, yet relatively few contractors are aintaining a presence on them.  Of course, that does not mean that people are not talking about these companies on popular sites like Facebook and Twitter, it simply means that they are not participating in the conversation.  The days when a company could manage its reputation by attending industry events and perusing the morning newspaper are long gone. Keeping a good reputation intact now means conversing in a growing number of virtual locations. The new age of instant communication can hold great benefits for Internet-savvy contractors, but there are also real risks involved in entering new territories.  In an effort to help contractors understand this emerging communications frontier, CAM Magazine recently spoke with public relations professionals and representatives from construction firms who are using social networking sites successfully.

Understanding the Opportunities

Emerging opportunities for companies to enhance their presence online generally fall into two categories.  Social networking sites, like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn let companies or individuals create their own spaces and interact with others from those spaces.  Multimedia content communities, like Flickr, Docstoc and YouTube, let users post photos, videos or documents where others can find them.  Some content communities are quite specific and many are related to construction.  ConstrucTUBE, for example, is similar to YouTube, but it is focused solely on the construction industry.  Contractors can also raise awareness of their environmental efforts by posting videos on miearth.org.  No matter which sites they choose, most have one benefit in their favor for contractors - the cost of getting started is essentially nil.

“I liked the free aspect of these sites,” said Kelly Curran, marketing manager of J.J. Curran Crane Co., Detroit.  “When I decided to do it, I picked a few sites that I thought would be the best ones to try.  It really started out as an experiment.  I figured, they're free, so why not give it a shot?”

J.J. Curran maintains company pages or accounts on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Flickr, and many individual employees who also use these sites complement this effort.  Curran's experiment has been a mixed success.  Twitter, which lets Curran send 140-character information blasts to individuals who express an interest in her company, has probably been her most successful endeavor.  J.J. Curran is well known for quality work in the Detroit area, but the firm is also venturing into wind applications that take place across the United States.  Sending out “tweets,” as Twitter messages are called, on wind related topics can place information about J.J. Curran's abilities into the hands of people who are looking for equipment for wind applications.  Her reach is expanded as interested individuals “retweet” her postings and pass them along to their own Twitter subscribers.  Even though 140 characters doesn't give her much room to work with, sites like TinyURL let her shrink down Web addresses so she can include links to videos or photos that tell the whole story.

In many cases, the best end goal in developing an online presence is to leave people wanting more information about your firm.  Curran uses Google Analytics to track website statistics for her company, including when visitors are coming in from one of the company's pages on social networking sites.  This raises the importance of having a website that is current and relevant.  If more individuals visit the site, more people will develop early impressions about the company based on what is posted there.

Companies can employ a number of tactics to boost the Search Engine Optimization (SEO) of their websites.  How the information is presented, what sites are linked to the company site and the amount of Internet chatter about the company all play a role in determining how high an individual company will appear in a search.  A search can easily yield thousands of results, so being at the bottom of the list almost ensures that a page will not be visited. Taking an active role in social media can boost SEO and gives contractors a means to drive discussions about themselves.

“Our goal is to have an online presence,” said Dana Galvin, marketing manager and social media director for Barton Malow Company, Southfield.  “When people type in 'Barton Malow,' we want to know what is coming up.  We want to drive news about the firm in positive way.”

In addition to helping guide discussions about a company, some firms are using social networking sites in innovative ways to achieve specific, measurable goals.     

Winning Strategies

Social network sites can be used in a variety of ways that may not be apparent on first glance.  The front page of Barton Malow's website includes links to company Facebook, Twitter and Flickr accounts, but the firm actually maintains a second Facebook page for its LEAPS (LEArning Practicum for Students) Summer Internship Program.  Internship and retention may seem like a low priority when many Michigan contractors are making difficult choices about how many quality employees they can keep on the payroll, but Barton Malow is looking towards a brighter future.

“This has certainly been a bleak time for the industry, particularly in Southeast Michigan,” said Sheryl Maibach, chief marketing officer and vice president for Barton Malow.  “I don't expect that to last forever, nothing ever does. Demand will definitely increase.  People who have their ducks in a row now will be in a better position when things improve.”

According to Maibach, economic forecasts call for another rough year in 2010, followed by “heaven in 11.”  When those pearly gates of opportunity finally open, graduates with relevant degrees will be in high demand once again. Companies that have already developed a relationship with these graduates will have a huge competitive advantage over other firms.

An often-repeated story tells of Willie Sutton's simple answer when asked why he robbed banks - because that was where the money was.  Companies hoping to recruit new talent in the future will need to maintain a presence on the Internet - because that is where the young people are.  They communicate on social networking sites and they will probably not set foot inside a library to research prospective employers.  A company's Internet presence will likely be the only source of information upon which students will decide which companies to pursue mutually beneficial opportunities with.

Building internal and external camaraderie is another social networking site possibility.  J.J. Curran celebrated its Irish roots last St. Patrick's Day with a promotion that rewarded prizes for finding “Lucky the Leprechaun,” a J.J. Curran employee who traveled to different locations in a costume.  If the company repeats the popular promotion this year, it may be supported on the company's many social networking sites.  Barton Malow boosts morale by featuring internal news and event announcements on Facebook and LinkedIn groups that are open to employees only.  Readers can also now interact with CAM Magazine through Facebook and Twitter.  These sites promote current features, provide information on upcoming articles, and enable new ways of communicating directly with the magazine staff.   

To take advantage of opportunities like these, contractors will need to reevaluate some common practices.  Old-line command structures that designate a single person who must approve every piece of information before it goes public are ill suited for the era of instant communications.  If the company maintains a presence on social networking sites, the designated person can rest assured that he or she will spend so much time signing off on things that there will be little time left for anything else.  Even if the company doesn't have an official presence on these sites, younger employees are almost certainly using them, and they may be talking about company business.

A social networking policy is a quickly becoming a must for any company.  A Web search will easily yield samples, but this policy should be individually tailored for any company.  Larger companies should seek input from marketing, human resources and legal departments, but without letting the overriding objectives or concerns of any one department dictate what is found in the final version.  They should set firm rules on who is authorized to speak for the company, and how the company should be represented on personal pages set up by employees, but they should not be so restrictive that they stifle any dialogue.

“The biggest mistake with social networking policies is that they become 'draconian dossiers of don'ts,'” said Tom Nixon, partner, Identity Marketing & Public Relations, Bingham Farms.

Instead, these policies should provide simple guidelines on how social networking can work for a company, along with a few common sense policies on what is off limits.  Obviously, employees should be cautioned about how they refer to clients and other firms with whom the company does business.  They should also be advised not to make statements that are untrue, defamatory or potentially offensive.  Again, common sense can replace rigid rules. For many, the best way to determine if something might be offensive is to simply ask if they would repeat it in front of their mothers.  Just like their employees, companies should keep a few ideas in mind when they venture out into the world of social media, but many of these are simple common sense.             

What Not to Do

Contractors are facing tough times in Michigan right now, so many are looking for new ways to sell their services.  Social networking sites may not provide the best opportunity for this.

“Whenever you embark on a social media campaign, you need to align your objectives with reality,” said Nixon.  “If your main objective is to go into the social media and sell, you have already set yourself up to fail.  Your online presence can lead to a sale, but your primary objective can't be to sell products, services, or even yourself.”

Nixon pointed out the fine distinction between business and personal space, and compared those who ignore this distinction to the people who show up at backyard barbeques selling encyclopedias.  People who are just there to eat or catch up with old friends will resent this type of intrusion just as surely as individuals on the Internet will.  Still, there are ways to “sell” the credibility of your firm without alienating the person on the other side of the screen. 

Instead of using social networking sites to talk about what the firm is doing, Identity Marketing & Public Relations uses the space to post information about marketing applications, technologies and trends.  It is a service to the people receiving the information because it raises their awareness of a topic that might impact their business.  If they decide to act on this new awareness, the firm has already been established as one that can provide the service, and more importantly, thoroughly understands the need for it.  Contractors can likewise pass along information on an emerging trend, like green building, for example.  As people become more aware of sustainability trends through the online communication, they will also undoubtedly build up a trust in the firm providing the information.

Another common mistake is to jump into social media without any real plan.  The first step should be to develop a profile of the desired audience.  This step is not as easy as it sounds, as a decision to target potential clients is not nearly detailed enough.  Messages might get into the office of a prospect, but without doing a little more research, the sender has no idea if it is a CEO, a key decision maker, or someone lower on the company totem pole who is receiving the message.  Obviously, the message should be tailored to the person receiving it.

After deciding who to talk to and what to say, the next step is to decide how and where to say it.  Is the potential audience more likely to be found on Facebook or Twitter, or would an industry-related blog be a better option? After conducting all of these steps, a contractor might find that the desired audience simply is not out there yet, so it might be prudent to hold off before starting a social media campaign.

A contractor who starts a social media campaign should also set goals that can be tracked.  Desired goals could include a set number of followers on Twitter or a number of website visits tracked in from Facebook, but if progress towards these goals is not seen, a change in strategy might be warranted.  Everyone who will have some responsibility for the campaign, even if it is just by maintaining a personal presence on LinkedIn or Facebook, must be comfortable with the technology to be effective.

“We sat down for a meeting and I gave a PowerPoint presentation where I went over this information,” said Curran.  “I had everything set up so I could show them our company Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter sites.  These sites were definitely new to some people.”

Just because it might be a new concept does not mean that contractors cannot benefit from social media.  Like all new things, those who will have the greatest success are those who will invest the necessary time in developing a plan to use social networking to complement the quality work they are already doing.

©2011 Cam Magazine, Ltd. - Cam-Online.com