Social media has transformed the ways in which businesses of all types and sizes network with their customers and clients. Although we might not typically think of interacting with construction companies in the same place we post cute pictures of our dogs or share statuses about a fabulous weekend at the beach, Facebook is a valuable marketing tool even for the construction industry.

In order for commercial construction companies to take full advantage of the growing importance social media plays in our society, they need to understand how to use it to promote their business. Facebook in particular is an ideal social network for construction companies to jump on given its versatility for content publication, the large number of users, and the connections it offers to other businesses.

5 Steps to Marketing your Business on Facebook

1. Create a Company Page

First things first, establish a branded presence on Facebook. If your construction company does not already have its own company page, you can easily create one by clicking on the “Create Page” button here. Start by choosing which category your business falls into and work from there. As a company in the construction industry, your business is likely to be categorized as either a “Local Business” or as a “Company.”

Quick Tip: If you choose the “Company, Organization, or Institution” option, you’ll find the category appropriate for your business by scrolling down the alphabetical list to “Engineering/Construction.”

2. Build a Following

Once you’ve set up your company page with an eye-catching cover photo and a profile picture that reflects your company (your logo is usually a solid choice), you’re ready for step 2: establishing an audience base.

In order to build your following, start by inviting your current customers to like your page. You could send them an email with a link to your page or even connect with them directly through Facebook by:

• clicking on the “Invite friends to like this Page” button in the left panel of your company page.
• clicking on the ellipsis (…) button near the top right of the page in the cover photo area. Choose to “Invite Friends” or “Share” the page. You can share the page on your own Timeline or on a friend’s Timeline.

Additionally, encourage your employees to share the company page through their personal Facebook account to gain more new likes. Consider following and liking other businesses in your industry on Facebook as well to get a feel for your competition and see what sort of content they post and share. As a commercial construction company, following other businesses on Facebook that may need your services one day could be useful as well. If you reach out to them, they may reach out to you whether they’re in need of a remodeling job or an expansion of their current business.

Quick Tip: Don’t spend too much time worrying about the number of likes your page is receiving. Focus your energy on connecting with key customers and supporters of your business to help grow it in a genuine way.

3. Create and Share Stimulating Content

While your expertise may lie in creating quality buildings, creating valuable and quality content for your Facebook account is a very important step in the promotion process. But don’t let this intimidate you! You’re already doing great things as a business that people are interested in; you just need to capture those things in shareable ways and post!

Content Examples for Construction Companies to Post on Facebook

• Share photos of your projects as they transform (before and after project pics).
• Post pictures of satisfied customers in their newly constructed environment.
• Post visuals exemplifying the services you offer.
• Upload videos of a finished project showcasing your skills as a construction firm.
• Link to press releases or project updates on your website or company blog.
• Feature a construction worker of the week to add a personal touch to your business.
• Countdown to the grand opening of a client’s business.
• Pose questions to encourage potential customers to learn more about your company.

4. Advertise on Facebook

In addition to beefing up your company page with visually engaging content, consider setting a Facebook advertising budget for your company that would allow you to:

• boost your posts to a larger audience, or
• create and share ads with target audience members to gain likes.

Advertising on Facebook is a fairly easy process. You choose a budget for however much you want to spend on the ad and set how long you want the ad to run. Your ad will stop running after the entire budget has been used or at the end of the campaign date, whichever comes first. If you notice your advertisement is doing well, you can increase the budget and extend the campaign period. If you see that it’s not doing so well, you can change the budget and stop the ad from running at any time.

Although Facebook only requires you to spend a minimum of $1 per day on Facebook advertising, bidding this low will make it hard to attain visibility for your campaign since you’ll use up your budget while only reaching a handful of people. Facebook advertising agencies can help you do this.

Facebook wants their users to have an enjoyable experience while on the site, so they limit how many ads people are exposed to. Because of this, you must go through a bidding process for your ad. This process is either done by cost per click (CPC) or cost per 1,000 ad views (CPM). According to an article on FitSmallBusiness.com, “the average click costs advertisers $0.24 and the average CPM cost $0.66.” In other words, spending $24 dollars would get you 100 clicks on the advertisement or get the advertisement shown 36,364 times. Keep in mind that these costs can change drastically depending on:

• they type of business you have (industry).
• the size of your business (small local business vs. national corporation).

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Side Note: While targeting your audience on Facebook as a small local business may seem easy to do based on city location or zip code, remember you are competing for the same audience members as other local businesses on top of the national advertisers. That being said, even if you spend a decent amount on your Facebook advertising, there’s a good chance other businesses are trying to reach the same audience members as you are with their advertisements.

Also remember that larger businesses likely have bigger budgets to test the performance of their ads and optimize them for better reception, so they may get more clicks and likes than your small business ad that hasn’t been tested for optimal engagement.

5. Evaluate Your Impact

Some people think of measuring the success of your Facebook presence as the last step in the social media marketing process. While this can be true, the process is very cyclical, meaning evaluating the success of a past campaign can be the start of creating a new campaign. Being able to find good marketing agencies is important when looking to set up any digital marketing.

The purpose of evaluating your impact is so you can do better at promoting your construction company in the future. Figure out what strategies worked well, what type of content your followers responded to best, and then apply that knowledge to the approach you take for your next Facebook endeavour.