Plumbing Connection Winter 2016

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76 PLUMBING CONNECTION WINTER 2016
of what you are going to talk about through social media.
You can change the theme each month for example,
sustainable homes, energy saving tips for designing your
new home and planning a major alteration and addition.
3.Schedule content to be posted on a regular basis – there
are some free and low cost social media services that
allow you to write posts and schedule them in advance
so you don’t have to be at your computer at the time you
want to post something. This is ideal for builders who
are almost always on the road or on a building site and
planning ahead will save so much time.
4.Feedback – monitor comments and be sure to respond
to both positive and negative comments. Positive
comments need a ‘thank you, that’s great to hear’.
Negative comments need an action – dispelling a myth,
correcting a fact, altering a perception or fixing a problem
or complaint.
5.Evaluate – this involves revisiting your starting point
and measuring where you arrived. What changes have
occurred? What has worked and I need to do more of?
What didn’t work and why? What do I need to improve or
just stop doing altogether?
Here are some tips for best results:
∫ Amp up the use of visual content: images and videos
are far more noticeable and are more likely to prompt
engagement than text.
∫ Keep it short: posts with 80 characters or less get
far more engagement. Just because you can fill 140
characters doesn’t mean you need to.
∫ Find a balance between informative and annoying – there
are many different opinions about how often you should
post but in the building industry and considering the
subject matter then following this guide: Twitter – once
per day; Facebook – twice per week; Linkedin – once per
week and a fortnightly or monthly written post.
∫ Don’t just broadcast your message. Ask questions, get
people talking, debating and thinking.
∫ Build your connections: spend time finding former
customers, influencers, people who might refer you and
increase your circle of contacts.
∫ Start small and build slowly. Like all good things, it takes
time (and patience).
Finally, just do it. You have to be in it to benefit.
Contact:
Cecelia Haddad is the Director of Marketing Elements in
Sydney.
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