Social media initiatives: Your observations

You can read my e-book about social media for the architectural, engineering and construction community and, if you've used social media at all in your business, share your stories, experiences, failures, successes, challenges, questions and visions. (Phew, that's a mouthful). Please feel free to comment about your social media initiatives. You can also connect through Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or Google Plus.

Can you make social media work for your construction marketing?

The answer is "yes" -- though remember, social media is a process, not a magical cure or fix-all.
The key to successful social media application is to (a) be sociable and (b) to respect/communicate and listen to your current, former and potential clients.

I've written a book on the topic and you can purchase it from Amazon.com or other ebook retailers (just search by keywords social media, construction, or if you wish to support my vanity, my surname, buckshon!) The book is $4.95.

(If you've advertised in any of our publications or purchased my full-scale Construction Marketing Ideas book, please email me and I will send you a link where you will be able to download your free copy.)

Social media and video in construction marketing: A special live video event

You are invited to a special live video event outlining my latest discoveries about social media and video for construction marketing at 2 p.m. on November 9, 2012.

This special one hour session will focus on how AEC marketers can most effectively use these new techniques in marketing, without squandering resources or setting themselves up to fail.  I'll suggest some sustainable, practical ideas, with live demonstrations.

If you register before September 30, the admission fee is $9.95 (and includes a copy of my social media book, which sells for $4.95 on Amazon.)  After then, the price increases to $19.95.
(If you have advertised in any of our publications, you can attend without charge.  Just email me at buckshon@cnrgp.com for a special free pass.)

(If you register and cannot attend, or don't think the event has provided genuine value for your business, just email within 48 hours of the event and I'll refund 100 per cent of your payment, without question.)

For more information and to register, visit here.

My social media book for construction marketing is now available through a diversity of channels.  You can find it on Google Books, Amazon, the IStore, Barnes and Noble, and a bunch of other places.  The only way you cannot order it is directly from me, unless you are have been an advertiser in one of our construction publications or previously purchased the Construction Marketing Ideas book.  In that case, you can email buckshon@cnrgp.com and I will send you a link to where you can obtain your free copy.  (Easiest way to find the book on the various channels is to type in the search words "buckshon" and "social" and you'll find it soon enough!)

If you wish, I can present the observations developed in the book to your group in a 20 minute feed by Skype, Google + Hangout, or if you wish to cover travel costs, in person.  (You can see a sample presentation, sans audio, on prezi.com.)

Your reviews and comments are welcome.

Most online services allow you to view substantial portions of the book free so you can be confident it is right for you before purchasing.

Social media and construction marketing: How effective, really, is it?

In today's email, I received at least three e-letters suggesting ways architects, engineers and contractors could make more effective use of social media in their businesses.  We can be overwhelmed with the amount of advice flowing here.  However, the question we need to ask is: "Does this stuff really work?"

Here, I have some painful challenges.  In researching my social media e-book Social media and marketing for architectural, engineering and construction companies: What you really need to know to achieve profitable results, I have found it difficult to quantify success.  Sure, there are some great examples, such as Tim Klabunde's success in generating upwards of $2 million in business through the Design and Construction Network.  But how replicable is his success -- few of us will be able to be early enough in the game to start 40,000-member LinkedIn groups.  (My Construction Marketing Ideas group is growing at 10 to 15 members a day and should reach 5,000 members within a few days.)

The Greater Ottawa Home Builders' Association renovators' council

Today, at the Greater Ottawa Home Builders' Association (GOHBA) renovators council meeting, I took these observations to a practical level.  The association represents renovators/remodelers who care enough about their work to belong, and some are reasonably large and successful businesses -- who can spend tens of thousands of dollars a week on marketing.  After my presentation, the largest renovator in town invited me to provide some one-on-one (fee-paid) consulting on social media best practices.  He tracks and measures everything and knows (for example) that the printed magazine we publish, Ottawa Renovates, generates useful leads.  He couldn't say the same for the various social media platforms.

It seems the biggest social media successes are consultants selling social media services or extreme early adaptors who combine their first-to-market advantages with some luck and general marketing/business development skills.

With these observations in mind, how would I recommend anyone approach social media?

The answer, it seems, is that you should do this stuff if you enjoy it. If you have "office staff" who would like to connect in the social space, then you could assign your employees to help out.  Set some controls -- obviously you want to make sure your interactions are appropriate -- but social media allows some "non sales" employees to actually help out in marketing and business development.

I have some other ideas in my social media book, which you can purchase through Amazon.com or the IStore, and other channels.  For Amazon, you can link here.  For other services, just key in the words "buckshon" and "social" and you'll find the book soon enough.  It is only $4.95.

The introvert's problem with construction marketing social media

I admit a paradox here -- I've written an e-book about social media, and certainly apply the concepts to some extent, but (this is a rather direct admission), don't "like" social media that much because, well, I'm not that social.

Some people enjoy the give and take of one-on-one and social group exchange, of chit chat, of interaction between individuals and groups of individuals.  I prefer a good book or a computer screen where interaction is between "man and machine" rather than with any real person at the other end of the line.

Pretty anti-social, eh.  Well, if we go back many years, I had rather serious social functioning issues because of extreme introversion.  Lots of hours of group therapy, coupled with some single-minded drive to achieve excellence in my chosen career -- journalism -- helped me reach the stage where I could function in the real world.

But interacting in constant Twitter feeds -- posting pictures and responding day-by-day to Facebook postings, living within Google+ circles, well, these don't provide the satisfaction of blogging, where the words can flow and, heck, if you read them, great, if you respond, okay, but the initial blog communication is definitely one-way.

I certainly appreciate the limitations here.  Sometimes even inward-looking introverts need to reach out, to communicate, and to share.  The best approach for those of us who prefer to be alone always isto do our best to think about others' real needs and share and give as much as we can, without worrying about return.

Thanks to the readers who have pointed out areas where the social media book can be improved.  If you've requested your free copy (deadline Friday, Aug. 3), please point out typos, inconsistencies, missed information, anything you would like to see improved.    The result will be a much-improved book on the Aug. 15 official launch date.  Follow as well www.constructionmarketingideas.com.

A "limited run" on Facebook

This rather intriguing Facebook posting from "Limited Run" raises some rather interesting marketing questions.  The company asserts that 80 per cent of its traffic/clicks from Facebook advertising are from bots, and that the social media service demanded $2,000 in advertising for the company to change its page name to match a new branding identity.

The story has gone viral -- I've found a variation of it with hundreds of comments on my Google+ stream.

Is it true?  Well, I don't doubt the story happened -- the question is whether Facebook would really allow virtually all of its click-throughs to be generated by auto-generators.  My skepticism here is that if one company has reported this sort of abuse, why are there not many more complaints?  Lots of people are getting on the bandwagon to 'dis' Facebook -- all of which is generating publicity for the business, which it probably welcomes.

Nevertheless, even if you don't entirely believe the assertions here, there are difficult and challenging branding and practical perceptions about the worthiness and effectiveness of paid social media advertising.  In theory, the ads should be truly effective, if they are properly targeted and relate closely to the relevant interests of the demographic group.  The real story is somewhat more mixed.  Some people in the construction marketing community certainly have achieved results with Facebook advertising; others say they don't think it is worth the money.

My thoughts:  I would tread carefully, and slowly, and with careful planning and analytics, and test the results.  These points are covered in my construction marketing social media book.

Construction marketing and social media: Save 80% and tell it like it is

In preparation for the August 15 publication of

Social media and marketing for architectural, engineering and construction companies

What you really need to know to achieve profitable results

you can receive the book for .99; that's right, 99 cents, instead of the regular $4.95.

The book can be downloaded in a diversity of formats for virtually any e-reader or computer screen at Smashwords.com.  (I know...I didn't come up with the name).  

All you need to do in return is review it on Amazon.com when it goes online there (in about two days).  

You'll need this coupon code ZF46H.

If you've already ordered the Construction Marketing Ideas book or are an advertiser in any of the Construction News and Report Publishing Group of publications, you can receive this e-book FREE, simply by emailing buckshon@cnrgp.com with your request.

ZF46H

Construction marketing and social media: The winning cover

The popular vote confirms our designer's intuition.  This is the cover we will use for the upcoming social media e-book.

The construction marketing social media book has been formatted for e-publication.  Now we are preparing a final title revision and need to upload it to the appropriate e-book sites, and prepare for the launch on Aug. 15.

Although the cover has been selected, you can still "vote" and thus take advantage of the pre-publication discounts here.

Should you judge a construction marketing book by its cover?

Actually, I welcome your judgement about which cover to use for my upcoming new e-book:
Social media and marketing for architectural, engineering and construction companies

What you really need to know to achieve profitable results

First cover choice

Second cover choice

Third cover choice

Designer Raymond Levielle initially came up with seven distinctive cover designs.  That is a pretty huge number for a general survey, so I asked employees and a special group of trusted reviewers to share their opinions.  They narrowed the choices down to these three (and one reviewer suggested a rewording of the title -- not actually reflected in these covers, yet.)

You can vote on which cover is your favorite by clicking below any of the covers or going to this special survey website.

If you wish, upon completing the survey, you can request to be notified about when the book is published, and save $2.00 on the  $5.95 cover price.  If you wish to save even more, you can prepay through PayPal for $1.95 (100 per cent unconditional money back guarantee).  If you have purchased Construction Marketing Ideas: Practical strategies and resources to attract and retain clients for your architectural, engineering or construction business or are an advertiser in one of our publications, the book is free.

The social media book about architectural, engineering and construction marketing

Book writing is a delayed gratification exercise.  The first book, Construction Marketing Ideas: Practical strategies and resources to attract and retain clients for your architectural, engineering or construction business, took about two years from conception to completion.

My latest tome, a somewhat simpler E-book about social media, isn't taking quite as long, but, well, it is taking longer than planned.  Cover design is now in the works and the chapters have all been written.  Now the hard editing task starts.

Vivian (my wife, a professional writer by trade) struggled with the editing of my first book -- to the point that the project bogged down for several months.  Finally, I took over responsibility for the editing task.  With her painful long-hand editing notes for the first five or six chapters, I could see the sorts of problems she sought to correct:  Long-winded sentences, unnecessary words, repetition, and the like.  She told me that she could only handle the work for an hour or two a day.

With her template, I proceeded to complete the editing process -- learning (to my dismay) how much my original draft needed improving.

Same story applies for the social media book.  I struggled with some chapters, cleaning up the writing, but left others in the original draft format, before pulling the book together into a single Word document in preparation for the cover design and e-book formatter's service.

Today, I set out to read through the manuscript for what I thought would be a final check.  First chapter, no problem.  Second, ok.  Then, wham, I could see the chapters which had not received the editing fine-tooth comb.

I'll get the job done.  I hope it will be in shape before our upcoming vacation.  This gives me tomorrow and Saturday.  Whatever, I won't rush it just to meet the deadline.

In the meantime, you can certainly read the original volume, available in print or e-book format.  If you purchase Construction Marketing Ideas and would like a free copy of the e-book on social media, let me know by email to buckshon@constructionmarketingideas.com.