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.)

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.

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

The blook, blog, and twitter

Over the past week, I've been posting a "chapter a day" of my upcoming Construction Marketing Ideas book on Twitter.

In case you are wondering how I could write such a short book (as you only have 140 characters in each Twitter posting), the answer is I post a link to a Google docs site where each chapter is stored.

The book is not visible on search engines, nor am I providing links from this blog; you need to be following me on Twitter to receive the chapters.

Why do it this way? Part of the reason is to learn more about the effective use of Twitter in marketing; I know some people are achieving interesting results here but have yet to find the secret to Twitter success.

On the other hand, 18 months ago, I was virtually the only blogger in the Construction Marketing space; now the number of new blogs has accelerated to a velocity that makes it hard for me to keep up with new arrivals, let alone to respond to the inbound inquiries arriving in my in-box especially on weekdays (thankfully it is quieter on the weekend, especially long weekends.)

If you wish to follow me on Twitter, you can visit http://www.twitter.com/markbuckshon

Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, Craigslist, Google Local, and more . . . you need them all

Yes, I know it seems strange, but if you are serious about construction marketing, you should now have a Twitter account and be exploring the microblogging space.

And you should be learning art of blogging (full scale) and video, and have Facebook and Linkedin accounts.

And understand Craigslist, and Google Local, and search engine optimization, and more.
You also need a presentable, effective and prospect-friendly website.

Is any of this stuff going to bring you business the way of the old fashioned Yellow Pages, conventional direct mail, newspaper classifieds or the like? Probably not, at least initially.

But these resources will cost you little if any money, and will (if you do things right) allow you to find number one space within your niche, as you are likely to be the first or one of the very first construction industry people to use them. And once you are in first place, it is hard to be dislodged.

Oh yeah, this stuff also can powerfully and quickly extend your word of mouth referral and networking opportunities. Goes without saying that you should only use these resources if you do really great work which generates positive word-of-mouth publicity on its own.

Stay away from the Internet if your actual work is crappy or you are running anything that could be seen as borderline. It won't take too long for you to be exposed in ways you don't want to be seen, if you do.

Twitter at the tipping point

Social Media Congres - "Blogging Business"

View more presentations from chrisgarrett. (tags: smc social media)

Authority Blogger Chris Garrett outlines the the basics of business blogging -- and how Twitter fits into the picture -- in this slideshow for the Social Media Congress

Twitter has reached the magic tipping point where it is no longer a specialized or 'ahead of the time' resource, but has become a business essential for leading-edge marketers. I certainly had been aware of the idea of the instant blogging/SMS/email/phone resource some time ago but thought: "Who needs this? I'm not interested in tracking and receiving dozens (or hundreds) of daily messages through my cellphone."

But last week, our neighbour Dave Thorpe (aka Dave the Tiger) told me "You've got to do this" as our sons got ready for their minor hockey game, a large business page article on Twitter appeared in the Globe and Mail, and I understand from Chase, he learned about Twitter at the Canadian Home Builders' Association Conference this weekend (and signed on).

If you are like most readers of this blog (in the construction industry) you aren't quite ready for Twitter yet. That's okay. I've found I tend to catch onto marketing/technological resources about a year before most of the industry served here appreciates these resources -- and then, wham, others follow (often doing the actual work better).

You can see this in the blogging community, for example. Back in November/December 2006 when this blog started, you couldn't find anyone else in the Construction Marketing space blogging -- now you can see hyperlinks from here with truly high quality blogs.

I still need to get good enough at video blogging to consider the work sufficiently suitable for mass audiences -- and Twitter skills will also take some time to develop (but I sense it will be easier to learn how to Twit (or is it Tweet?) effectively than set up video messages).

Should you engage these resources? Yes, while remembering the core values and essential elements of marketing are not the technology but your attitudes and how you connect with your clients and potential customers. After all, I'm only 'on' Twitter because of the in-person recommendations of my neighbour.

Follow me at http://twitter.com/Publisher10 if you wish. I will certainly be happy to follow you!

The video experment (2)

This video is created with an inexpensive camera and Apple's iMovie application. I could edit out some glaring errors and the image quality is far better than my first video, Construction Marketing Ideas -- Do what you love doing -- but this material is far from ready for prime time, yet.

My second video: Construction Marketing Ideas -- Your current and former clients, outlines the most effective and rewarding marketing approach -- creative follow-up with your current and former clients.

This work is hardly professional standard yet; I'm still learning the editing and production tools and how to integrate the camera and messages. Notably I needed to spend several hours replacing versions with rather glaring errors and problems, and encountered crashes within the youtube uploading process.

An attempt to simulcast the video with a live broadcast yesterday morning on justin.tv failed (though you would only know of this attempt if you are one of two or three people following my Twitter account, another experiment).

These initiatives aren't ready for prime time. However, the experimentation here is providing clues about new resources and capacities for construction marketing at truly low cost.