In today's competitive digital landscape, a robust social media presence isn't just a luxury—it's a necessity.

But when discussing this with my clients, many of them feel they’re already ‘wearing too many hats’ to concentrate on marketing, let alone running a social media account. When sorting through the mountain of hats, it becomes easy to disregard the marketing one. It’s not as heavy as some of the others and doesn't cry out for constant attention like the project management hat has been known to do. No, it sits on top of your head nice and quietly.

But is a quiet marketing hat actually what you want? 

As a business owner, I am keenly aware of how tricky it can be to prioritise marketing when areas such as operations and customer service need to be tended to. However, as a marketer, I’m hoping this article can convince you that taking the time out of your busy day to develop your social media presence is well worth it. After all, social media is one of the most cost-effective and impactful areas of marketing. The more you leave it to the end of your to-do list, the more likely you are to slip behind your competitors in the digital space. 

So, how can your social media strategy not only line up with, but bolster, your broader marketing goals?

Understanding the building blocks

Knowing your audience

It’s important to remember that marketing is deeply psychological. So, if you want people to buy into your brand, it’s essential to first understand your audience. Architects, builders, and designers—what are their needs? What inspires them? And most importantly, with all the competitors out there why should they follow you?

This part of the process may require some brutal honesty about your current social presence as you’ll need to think about what you offer and what you’re lacking.  Perhaps you provide a highly specialised service. Are you shouting about it enough? Maybe your attention to detail is best in class. Is that immediately obvious from looking at your social media?

Understanding what your audience is looking for and being able to provide it is the first step to successfully utilising social media.

Stopping the scroll

Now that you’ve identified your audience, you need to get their attention. Fast.

When it comes to social media, you've got around three seconds to grab someone’s attention. There are billions of posts people could be looking at—what about yours is going to make them stop scrolling and click on your profile?

If your answer was ‘building an emotional connection’, you’re correct.

The content you share needs to be more than just visually appealing. To grab users’ attention, it’ll need to resonate with them on an emotional level, whether that’s feeling awestruck by the beauty of your stone, inspired by your designs, or even envious of your expertise. 

Emotional crash course

So how exactly do you tap into specific emotions? 

There are a variety of ways you can look to invoke an emotional response from viewers, but here are some of the most reliable techniques you can use as the ‘bread and butter’ of your social media strategy.

• Awe: The best way to impress someone is often by showing, not telling. From sprawling drone footage of final products and projects to pictures capturing the intricate details of a marble vein. High-quality pictures and videos of your work can do wonders.

• Inspiration: If audiences feel inspired by your work, they’re far more likely to keep you front of mind. Sharing before and after images of projects is a brilliant way to showcase your potential and get people thinking about what they can do. 

• Appreciation: You and your workforce can bring a personal touch to the table. Profiles and interviews with skilled workers sharing personal journeys, inspirations, and details of their craft can help audiences understand what goes into your work.

• Curiosity: Appealing to curiosity is a great way to position yourself as experts in the field, as well as showing your willingness to share knowledge. This can be achieved through sharing tips and trivia, work in progress images and videos, as well as more detailed think pieces.

To harness these emotional triggers effectively, you’ll have to start thinking about where your target audience is most engaged and receptive.

Maximising your reach

Finding your platform

Once you have an idea of what to post, it’s time to talk about which platforms you should be considering. People use different platforms for very different purposes, so unfortunately a ‘one-size-fits-all' approach to social media platforms is unlikely to land.

LinkedIn, undeniably vital for B2B interactions, and Instagram, a favourite amongst architects seeking visual inspiration, are key platforms for any business. But have you also considered the lesser tapped into markets? Pinterest has great potential for showing off your finished projects — you might even find that one of your images ends up on the Pinterest board of that architect you’ve been looking to connect with.

Now that you’ve figured out who your audience is and where to find them, the next step is to start converting that into a loyal following who engage with your content.

Encouraging engagement

Without engagement, social media is just....media.

Likes, comments, and shares might seem trivial when you have a million other things to focus on, but strong engagement can expose your content to new audiences boosting your brands visibility and attracting new customers.

So how can you increase engagement?

This is the part that’s going to take some groundwork. You’ll need to show your audience that you have something valuable to say in order for them to interact with your posts. Here’s a few ways you can build this rapport:

• Offering interesting and relevant content: think about why people were attracted to your social media in the first place, and how you can build on that.

• Remain consistent and true to your brand’s values: too much chopping and changing around can come across as inauthentic and lead to confusion surrounding your brand.

• Get involved: Don’t rely on your audience coming to you, start the conversation yourself. Pose questions to encourage discussions about design preferences, sustainability in construction, or the future of architectural design.

• Post consistently: More than just a strategy; this is the lifeline of your online presence. With each update, you not only reinforce your expertise but also amplify the chances of your content resonating with your network and being shared to a wider audience.

Making sure your content follows the above guidelines should enhance the audience’s connection to your brand, as well as positioning your business as a thought leader in the stone industry.

Analysing content performance

In today's digital landscape, standing out amidst the noise requires more than just compelling content — it demands a strategic approach informed by analytics. 

Here’s some key areas to take into consideration when analysing the performance of your content.

• Monitoring key metrics: Regularly check in on the engagement statistics of your posts to gauge performance. If you’re going through a quiet phase, consider whether anything has changed that might have caused this.

• Analyse trends: Utilise your knowledge of the industry to predict what topics will be discussed within your circles. If people are having the conversation offline, be the one to bring it online. 

• Visitor insights: Many platforms offer analytics tools to better understand your audience demographics, behaviours, and preferences, allowing you to further your understanding of your audience.

This part might seem tedious (another hat?!), but it it’s absolutely worth taking the time to consider what’s working and what’s not.

Refining your strategy

To truly leverage the power of social media, you have to keep refining your strategy to ensure you’re staying up to date with the changing needs of your audience.

There are a variety of techniques you can use to refine your strategy and optimise engagement:

• Content calendar adjustments: Further interaction can be fostered through the creation of informed content. Experiment with different formats, topics, and posting times to optimise engagement. More of what works, less of what doesn’t.

• Experimentation: Don’t disregard your gut feeling. If you want to try new things, go for it. A great way to measure the success of your ideas is with A/B testing — create two slightly different versions of the same post and see which performs best.

• Feedback loop: There’s nothing wrong with asking the audience. Encourage interaction through polls and questions, using the insights to guide your content creation going forward.

As you embark on this journey, remember that social media isn't just about broadcasting achievements; it's about fostering meaningful connections, giving back through educational posts and feeding the imagination. Consistency, authenticity, and relevance are the key to engagement, while analytics provide invaluable insights to refine and optimise your approach continuously.

So, as you don your marketing hat amidst the sea of others, remember its potential to elevate your brand, connect with your audience, propel your business forward in the digital realm and in turn increase your pipeline.

Kate Bygrave is the found and managing director of UK Construction Marketing - ukconstructionmarketing.co.uk

A new technology platform, called HeritageXplore, has launched to promote the UK’s historic houses and make them more accessible to a new generation. The platform is the vision of Violet Manners who grew up in Belvoir Castle and is the former founder of marketing agency, Akana Collective, and also founder and executive producer of Duchess the podcast (now known as Hidden Heritage).

The online platform offers a discovery and booking experience and has launched with 25 of the UK’s independently-owned heritage sites including: Belvoir Castle; Glamis Castle; Holkham Hall; Sudeley Castle and Blenheim Palace. Violet identified that the visitor experience for privately owned properties is disaggregated and sought to unify it. As such, HeritageXplore intends to help, creating a one-stop shop where visitors can easily find and book new experiences and enhance their visits through the platform’s pioneering technology. For the houses themselves, as well as the bookings, they will gain customer insights, marketing support and access to partnerships in the UK and beyond.

HeritageXplore has raised a pre-seed round of £400,000 to take the platform to market and is backed by an experienced team of colleagues, advisors and investors. William Wildridge is CTO, having spent nearly a decade on the data science team at Google. The board includes technology industry veteran Simon Guild, advisors include Anya Hindmarch CBE and philanthropist Michael Huffington, while investors include Nick Hanauer (the first non-family investor in Amazon who founded and sold aQuantive to Microsoft for $6.4bn), BetterBrand founder Aimee Yang, NobleGrossart’s chairwoman Flure Grossart, US impact investor Dorie Smith and 5 Hertford Street founder Robin Birley. 

The business is also backed by many of the next-generation custodians of independent heritage across the UK – including the Marquess of Blandford at Blenheim Palace, George, Lord Porchester at Highclere Castle, Imogen Hervey Bathurst at Eastnor Castle and Hon. Perry Pearson at Cowdray Estate. 

Founder Violet Manners said: "We’re thrilled to be launching HeritageXplore, the first tech platform for independent historic houses to be discovered intuitively, collectively and booked with great ease in one place. There’s a huge and growing consumer appetite, especially among the tech-first generations, to experience these iconic locations but there’s been nowhere that brings them together – until now. We look forward to helping the houses maximise their full potential and using our cutting-edge technology to introduce generations of new visitors to these unique and special places."


Find out more at heritagexplore.com

Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust (QEST) is welcoming applications from eligible craftspeople – including stonemasons and sculptors – who can apply for up to £18,000 in funding for Scholarships, up to £10,000 for Emerging Maker Grants and up to £12,000 for Apprenticeship training. Applications will close on Monday 12 August at 5pm. Ahead of this, there will also be three ‘How To Apply’ Zoom sessions to introduce interested makers to the different funding available, tips and advice for filling in an application and the opportunity for a Q&A:

How to Apply for a Scholarship
Wednesday 17 July, 1pm-2pm
Registration link: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZcsd-qrrzorGdGHaxvXpQONtT7pMbefUG6B

How to Apply for an Emerging Maker Grant
Thursday 18 July, 1pm-2pm
Registration link:  https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZYqcO2rqjwoGdCo9bt5qeEvax0i7eoorImu

How to Apply for an Apprenticeship
Monday 22 July, 1pm-2pm
Registration link:  https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZcrc-GoqzoqGtCd7SHz8npxQ0Bi56ZHm9rc

To find out more, read the application guidelines and apply, visit: https://www.qest.org.uk/apply/
https://www.qest.org.uk/apply/


 

Tile and stone cleaning, sealing and aftercare products supplier, LTP is celebrating its 40th anniversary. Based in Somerset, it was founded by Anthony Robb in 1984 and today, the company now supply more than 700 stockists throughout the UK and Ireland and also export to countries including Bulgaria, China, Czech Republic, Ireland, Romania, Spain and the UAE. During the last three years, turnover has increased by over 300%.

The company's history dates back to the creation of Wellington Tile; a company founded by Anthony Robb to import terracotta from Portugal. Responding to the demand to give terracotta an antique finish, Anthony created a solution in his cement mixer, bottled it in one litre jerry cans and branded it LTP Oldtone Oil. The terracotta was sold as Lionheart Terracotta, so the sealer – and subsequent treatments - became known as Lionheart Terracotta Products, or LTP for short.  A few weeks later, he created a clear finish sealer called LTP Cleartone.

Today, production has moved to a specialist chemical packing company based in South West England – and the range now includes over 32 products formulated to seal, clean and maintain every type of natural and engineered tile and stone. In 2016, LTP also launched its ECOPROTEC brand – a range of products specially developed for the contract sector.

Its growing sale team is headed by Emma Lock while director, Mark Atkins – the first person responsible for LTP sales – now concentrates on research and development, marketing, export and expansion into other markets including white labelling and own branding formulas for other businesses.

“Over the past 40 years, the LTP range has been developed based on our first-hand experience of the tile trade and issues experienced by installers.  And, despite our rapid expansion, close ties with our customers are key; we remain a business that’s committed to offering a good after sales service and to developing products that customers need, rather than chemicals that we want to sell,” commented Richard Osborne, LTP’s managing director.

The business now offers a water-based equivalent alongside all its traditional sealers, with sales continuing to grow year-on-year.

“It’s taken some time but we’re now seeing an inexorable march away from spirit-based sealers,” explained Mark Atkins.  “Our own goal, over the next five years, is for 75% of our production to be of water-based, non-hydrocarbon formulations. The tile and stone industry still needs encouragement to support this strategy but the environmental benefits are irrefutable.”

Alongside the switch to water-based formulations, other LTP environmental initiatives include the development of new PFA-free stone and tile sealers (free from microplastics), a reduction in waste disposal throughout its production and reusing of pallets; the sourcing of cardboard packaging from FSC accredited suppliers and the use of bottles made from recycled materials.

“We’re dedicated to bringing along the next generation of LTP, through our apprenticeship scheme and recruitment.  We’ll also be growing our export network and manufacturing partnerships.  It’s been a fabulous journey to date and the future ahead, despite current economic challenges, looks very bright indeed,” Richard concluded.
 

An alliance in New Zealand, which includes New Zealand Council of Trade Unions, Construction Health and Safety New Zealand, the Asthma and Respiratory Foundation and others has written an open letter calling on the government to introduce a ban on engineered stone benchtops, panels and slabs.

The move follows the ban on engineered stone in Australia and was addressed to Brooke van Velden, Minister for Workplace Relations and Safety of the ACT New Zealand party. Author of the letter, Council of Trade Unions (NZCTU) president Richard Wagstaff wrote:

"Engineered stone is a very harmful product. The dust from cutting, grinding or drilling engineered stone can lead to the occupational disease silicosis, a scarring of the lungs. There is no safe exposure to this silica dust. Silicosis is a debilitating disease for which there is no cure. It can be fatal. Unions, public health experts and health and safety specialists have continued to warn you about the harm caused by this product, and that a ban is necessary. Everyone in New Zealand has the right to expect a safe workplace and to be able to come home safely to their family at the end of the day. You can give working people and their whānau, as well as businesses, consumers and the wider public, the certainty that working people’s health is the priority. Occupational disease is the biggest killer of workers in New Zealand. A ban will save lives."

Find out more at: https://union.org.nz/19-organisations-send-brooke-van-velden-open-letter-calling-for-engineered-stone-ban/

In its latest report, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has outlined its annual statistics concerning work-related fatal injuries. The findings, released on 3 July, reveal that 138 workers were killed in work-related accidents in 2023/24, It showed that 51 of those were from the construction sector and this accounts for the greatest number of workers killed in fatal accidents during that period. This figure had increased by 4 from the previous year.

Male workers across all sectors continue to be most likely to suffer fatal injuries equalling 95%. Fifty deaths between 2023/2024 involved falls from height.

Commenting on the latest HSE data, showing a rise in work-related deaths in Great Britain for the second consecutive year, Dr Julie Riggs, director of education and membership for the British Safety Council, said: "The rise in work-related fatalities, as reported by the Health and Safety Executive, serves as a stark reminder that we cannot become complacent about the health and safety of workers. Put simply, the consequences of poor health and safety are too great a price to pay.

"For 50 years, the general direction of travel has seen safer workplaces with falling numbers of workplace deaths and non-fatal injuries; that for a second year this trend has reversed is cause for concern. It sends a message that we need to prioritise worker health and safety, understand the causes of rising fatalities, and take targeted action to return to falling figures and safer workplaces for all."

To read the report in full, visit: https://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/assets/docs/fatalinjuries.pdf