Construction Social Media: How to Build a Winning Strategy

As a construction business owner or professional, you’re always looking for new leads that convert into paying customers—and you don’t mind investing to get them. 

However, what if you could attract leads without paying a dime? What if you could turn engaged prospects into recurring customers by simply engaging with your target audience? 

That’s one immense value social media offers construction businesses. Beyond generating free leads, it helps you: 

• Showcase your expertise. 

• Put your business on the map. 

• Place the business in front of people who need your services. 

We show you how to do that in this guide.

Why Is Social Media Important for Construction Businesses?

You’d agree that social media has become a central part of our lives. According to Statista, about 239 million people in the United States use social media—over 60% of the population is on at least one platform. 

This means there’s a high chance the target audience for your construction business is active on social media. 

To give you a better idea of its impact, here’s what one Redditor said when asked about the importance of social media for contractors and industry professionals: 

“A basic website and social media presence is absolutely necessary. Before anyone hires your company to do anything, they're going to check out your sites to see if you're halfway reputable and a 'real' company.

You don't have to sink a lot of money into it, and you don't have to keep everything constantly updated, but you need to have your face in the space.”

Another Reddit user said, “Every potential customer I've talked to says they've seen our FB page. It's basically free advertising to showcase some of our work. I don't put every project or home on there.”

Simply put, it’s important for construction businesses. You’ll find other benefits of social media marketing below:

• Provides social proof. Like the Redditors mentioned above, prospects want to see past projects to trust you. You can do that using reviews and testimonials. 

• Helps with lead generation. Consistently posting valuable content on social media allows you to reach a wider audience. As people engage with it through likes, comments, and shares, the algorithm shows the brand to even more people. With clear calls to action, interested folks will likely reach out, resulting in new leads.  

• Keeps you updated with trends. Want to know what your target audience is interested in? Social media is a good place for that. By interacting with competitors’ or influencers’ social accounts, you can get a good picture of new trends and customer interests. 

• Enables advertising to a large audience. As mentioned above, there are millions of prospects on social media. Posting there allows you to reach people with different needs beyond your location. Plus, you can run targeted campaigns for specific demographics to get high-quality leads.

What Are the Best Social Media Platforms for Construction Companies?

Think of social media platforms as outfits for your brand—each suited for different audiences and occasions. This section will walk you through the various types available and their ideal uses. 

Facebook

This social site allows you to connect with people in your local area. Users can create groups and easily find people of like minds. For instance, if you search for homeowners' associations, you’ll find private communities of all sorts. That’s the kind of audience users see on Facebook.

As a construction business, this platform enables personal connection with people in your area. You can use relevant hashtags to ensure your content reaches the right audience.   

Overall, Facebook is good for: 

• Community building.

• Providing social proof.

• Engaging prospects and understanding their needs.  

Instagram

Instagram is known for its visual appeal—high-definition (HD) videos, quality images, and reels. It’s a good way for construction firms to showcase their expertise and experience. For instance, a remodeling service can use Instagram to show how they transformed a property. You know, the classic before-and-after videos or carousels. 

Another idea is to share photos or videos of a completed project and user-generated content (UGC) to show the client’s point of view. 

LinkedIn

LinkedIn is largely associated with white-collar jobs and corporate businesses. However, construction services can still leverage this platform. 

Here, you can share: 

• Strategies used to navigate complex projects, displaying thought leadership.  

• Discuss industry news or new trends in the construction industry, positioning the brand as an authority.

• Showcase professional achievements.  

This will promote your brand to professionals and leaders from other industries, making you their first option for future construction projects. 

YouTube

YouTube allows construction businesses to post educational videos, project walkthroughs, and time-lapse videos. 

This gives the audience a peek into the company’s processes and how it handles projects, a great way to show authority.

Here’s an example from Provost Companies, a construction company in Stoughton. 

Image Source: YouTube

TikTok

TikTok is one of the trending social media platforms, and it encourages user engagement. 

Here, users post interesting, short-form videos to captivate their audience. As a construction business, you can leverage TikTok to share valuable content with your audience. 

Here’s what that could look like for you: 

• Home improvement how-to videos 

• New equipment purchase posts 

• Work-in-progress videos 

• Checklist content of things to do before building your first home. 

It’s what construction companies like Richmond have done with their TikTok page. 

Image Source: TikTok

Richmond specifically posts work-in-progress videos, giving the audience snippets into a regular workday.

What to Post: Content Ideas for Construction Social Media

You’ve likely identified the right social media platform for your business. But considering you’re not a social media guru, you might wonder what to post.

Don’t worry; we’ll walk you through content ideas to kick things off.

1. Project showcases

People are captivated and inspired to take action by what they see. You want to leverage that as a construction business by showcasing different projects. 

Companies like Consigli have done this. Their Instagram page is filled with completed project videos, showing the audience their construction accomplishments. Here’s one, for example, showing the construction progress, along with equipment used and men at work.

Image Source: Instagram

You can do the same for your business. To make the content stand out, take it a step further by including shared photos (before and after), finishing details, and progress shots. 

Project showcases allow you to showcase expertise and build credibility, so you may want to explain the process behind each project. This enables prospects to visualize their projects with you.

2. Client testimonials

Client reviews aren’t just content ideas for your business; they’re efficient tools that help you connect with the audience. They provide social proof to prospects, endorsing your brand and building trust with people. 

Here’s how one Reddit user describes the importance of testimonials:

“You need social proof. People are hugely reassured by being part of a group. We readily take riskier decisions when we feel a number of other people are doing the same thing.

If you want to build a brand and business, don’t overlook the importance of testimonials. They make your job much easier.”

A client testimonial post can take different forms—images, text, or even videos, depending on the client’s preference. 

In Di Pierro’s case, a Boston construction company, they use images.

Image Source: Instagram

Regardless of the format, indicate it’s a testimonial and tag the client if they’re open to it.

3. Behind-the-scenes

Ever seen the behind-the-scenes (BTS) of a blockbuster movie? How did it make you feel? Good and captivated, right?

That’s how most people feel about BTS clips, whether for the latest movie or a construction project. 

This type of content promotes transparency and trust, making the audience feel like they’ve known you for a long time. 

Like a movie’s BTS, you don’t have to show every part of the construction process. You can share job site updates, team members performing specific tasks, or employee spotlights. 

In one of its posts, TK Elevator took the audience on a journey through a typical day in the life of a construction mechanic apprentice. 

Image Source: TikTok

This particular post brought over 20K likes for them on social media, with several viewers commenting and asking questions.  

If you want to create BTS content, here are other ideas to get you started:

• Sharing the daily routine of a project or construction manager.

• Share founders' day-to-day meetings from location to people met. 

• Share lessons learned from handling projects.

• Share inspirations behind a construction project. 

4. Educational content

Educational content allows you to display expertise and skills while providing value to your audience. It’s any form of content that helps people solve a challenge. Think tips or how-to guides, allowing the audience to handle certain projects themselves.

This video from Suffolk Construction teaches the audience how to build and lead a great team. 

Image Source: YouTube

Yours could be much simpler and cover topics such as: 

• How homeowners can prepare for new construction or remodeling.

• Maintenance tips new homeowners must keep after moving in. 

• Construction myths and truths. 

• How to save cost when remodeling in [xxx] city.  

5. Industry insights

Are there upcoming industry trends, such as new sustainable materials or a shift in customer needs? Be the first to report on them and share them on your social media. 

Posting content like this positions your brand as trustworthy and credible. The audience sees you as someone who looks out for them. Plus, other companies rely on you for new insights and guidance. 

That’s the approach Dodge Construction Network takes on LinkedIn. 

Image Source: LinkedIn

While there aren’t a lot of construction firms posting such content, this can be a differentiator for your brand and position it as an industry authority. 

You can discuss trends, new techniques, upcoming fields, or different ways to leverage AI in construction.

6. Engaging stories & polls

Everyone, regardless of their profession or industry, loves stories. You can leverage that as a construction brand where, instead of showcasing projects alone, you share the story behind them. Here’s an example from Consigli Construction. 

Image Source: Instagram

Instead of displaying different angles of the completed project, they narrate the importance of the project to their client. They interviewed stakeholders from the client side who explained the project’s history, benefits, and significance. 

Now, that’s something you can do. You can take it a step further by encouraging interaction in your posts. 

For instance, if you’re discussing new trends, you can include Q&As or polls to engage the audience more.

Social Media Best Practices for Construction Businesses

While posting on social media is important, there are tips to follow if you want a winning social media marketing strategy and potential leads.

Let’s talk about them below. 

1. Post consistently

Building a social media presence is like nurturing a pet—it thrives when you feed it regularly. In this case, the feed is your content, and consistency is crucial to keeping the audience engaged. 

But what does posting consistency look like?

According to a HubSpot survey, Facebook pages with over 10K followers should post at least twice daily. But businesses with under 10K followers can post once to avoid ad fatigue. 

HubSpot recommends Saturday and Sunday between 12 p.m. and 3 p.m. as ideal times to post on Facebook. 

Instagram, on the other hand, is designed for engagement, so the algorithm encourages brands to post multiple times a day. The HubSpot survey shows Fridays and Saturdays between 12 p.m and 9 p.m. are preferred times to post on Instagram. 

We strongly recommend creating a content calendar so you can plan posts on a daily or weekly basis, depending on available resources. 

If you want to post on LinkedIn, ensure you do that multiple times a week between 3 p.m. and 6 p.m..

For TikTok, HubSpot says anything between 3 p.m. and 9 p.m. on Friday and Saturday are good times to post. TikTok even recommends posting 1-4 times a day. But if you don’t have the resources for that, feel free to start with three times a week. 

Regarding YouTube, Dexter Clark, a digital content creator/consultant, ran a series of experiments on the platform and came up with this conclusion:

“It is not about how often you upload, it is about momentum. This is why releasing a lot of content for a short amount of time didn’t have a lot of effect.

You have to do it for a longer period with good content (e.g., content with high Average View Duration and high Click Through Rate) to gain momentum.” 

2. Use high-quality images & videos

Most people evaluate construction firms based on the portfolio of completed projects they display. That’s why showcasing your work using high-quality images and videos is important. 

Construction is different from other industries like B2B, SaaS, or tech, where authenticity is sometimes valued over striking aesthetics. Here, the more appealing the visuals are, the more convinced prospects are. 

That’s why Owen Hagger, a marketing expert for construction businesses, classifies high-quality images as a crucial marketing strategy for showcasing construction projects on social media. He recommends using professional photos to display your work.

3. Engage with your audience

Interact with the audience any chance you get, whether in the comment section or in the social communities they’re active in. 

The reason is simple: 

• It drives organic growth.

• Build a community around your brand. 

• Encourages people to trust you. 

That’s what one Reddit user experienced when they interacted with their audience. Here’s what they said:

“...doing the right engagement can leverage organic growth of any social media account. You're building a relationship and community for your social media followers and even non-followers to be aware and eventually trust you…”

Another said, “While high-quality content is super important, engaging with your audience gives your growth a serious boost. Think of it this way. Interaction is like networking at a party. If you just stand in the corner with your awesome content, people might not notice you.”

Engaging in this sense means responding to comments, private messages (DM), or reviews and sometimes liking their posts.

4. Leverage hashtags & geotags

Hashtags are digital labels that categorize your content, making it easy for people to discover and engage with your posts by sharing, commenting, viewing, and liking. 

Geotags, on the other hand, pin your business location to the posts, increasing visibility among the local audience. 

Together, this dynamic duo boosts visibility and builds brand awareness. 

Want to make the most of hashtags?

Here’s what one Redditor recommends:

“Try to use 3-4 unique hashtags. Try not to repeat the same hashtags too often—posts that spam the same hashtag on hundreds of posts are "banned" from being seen by the public when they search for that hashtag. 

Make your hashtags as specific or culture-specific as possible. When posting, make sure to identify the hashtags using the site's selectors…I'd also ask GPT-4 for hashtag recommendations or look at trending hashtags on your respective platforms. Maybe also run a Google Trends query for the hashtag to see if it's popular.”

5. Showcase your expertise

Stand out on social media by positioning your brand as a trusted authority. Go beyond the norm of simply posting completed projects and share strategies used, maintenance tips, or rising industry trends. 

You can also host webinars or podcasts with thought leaders in your industry, educating the audience on specific topics, e.g., preparing a budget for your first home or how to hire a contractor. 

Do this consistently, and you’ll attract potential clients and competitors.

How to Turn Social Media Engagement into Leads

Generating leads from social media starts with creating engaging content that addresses people’s needs at different stages of their journey. For example, a client testimonial highlighting a real challenge and how your service solved it builds trust and credibility. 

But engagement isn’t enough, use interactive elements like polls or Q&As to encourage participation. 

Then, guide the audience to take action with clear calls to action (CTAs), e.g., “click the link in the bio to schedule a free consultation.” This will convert engagement into leads.

If you don’t have a way for prospects to schedule appointments with the brand, ServiceTitan’s Scheduling Pro can help. 

Image Source: ServiceTitan

Scheduling Pro allows customers to book appointments online directly from social media, making the conversion from engagement to leads smooth. Simply add the scheduling tool link to your CTA, and the tool will do the rest.  

Schedule Pro also features conditional workflows, ensuring prospects provide essential information before booking. 

For instance, if a client wants to book a plumbing service, users can customize Scheduling Pro to ask qualifying questions a customer rep will typically ask: “Where is the property located? Is it a new or old property?”

This way, when the job arrives in ServiceTitan, users can dispatch the right tech without the traditional back-and-forth. Plus, Scheduling Pro keeps clients and services on the same page by providing a realistic timeline based on a tech’s availability and detailed client information to optimize service delivery. 

Another way to generate leads is to run targeted ads for people who’ve engaged with your content. This will keep the business top of mind and motivate them to click the CTA. The ads can be an exclusive offer or promotion prospects can benefit from.

Common Social Media Mistakes to Avoid

Launching a social media campaign is an investment, and like most financial stakes, there are pitfalls to avoid for guaranteed success. Here are some of them:

1. Ignoring comments and messages

Creating and posting social media content can feel overwhelming. But you know what’s even riskier? Ignoring comments on your posts or leaving private DMs unanswered. 

It can lead to: 

• Poor brand reputation, where the audience considers you distant or unreliable.

• Missed opportunities where you cannot identify current needs and tailor offers to them. 

• Poor social performance, as fewer people would want to engage the brand, leads to a decline in awareness. 

Be prepared to reply to comments quickly, whether positive, negative, or neutral.  Respond with “thank you for this” or “glad you loved it” if it’s a positive comment and “I’m sorry you had to experience that” or “can you share more of your experience” for a negative comment. 

2. Posting inconsistently or sporadically

Inconsistent posting or uploading without a game plan can quickly lead to burnout and frustration. You’d spend more time thinking about what to post than creating helpful content or finding ways to promote it. 

Avoid situations like this by creating a detailed content calendar ahead of time. 

A tool like Google Sheets can help with that.  

Use it to outline the topics for a month, content types to create, content creator, social channel, and publication date, like the graphic above. 

3. Over-promoting services without adding value

Social media posts should deliver value by solving challenges or educating the audience, not just pushing a service. If your content comes off as purely promotional, you risk eroding trust because people want to feel understood and helped, not sold to. 

To ensure your social media campaign fits the valuable profile, consistently create good content that addresses people’s needs. Here’s how a Reddit user puts it:

“Good content meets the needs of the audience. It should be clear, easy to understand, and provide real value, whether that's solving a problem, answering a question, or entertaining. It doesn't have to be fancy, but it should keep the reader engaged and leave them satisfied with what they've learned or experienced.”

You build trust and set the brand apart by prioritizing value over sales. 

4. Using low-quality images or unprofessional branding

As stated a bit further up, you can’t afford to use low-quality images for social media posts. They need to be high-quality visuals, ensuring people see the quality of your work and the care that goes into executing projects. 

Clean, professional images showcase expertise and build trust and credibility with the audience. 

Poor quality visuals or unprofessional branding, on the other hand, can diminish your brand’s perceived value and turn prospects away. 

5. Not tracking engagement and adjusting strategy accordingly

Failing to track engagement means missing out on insights into:

• Content performance. 

• What resonates with the audience 

You may never know what approach works and keep investing in ineffective strategies by not monitoring engagement rates such as likes, shares, views, or comments. This could eventually stagnate with rapidly changing social media trends and missed chances to scale your strategy.

You can change all that by consistently monitoring post engagement using digital tools like Hootsuite.

How ServiceTitan Can Support Your Social Media Strategy

ServiceTitan isn’t a social media management tool. However, it can simplify your social media efforts by providing construction businesses and techs with effective digital tools to streamline operations and secure leads from social platforms. 

Here are tools that help simplify how it does all that:

• Lead Management & CRM Integration — ServiceTitan offers a lead management and customer relationship management tool that enables you to capture leads from CTAs on social media posts and bios. The leads are then integrated into a centralized dashboard where you can track, follow up on, and nurture leads till they become clients. 

• Online booking links — Instead of sending social media visitors to your website, you can send them Scheduling Pro’s online scheduling tool to book appointments instantly. 

It displays available services and time slots, making it easy for leads to schedule jobs. This streamlines the online booking process and improves conversion rates.

• Automated review requests — Automatically ask existing clients for reviews using Marketing Pro so you can share them on social media channels to boost your online reputation. The app features existing templates, enabling you to seamlessly request reviews and even automate email campaigns without breaking a sweat.

• Reporting & insights — ServiceTitan also features a reporting tool for monitoring bookings, lead sources, and job conversion.  With this tool, you can track marketing efforts, return on ad spend (ROAS), available support or tech to discuss with leads, and services sold. It provides robust analytics into how to improve your business.

ServiceTitan is a powerful tool that improves the efficiency of construction businesses. ServiceTitan simplifies monitoring the construction firm’s operations and other tasks such as project scheduling, reporting, and invoicing. The platform provides an all-in-one marketing service to help users promote their business and detailed reporting to keep track of their progress.