How Social Media Can Increase Your Chances at Winning the Bid
by MGB2B
A young go-getter applies to join your commercial construction company’s management team. What is the first thing you do after scanning his resume? You’re probably going to look him up online, maybe check out his social media profiles. After all, what he posts publicly can be a good indication of his interests and how he’ll conduct himself on the job.
When you submit a bid, your potential customers are probably doing some research of their own. They’ll visit your social media pages, browse your website, and they might even go a step further and research you, the company’s leadership.
The bidding process has become a much more personal one, as explained in this article from Construction Executive. More than ever, property owners and managers want to learn about your team members’ individual strengths and what they’ll bring to the table. Encouraging your team to get involved with social media is a great way to let their personalities and capabilities shine, so when it comes time for property owners to make that “hire,” your team already resonates on a personal level with the decision makers.
Here are 3 ways social media can help communicate personal branding for commercial construction management teams:
- Contribute to your company’s blog. By now, you know that a blog is critical for your business. A company blog can be used to share case studies, highlight areas of expertise, and chime in on industry trends. As a leader at your company, writing at least one post per month for your company’s blog can make you appear more accessible to both your employees and potential customers.
- Publish on LinkedIn. Chances are that if you have just one social media account, it’s with LinkedIn. This is true for your customers and prospects as well, so making sure that your LinkedIn profile is complete and up to date is important. You can take your LinkedIn game a step further by publishing content right on your profile. These posts can be short opinion pieces or long interpretations of trends impacting the industry. And each time you post, your LinkedIn contacts will receive an alert. Imagine connecting on LinkedIn with a potential customer, then publishing your thoughts on a piece of breaking industry news. LinkedIn publishing sends a strong message of awareness and thought leadership, possibly boosting your chances of winning that bid.
- Support your colleagues. You may have rules, personally or from your organization, about connecting with your colleagues on social media channels outside of LinkedIn. There are plenty of reasons why you may choose to avoid friending a colleague on Facebook, but even if you aren’t directly connected to your colleagues, you can still recognize their work and accomplishments. Tweet a link to a team leader’s recent blog or comment on her LinkedIn published post. A show of support is good for morale, not to mention for demonstrating a truly collaborative and positive environment to potential customers.
As the bidding process continues to evolve, the roles of individual team members will only grow more important. In addition to providing more in-depth backgrounds about your team in your proposals, and customizing them for each bid (much like you would a resume), encouraging them to highlight their strengths through quality social media content will help solidify your capabilities in the eyes of potential customers.
Tags: commercial construction bidding tips, content strategies for B2B brands, how to use my social media content for my company, personal branding for commercial construction, social media tips for commercial construction