LASTWORD
The last WORD
The virtual handshake TomGriffiths asks: As tweeting and skyping increasingly replace face-to-face networking, can you really afford to ignore socialmedia?
Socialmedia is no longer ‘new’media. One only needs to look at the hype caused by the release of various architect Twitter leagues over the past year to appreciate that it is here and providing value. Thousands of professionals in property development aremaking use of social media, but only a small percentagewill use it as the powerful strategic networking tool it is. So howexactly does itwork andwhat are the benefits?
age of 35 and 55,will include professional consultants and property developers. In fact, Su Butcher of Barefoot &Gilles, a strong advocate of socialmedia, estimates that the UK Construction industry is represented on Twitter by 20-30,000 active accounts. For many, this can be overwhelming and may
C
Tom Griffiths A digital marketing and business consultant as well as sales and marketing director at CraftedMedia, Tom has worked with brands such as Tesco and HSBC on SEO, through to Champagne Bollinger on social media and Adnams on mobile. Tom is an expert in digital marketing in the commercial property sector, Crafted having clients including PRUPIM, Campbell Gordon and Workspace Group.
actually dissuade some from using it. But Twitter is a dynamic platform of people driven by the desire to make contacts and talk about issues relevant to their industry.With a Twitter account, it is relatively easy to demonstrate your exact expertise and become a point of reference where people are genuinely interested in what you have to say. To see the whites of your clients’ eyes is still
crucial, but ‘business networking’ is now much more than chatting with a few people in a room (which still works). Now you can find the relevant conversation, answer a pertinent question, be helpful yet promote yourself and your business at the same time. Become a trusted authority in an approachable way. Socialmedia sites specifically for architects, such as
myarchn.com, claimto bridge the gap between the blog and the generic social network. Each profile page has a blog,which is used to share information about anything related to architecture. It acts as an interactive online portfoilio, showcasing images of newbuilds and plans for projectedwork.With links to Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn, this all helps to open up conversation and
ertainly, social networking sites such as Twitter,which boasts 110million users worldwide, about half ofwhich are between the
drive traffic to your respectivewebsite. As more people talk about you online (and
subsequently offline), traffic to your website will increase. Social websites are being used as search engines to find opinion, advice and insight. Conduct a search on Twitter for a keyword and see opportunities to engage with prospective clients. You can find and be found. Of course, it would be a mistake to see social
media as the only driver of traffic to your site. Those that truly succeed online do so by having a robust Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) strategy. For many architects, ‘local’ SEO is key. In fact, Google states that 20 percent of all searches have local intent, that’s 2.8 billion searches per month globally. So how do you ensure your practice maximises
local listings? Here are some quick tips: - Claim your business listing on Google Places – you can add a Place page for every business location. Fill out every element of the place page, including custom categories. Also, check out your competitors’ listings - if they’ve missed out some information, here’s your chance to steal a march on them. - In local search there’s a big opportunity as citations are the new links. List each business location on as many general business listing sites as possible. - As well as citations on generic sites, it’s helpful to get listings on as many industry specific sites as possible –
Architecture.com,
Architectsindex.com,
localarchitectsdirect.co.uk,
searcharchitect.co.uk are just a few! -Generating client reviews is great for achieving a good listing – ask clients to leave reviews on yourGoogle Pages, and anywhere else you’re listed. Don’t be afraid of the odd negative review. If you promote reviews to your best clients, itwill quickly be drowned out and actually helps generate a criticalmass of reviews. - Don’t copy, but feel free to imitate. In every vertical, including architecture, there will be one company that does things well.Where are they listed and mentioned? This is where to start. However, do not slavishly chase down every link. Learn, develop a
strategy and do what they do, only better.
ArchitectNews.co.uk | Architects Choice | 47
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52