Almost half of the world’s population uses social media, and that number is growing. Modern social media is no longer just a place to communicate with friends and read the news; it is also a powerful tool to promote products and services. Naturally, professionals in all fields, including architecture and design, try to make the most of it.
Architects can use social media platforms to showcase their best works, build long-lasting relationships with clients, and find inspiration. Maintaining a robust online presence attracts prospects and improves their brand exposure. However, creating valuable content alone is not enough to achieve these goals. Choosing the best social media platforms for architects to share is also vital.
In addition to featuring in architecture magazines, social media has become a cornerstone for architecture firms to engage and communicate with both current and potential clients. Generating social media ideas for businesses in the architecture industry can be challenging.
It’s easy to get caught up in the beautiful imagery of your projects, but don’t forget that people come to your social channels to see your people and culture. They can look at your projects on your website if they want to. In this article, we’ve compiled the most comprehensive list of social media ideas and tips for businesses in the architecture industry.
1. Create Beautiful Designs for your Social Media
Social media posts have a very short lifecycle, so you don’t want to spend hours creating them. That’s why graphic design apps are crucial: instead of starting from scratch each time, you’ll have a range of significant templates and design resources (like stock images, icons, shapes, and text styles) ready to go. Then, all you have to do is mix and match your brand elements to create something unique and powerful.
One of my favorites is VistaCreate. It offers thousands of options to customize designs, remove backgrounds, and access a vast library of fonts, illustrations, stickers, and other elements. One of our favorites is the futuristic color palette that lets you choose the proper hex codes for your color combination.
2. Instagram: The Most Important Marketing Tool for Architects
In the current iteration of our digital age, Instagram is the social media king platform with 1 billion active monthly users. If you are a business and not on Instagram, you are missing out.
Given the platform’s visual nature, architects and designers have flocked to it, using it to market their work, promote new ideas, and even pull in commissions. Other aggregator accounts use the platform to find and foster new talent, creating an entirely digital architectural community open to all.
For the Social Media Marketing strategy on Instagram to be productive, it is best to post daily. Also, adding appropriate hashtags is highly recommended since they help target an audience and build a social media following. Other Instagram features that can help attract more prospects include live video, IGTV, and stories. Architects can use these options to showcase their ready designs and the firm’s working process. This can include work meetings, site visits, live streams from industry events, etc. Showing the inner workings of a company is an excellent way to build trust with prospects on Instagram.
Instagram also offers paid ads, which can help significantly reach a wider audience. Architects can run ads with new posts or promote already existing ones. To use this feature, an architect should have a Facebook page and create a business profile on Instagram. Then, using Ads Manager, they can specify the purpose of an advertisement, its format, and the preferred audience. The platform can even help to define the latter. It automatically creates an audience similar to a page’s followers. To create the ads, we recommend using the advertisement maker from Adobe. It’s free, and you can make eye-catching advertisements in minutes by customizing images, fonts, and design assets.
3. TikTok-itecture
The rise of TikTok is shifting how we experience and consume architecture. It’s no small trend, either. Nearly 950 million TikTok videos utilize the hashtag #architecture to describe buildings in various cities or a specific architectural style with which the video creator is familiar. To build momentum faster in this space, many choose to get TikTok followers, helping content gain early visibility and reach a bigger audience. TikTok is big on videos, and some of the biggest perks that come from using this format include:
- Reputation: When you make informational or explanatory videos that teach your audience something, you immediately improve your reputation in their eyes. You’re not just trying to sell them a service, but providing them with helpful information.
- Brand awareness: The world today is enormous, and the Internet is nearly infinite. It may just be that some people don’t know that your company exists.
- Different Audiences: When you add videos, especially of different types, you’re opening your firm to attract entirely new audiences. You’ll be more appealing to your existing followers, but as is the point with marketing, you’ll also attract tons of new followers when you do it right. Using tools like TikTok conversion tracking, you can also measure how these new audiences interact with your content and whether they take actions that matter to your business.
4. Pinterest as a Collaborative Tool
The Pinterest App does not work like traditional social media platforms. Here, users do not need to write long posts or reply to hundreds of comments from followers. The main idea of this site is for users to save the images they like on their boards. And every time someone pins an image, it gets more chances of being seen.
To use this platform as social media for architects, one must register and build an extensive portfolio. It should consist of high-quality visuals and be updated regularly. It is also essential to use keywords and hashtags to attract the right crowd to a profile. When adding a new image, architects must write a short description.
These texts should be no longer than 200 characters; otherwise, people are unlikely to read them. If a professional has a business website, it is best to link to it. This way, the interested prospects will be led directly to the architect’s site. It will help them find more info and strengthen the website’s SEO presence. Other good ideas when using Pinterest are:
- Use of paid ads on Pinterest: they run on a PPC model, so the architects pay only when someone clicks their ad. It is helpful to sort out those genuinely eager to learn more about architecture services.
- Find inspiration: sometimes, even the best architects run out of steam. Luckily, Pinterest is not only one of the best social media platforms for architects but also an excellent source of inspiration. Here, an architect can gain new ideas for projects and stay up to date on the latest trends. It is vital to remember that others also use Pinterest for inspiration, not for choosing products and services. Therefore, it is better to share pins that inspire than ones that sell.
- Easy for Client Collaboration: Clients can easily find reference images on Pinterest to better explain what they have in mind, rather than the old-school way of sharing magazine clippings. Architects and interior designers can connect effortlessly with their clients via Pinterest boards to spark creative discussion. It also helps set realistic expectations and allocate the budget based on the design the client is referring to in the image. Additionally, ensuring a strong internet connection to improve home Wi-Fi speed is crucial when collaborating remotely with clients or managing virtual presentations
5. LinkedIn to increase the reputation
LinkedIn is the ideal social network for connecting with other professionals in the architecture field, staying up to date on best practices, and gaining new ideas. But it is not just about doing business. This platform has various interesting groups, making it easier for people with similar interests to communicate and share their experiences and knowledge.
LinkedIn, one of the best social media platforms for architects, is a perfect place to showcase a specialist’s level of expertise. By sharing valuable content and adding high-quality project photos, an architect will be recognized as a reliable professional.
6. Feature your Projects on Social Media After Completion
What better way to showcase your completed projects than by providing images or videos of them in use! This will help attract new clients.
7. Share Links to Interesting Content
A huge benefit of using Social Media for architects is that it offers excellent opportunities to direct traffic to company websites. One of the simplest and most efficient ways is by posting links to blog posts with short descriptions. This way, anyone who finds the topics attractive will visit the website. For example, sharing resources like our guide to the best AI tools for architects can attract a highly targeted audience interested in improving their workflows. And there, extra information, media, and retargeting tools will do their job of converting visitors to leads and, subsequently, clients. However, the number one step is to ensure the shared content is high-quality and valuable to the target audience.
Social Media for Architects: Final Words
Using Social Media is an excellent opportunity for architects who want to reach a wider audience and find more clients. It is an ideal platform for building fruitful relationships with prospects and raising brand awareness. The seven simple tips described above will help architects use Social Media effectively as a marketing tool.
