Construction businesses must spring clean their social media

Social Media

Spring cleaning can give you a great sense of satisfaction, but it doesn’t have to just be when you’ve de-cluttered and deep cleaned your home. Spring cleaning your personal and business social media can be just as rewarding, and some would argue that in today’s social media climate it’s a necessity.

If you consider that LinkedIn, Facebook and X were launched between 2003 and 2006 you may have 22 years of social content and connections to spring clean!

In the early years, most businesses’ strategies focused on volume rather than the quality of content so where do you start?

Our social media team has produced their top tips for spring cleaning your personal and your business’s social media channels:

Clean Sweep

On your personal LinkedIn, X or Instagram, you can remove connections that aren’t adding any value to your goals, whether they are professional or personal. While “unfriending”, “unfollowing”, or removing connections can sometimes feel uncomfortable, it’s a necessary step to stay focused. It’s also a good time for construction marketing agencies and built environment companies to check admin rights on their company pages and clear out any legacy social media accounts or remove previous admins who may have moved on.

Better connections

Spend time understanding who your company page audience is, who are you trying to reach? Remember, social media often falls under the marketing department remit, and unless you’re trying to reach marketers specifically, you need to ensure you’re attracting the people who matter.

For your personal accounts, when your social media feeds are organised and you have more control over both who you are following and your followers, you are able to keep track of your online connections and maintain a more personalised relationship with as many of them as possible.

For both company pages and personal accounts, it’s also a good idea to like, share, and comment on comparable content, since this helps to boost the algorithm and tells your followers that you’re involved in the community.

Re-evaluate what you want social media to do for your built environment business

Take this opportunity to speak with the decision-makers in the business. What are their objectives for the coming year and how is social media working to achieve these goals? Remember that social media works best as part of an integrated marketing approach so ensure your social media is not operating in isolation.

Evaluate your channels

Business and marketing objectives can change so it is important to regularly evaluate the channels you are currently using. Look at the analytics and ask yourself if your chosen channels are still working for you.

Do you need to look at other social media channels to see what opportunities these may provide? For example, platforms like TikTok and Instagram are thriving with visual, engaging content. Do your research and see what is available to help support your goals. If you’re an architectural practice, for example, creating aesthetically appealing graphics or short-form videos can keep people browsing, watching, reading and interacting with your content. Take advantage of the tools these platforms offer, such as reels or carousel posts, to maximise engagement.

Higher quality and more relevant content

Keep an eye on your account engagement, so you can evaluate the type and frequency of content that keeps your audience engaged and listening to the message you are expressing; this will encourage more conversations and productive activities surrounding your social platforms.

Understand social media algorithm

Social media algorithms have evolved significantly, and now they prioritise content that generates engagement. Instead of simply rewarding the frequency of posts, platforms now favour content that sparks conversations and generates likes, comments and shares, because these actions signal to the algorithm that your content resonates with your audience.

To stay visible, focus on creating posts that encourage your followers to interact. This could be through asking questions, sharing thought-provoking insights or participating in ongoing conversations. It's also important to engage with your community by responding to comments, liking their posts, and sharing relevant content. The more you interact, the better chance you have of staying in the algorithm’s good books and reaching a wider audience.

Review your hashtags

Hashtags work very differently than they did a few years ago but continue to be a valuable tool when used strategically. Social media algorithms are smarter than ever, prioritising relevance and quality over quantity.

While hashtags still serve as powerful tools, their impact varies by platform and context. For Instagram and X, they help with discoverability, but now keyword rich captions play a larger role. LinkedIn relies on well-chosen professional hashtags to boost visibility, and on TikTok, trending or niche-specific hashtags can significantly amplify reach, as long as they genuinely align with the content. However, Facebook has seen a decline in the effectiveness of hashtags, making them less critical for engagement.

You can research trending or relevant hashtags by using the search bar of the relevant platform. Alternatively, you can use listening software to ‘scan’ for topics. If you’re posting about an event, be sure to research the proper hashtags for the event and use them to reach people attending, or other interested parties.

In conclusion…

Invest time to evaluate and spring clean your social media accounts. Go back to your strategy, revise your content and we hope you get a great sense of satisfaction, and results, from your efforts.

Top Tip

As well as having a tidy, when you go back over your accounts and your older content, you’ll probably find posts that you can use again (repurpose) for your growing audience or connections. Remember, the first time you posted it, you probably had fewer connections. This time around, you can review the hashtags, ensure any links still work correctly and even add updates in-line with industry changes. You can also find new ways to repurpose content, like shortening a long video into shorter snippets or turning key points from a blog post into a carousel. People digest content in different ways, so repurposing your material allows you to reach a broader audience. Sometimes, content will even work across multiple platforms with a few tweaks.