How AEC Marketers Can Use Twitter

Twitter is about creating conversations between people. In most industries, including AEC, conversations are often the result of sharing value with your connections.

In my opinion, one of the easiest and best ways to share value is by creating relevant content for your connections. The content can take the form of photos, videos, podcasts, white papers, articles, presentations and the like. For example, you could report on industry trends using an infographic.

The key is to reduce your non-value tweets–such as press releases, new hires, awards, etc.—because seriously, your prospective clients don’t care. Think of the person in a networking event or a party who does nothing but tout how awesome they are. Don’t you want to avoid this person? Now think about the person who tells jokes or has captivating anecdotes. He/she is the one you want to hang around.

Twitter also can help you find out what topics and trends are worthy of being the basis of your content. Search relevant hashtags (especially from industry conferences), follow other industry leaders and see what your connections are discussing.

Don’t hesitate to share relevant content from other people. Some marketers suggest a 3-to-1 or 4-to-1 ratio of sharing others’ content-to-sharing your content; however, my experience has led me to believe that as long as you’re developing original, relevant content, you don’t need to follow any ratios.

Of course, we’re just providing you a snapshot of what you can (and should) do on Twitter, especially as part of a comprehensive content or in-bound marketing campaign. But this is certainly a good first step.