- To redirect traffic to the website. The firm's website should be a treasure trove of contact information, project descriptions, and outlines of services offered. It is important for clients to find this library of information so they can easily access information they want to find (i.e. services offered, contact information, etc. So, with every social media post there should be a link that directs the user to the firm's website. It also optimizes your website for a higher listing on the search engine results page (SERP, aka Google listings).
- Highlight current events, projects, news, etc. of your firm. Social media is a great way to highlight a new employee, recent project accomplishment, and/or acquisition. Whenever I want to find very recent information I usually look at the firm's social media versus their website. However, if you read point #1 above, with every new post there should be a link back to the website with an article that explains the post in greater detail.
- Showcase your project experience with clients. I don't often to do this, but highlight a recently successful project (with the client's permission, of course!) and tag the client to it. It is important to show the connection to your clients and show what your firm is capable of.
- Goodwill. This is one of the few places where we can show our more human side for our firm and to the fellow employees. Depending on the size of the company, many staff members may not know what other offices are doing, and this is a great opportunity to build a little PR for your firm.
So, keeping social media up-to-date is important because having a post from two years ago, will not engage your client. For the reasons stated below it is another great touch points with your clients that you wouldn't otherwise have.
Now for the second question, how much time should be spent on social media? Honestly, not much. For AEC firms clients are not going to engage much with a firm's social media presence unless they like a post they are tagged in or if they have a close relationship with the person in the post. It's really about getting another touch point with the client and redirecting them to the website to contact us. I have never been contacted by a client through social media, but it doesn't mean that social media didn't help lead to a phone call or email to a principal or project manager. So, use social media, engage with social media to create another touch point with a client.
