Twitter me this!
Social media baffles the construction industry. The two primary ways I hear construction professionals refer to social media is one, as a toolset for kids, or two, as a way to gripe. This tunnel vision confuses me as someone who started his career in this industry, albeit six years ago, and was able to utilize a handful of tools for sales success only in the latter part of that time. These days there are so many more effective ways to run a construction business by leveraging the Internet. Going back to my very first year in the industry, if I were to pick one word that stood out more so than any other it would be relationships. You probably thought I was going to write “change order”; it would make the top three.
The construction industry is very much about relationships and the better an individual communicates, the better relationships he or she seems to maintain. So what does Twitter have to do with this? Well, Twitter just happens to be one tool out of many that can help facilitate a higher level of efficiency in communication when it comes to construction projects. For building industry companies, one of the best uses of Twitter would be as an intelligent text messaging service.
Whether you’re trying to quickly communicate among a team how to obtain a project, wanting to submit or respond to RFIs, curious about what product may be right for an aspect of the job, dealing with missing materials or delays on a construction site, or a whole number of other issues related to a construction project, the correct use of tools like Twitter could make life easier.
Now, I’m not advocating that all the readers of the Nuts & Bolts blog go out and start using Twitter, or any other communication tool. I’m asking you all to look at what tools exist today and question whether they could help you communicate more effectively with your prospects, clients, partners, and vendors; more efficiently so as to help you build better relationships and give you success on projects!
So while you are waiting for the bounce and trying to make a stronger name for your company, don’t forget that there is always a better way and sometimes a little time spent learning some tools can go a long way in building a better future.
Remember, it’s 2010.
Tags: Communication
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April 30th, 2010 at 2:51 pm
Hi, Vik. Not sure that level of transparency would be desirable, exposing every potentially litigious issue one could imagine. Construction may be like law and sausage…
April 30th, 2010 at 4:08 pm
Michael – I think it’s very project specific and company specific. There are many tools that can be placed inside an organization and work on secure networks just the same as these open system tools use. Many of today’s tools have privacy features that can keep information inside the walls of an organization.
That being said, it’s going to be harder and harder to get away from not being transparent. With all these means for people to join online communities it’s no longer about whether the technology will keep the information from getting out, but the people.
You may a great point though! This is why building industry companies need to think about their objectives before just hopping on tools like Twitter and Facebook.
May 8th, 2010 at 10:01 pm
Vik,
I’m really interested in understanding how some of these tools could be utilized safely from the GC standpoint. Most of us are so busy with the day to day chores and managing our workload that we don’t even think about how social media tools could help us, let alone the fact that most of us need alot of training just to stay up with technology. We’re not just pounding nails and pouring concrete anymore! How would a QC manager/Superintendent use the tools you are describing to help the company? or help ourselves? I know these are broad questions, perhaps you could give me an example.
Matt–