top of page
CTE page images (14).jpg

Social Media

A strategic approach to improving and elevating TCA's social media efforts.

Overview

This year, we’ve taken a strategic approach to improving and elevating our social media efforts. Considering a major goal of ours is to connect with younger generations and empower the future of our workforce, we knew social media needed to be a key focus area of ours. And, as our world becomes more and more digital, we knew we needed to focus on communicating with audiences through a variety of communication channels. 

​

The following goals helped to ground and define our social media efforts:

  • Grow TCA’s social media presence – this didn’t just include gaining followers; we wanted to increase our engagement with followers, too. 

  • Refine our brand – we wanted followers to instantly recognize a TCA post when they saw one on their feed. 

  • Elevate our content – we wanted the content of our posts to be unique, creative and go beyond just prompting our upcoming events.

Execution

In order to achieve these goals, we had to implement a few actionable changes. 

  • First, we created an Editorial Calendar to help streamline and organize the content creation process. The calendar included both information inside and outside of the TCA organization. Although it included information about TCA news, events, classes and webinars, it also noted important holidays and awareness days (like Careers in Construction Month) that we could tap into. This allowed us to think more creatively about how our social media posts could reach beyond the TCA community, and bridge the  gap between our members and the industry at large. 

  • On the brand side of things, we developed a Brand Guide to help ensure that all of our posts fit the TCA look and voice. The Brand Guide listed what colors, designs and fonts we should use in graphics, and clearly defined what the “tone of voice” in our copy should be. We defined our tone of voice as casual, witty, informative, playful and inspiring because our audience is made up of people who don't take themselves too seriously, value community and family, and are passionate about what they do.

  • In order to increase engagement among followers and strengthen the effectiveness of our messaging on social media, we knew we needed to focus on creating strong Calls To Action (CTA). We decided there should be an end goal with every social post – what do we want our followers to do? Interact with the post? Visit our website? Sign up for something? We incorporated links and more action oriented language into our posts – like "click" "go" "sign up" " visit" "join" "complete" "register" – to make our ask clear, simple and effective.

  • During the summer, we made the decision to transition our efforts from Twitter/X to Instagram. Our target audience was rarely very active on Twitter, and we felt that we had a better chance of connecting with the next generation of concrete professionals through platforms like Instagram. Also, we didn’t want Twitter’s leadership and content changes to negatively impact our social media strategy and communication efforts. We also work with a handful of workforce development programs and initiatives that are very active on Instagram, so the decision to focus on Instagram is also a strategic way for us to grow our followers. 

The Results

  • LinkedIn Analytics 

    • 1,420 total likes {137.3% increase from August to December of 2022} 

    • 516 total views {115.4% increase from August to December of 2022}

    • We grew by 180 followers during this time period to 492 (a nearly 60% increase).

    • We saw a 4300% increase in comments on LinkedIn

    • We received over 34,224 impressions on LinkedIn 

    • Our average engagement rate increased to 8.41%

    • Our biggest takeaway from these numbers is that TCA is making an impact on LinkedIn and is reaching new audiences. By continuing to push workforce engagement campaigns and posts out across LinkedIn, we can engage with prospective concrete professionals and grow TCA’s membership base.

  • Facebook Analytics

    • We reached 864 total likes on our Facebook page, 45 of which were from new individuals 

    • Over 3,987 engaged with TCA’s Facebook page 

    • Over 138,410 people saw TCA’s Facebook content during this time period 

    • We reached 27,284 people organically, meaning these individuals visited our page on their own or through their News Feed

    • We reached 168,359 impressions  

    • Facebook remains a strong and dependable platform for TCA. We should continue to focus the majority of our paid efforts here considering it has been one of our most reliable platforms for engagement and impressions. Our Women in Construction campaign performed extremely well over Facebook, receiving the most shares and engagements. We should be on the lookout for more social media holidays where we can push out similar member highlights and content. 

  • Instagram Analytics (August to October)

    • We gained nearly 40 new followers during this time period, so we now have over 400 followers total

    • Our posts were seen 2,914 times during this time period

    • 2,259 unique accounts viewed our posts during this time period

    • Over 40 unique followers viewed our Instagram profile during this time period

AI workshop (1) (1)

Wondering how AI can help your organization? TCA is excited to be hosting a workshop focused on all things AI. Led by Your Nerdy Best Friend, Your Nerdy Best Friend, this workshop will teach you valuable strategies, resources and tools for using AI at your concrete or construction company. You’ll leave knowing how to use AI to craft strategic plans, analyze your competitors and strengthen the concrete industry. 🗓️ Date: Tuesday, August 29 ⏰ Time: 10:30 AM – 2:30 PM CT 📍 Location: TCA’s office

TCA Social Post - Sept. (8) (2)

The next event in our webinar series takes place TOMORROW from 1:30 – 2:30 PM CT! This FREE professional development opportunity will be led by Chris Rubino, partner in the commercial real estate group at Thompson Burton PLLC. You'll walk away with all of the insights and tips needed to confidently navigate contracts & legal issues in the ready mix industry. 👉 RSVP here: {link} 🖥️ Join the webinar here: {link}

TCA Social Post - Sept. (9) (1)

Are you ready to tee off for a great cause? 🏌️‍♂️⛳ We are just under a month away from the TCA Foundation Golf Tournament! This isn't just a golf tournament; it's an opportunity to support our Concrete Industry Management (CIM) scholarship program and participate in our "Beat the Pro" Challenge. You can test your skills in a closest-to-the-pin contest against professional golfer Avery George, a four-year Symetra And LPGA Tour player. Secure your spot and help us break 100 players: {link}

mcdaniel podcast ep (1)

🎙️ Listen now! On this episode of Tennessee Concrete Conversations, host Alan Sparkman is joined by TCA’s newest employee, Joseph McDaniel, to discuss what inspired him to get into the industry, and how he became involved with TCA. This episode also includes an exclusive Mid Year Update from Alan himself filled with key insights and projections on all things concrete. Tune in now and join the conversation: https://loom.ly/hFbfdpU #Podcast #ConcreteIndustry #Concrete

TCA August Social Graphics (4) (1)

Don’t miss out on our final two Eats & Drinks of the summer, happening next Monday and Tuesday! These fun, close-knit events are a TCA tradition, and allow you to connect with fellow members in person, network and chat about all things concrete... all while enjoying some snacks and drinks. Check out next week’s Eats & Drinks schedule, and don’t forget to RSVP through the below forms. 8/14 – RSVP for Jackson Eats & Drinks: {link} 8/15 – RSVP for Memphis Eats & Drinks: {link}

Analysis & Learnings

  • We’ve seen follower growth across the board from month to month, which highlights the impact of our social media efforts, initiatives and campaigns. We’re reaching and engaging with new people, and strengthening TCA’s online community and presence. 

  • TCA cares about its people – some of our best performing posts across all platforms were ones that highlighted specific TCA companies, members, leaders and individuals. These posts received high engagement rates and shares, and made an impact on our followers. 

  • LinkedIn is steadily growing as a key platform for us. We trended upwards across every category and unit of measurement for LinkedIn during 2023. More and more people are seeing, utilizing and engaging with our LinkedIn page.

bottom of page