Home Renovation Industry Builds Solid Social Media Presence

Structures of all kinds require strong foundations – commercial buildings, stadiums, bridges and homes. Therefore, it is no surprise that the home renovation industry players have built social media presence as a strong foundation to their marketing strategies. When evaluating the state of this industry with regards to the use of social media, we considered three things – 1) the number of social platforms used, 2) the level of engagement, 3) the use of best demonstrated practices.

Social Platforms

In today’s online world, social media is facilitated by different “platforms” – places online where people congregate around common interests or popular online tools.  The most common platforms:

• Facebook – popular social networking site used primarily by individuals to connect with their “friends;” growing in popularity as a business tool. It allows for sharing of comments, photos and links.
• Twitter – also a social networking site yet known for it’s purposeful “limitation” of text (140 characters) which causes the user to focus their message. Popular with individuals and companies alike, posts allow “hashtags” (originally coined by Twitter itself) and links to external content.
• Pinterest – gained its fame by offering users the ability to create boards (a clever way of organizing ideas that they like) and a way to save ideas using “pins” (originally coined by Pinterest itself). Most recently entered into eCommerce by offering “buyable pins” for businesses.
• Instagram – A photo-sharing & video-sharing hub with the unique ability to allow users to “share” their content with their profiles on OTHER social networks simultaneously as they are posting to their Instagram account (examples: Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and Flickr).
• Youtube – a social platform for hosting videos which offers interactive “thumbs up or thumbs down” as well as comments. The platform features sponsored channels, primarily utilized by businesses.

Engagement

1. Followers – In most cases, people need to agree to receive content and they do so by “subscribing” to a person’s page or blog as a follower.
2. Comments, Likes or Shares – interaction with content is often accompanied by the user entering comments OR they can simply “like” or “share” the content with a click of a button. These actions are a good measure of the level of engagement the content is creating.
3. Posts – action the originator takes to make their content public, whether it is an individual representing their personal interests or an agent acting on behalf of a business by promoting their brand.

Best Demonstrated Practices

According to experts who study the social space, there are many best demonstrated practices or “BDPs” that are required to be successful at publishing content to the social-sphere!

• Be present on as many social platforms as you can realistically support.
• Provide useful content to your audience – know who you are attracting.
• Share frequently – most offer up at least one post a day
• Incorporate links – more information (which will also improve SEO)
• Use visual support – share images and photos with your message
• Host a blog – most followers want more than a picture to go with those “how-to instructions,” advice on a project or recommendations of those favorite places

Home renovation = solid social presence

The following businesses exemplify the strategic use of social platforms while heavily abiding by the common “BDPs” for social media marketing…not to mention the obvious groundswell of followers who are actively involved in the content they publish!

1. HGTV Site and Blog – with approximately 600K followers on Twitter, the kings and queens of home renovation boast an impressive amount of online content which jibes nicely with their TV shows and magazine availability for fans everywhere.
2. Martha Stewart – became famous for her “crafty” advice for homemakers worldwide as well as her magazine. Additionally, she has garnered an impressive online audience on Twitter with 3 Million followers! See her blog, “Martha up close & personal,”  here.
3. Houzz – just topped 250K followers on Twitter and their pro network of 800K specialty contractors can be accessed for free online or via their mobile app! In addition to their regular Tweets, they also host a blog here.

What about the lake house, you ask?

Checking back into the progress on our lake house renovation, last week I mentioned I would give you a progress report on the next project. We happen to have lots of guests coming for the Thanksgiving Holiday, so everything is coming together.  One of our rooms under renovation is our new “bunkhouse.” Basically, one large room in the back of the house is now 6 bunks that will sleep up to 12 guests!  As you can see, it is very rustic (more reclaimed wood from the old fence in the backyard) combined with Cedar 12×12’s used for the structure.  See the Pinterest photo that inspired our design – bunkhouse in Northern Wisconsin.

Thanks for stopping by and please give me your feedback in the comments below. Happy Thanksgiving from Texas, ya’ll!

Bunk house progress (showing 1 of 6 bunks)

 

 

Home Renovation Contractors using Social Media?

We live in a time where research is as simple as “Googling.”  Quite literally, if you have a questions or you are researching a big project or investment, Google.com is your friend!  Let’s say you are in the process of a home renovation, where would you start?  I recommend you use the tools that are available and online. Why not? Do you remember the days when research started with the listings in the Yellow pages, perhaps many phone calls and definitively checking with your friends for recommendations or referrals?

Let’s look at this from the perspective of the contractor you will be hiring. According to Mobile Marketer, 68% of homeowners believe part of their house is in need of renovation. If you were a contractor, wouldn’t you want a piece of that business? If you are one of those homeowners, what is your reaction when you don’t find a contractor on Angie’s list, in the Houzz “Pro” listings or even in Google Maps? I would be concerned. If you are researching who to use for your major project or renovation, those things need to be on your checklist. As a home owner doing a renovation or a property owner who is looking to resell your upgraded location, what factors do you take into account?

Below is a recommended starter “checklist” of things to consider when researching contractors:

• Define the scope of your project and thus the specialty contractor you need (example: Kitchen renovation)
• Check with friends who have recently done a similar project
• Google the names of contractors you received
• Check Houzz “Pro” listings – find success stories
• Consult Home Advisors – does the contractor have a listing?
• Need more information – consider joining Angie’s list (there may be fees)
• In any case where Ratings & Reviews are offered, start with contractors who have the most and the highest ratings!

If I may, allow me to recommend perhaps the easiest mobile application to use – and it is free! Houzz.com, which is available online as well as a mobile app, is the quickest and easiest way to narrow down your options. With over 800K specialists in their network, they have developed some tools to help you hone in on a short list. Let’s say you are in the market for a Kitchen Renovation Contractor. Simply log into the Houzz application and go to the Pros listings. Next select your city and state as well as the distance you want to search (example: within 25 miles).Then, I recommend you select the “most reviews” option within “sort by.” The contractors meeting your criteria will naturally float to the top of your search results.  You are ready to start your research!!

Houzz.com Pro Listing – narrow by reviews

In summary, with all of the available online tools – most of which are free, why spend the time otherwise?  To me, any contractor who is not in the online game is at the risk of not being noticed. What would cause you to spend the additional time and effort to find them otherwise?

Quick update on the lake house remodel – my husband is hard at work building out the “bunk house.” My plan is to feature the progress pictures next time!  Meanwhile, many of you have asked to see pictures of the house itself. Therefore, I am including the slideshow of the house (interior and exterior) when we bought it. Enjoy the tour and let me know your thoughts and ideas about our “Fixer Upper” in the comments below! Click to see – Lake House Photos

Home Renovations – To be DIY or not to be DIY? That is the question.

The sun came back to Central Texas this weekend, which afforded me the luxury of an afternoon walk. The feature picture that accompanies today’s post is from my view of the Pedernales River during my first walk through the neighborhood. During a home renovation it is important to take a break occasionally and enjoy the space around you – especially at the lake! Since I hadn’t mentioned this previously, I love the outdoors so my “jobs” related to the home renovation tend to be in the yard. I am finding the more I do, the more there is to do! Does that ring true to you?

If you are reading this there is a good chance you are a self proclaimed “do it yourself-er”! The question today is – should you DIY? More specifically, when you embark on home renovations what makes more sense? Do it yourself or hire the experts? There are several factors to consider, not the least of which is the legality of your project type. According to Bob Villa, one of the home improvement movement’s most popular gurus, there are certain things you should leave up to the experts – Home improvements that are illegal to DIY. Once you have determined that an expert is not required by state or local ordinances, then you must evaluate 3 things – your budget and timeline, your equipment and your skills.  I encourage you to “get real” with yourself and answer these questions in earnest BEFORE you begin.

1. Budget & timeline – Based on both, DIY on your time or is it more economical to hire it to be done quickly?
2. Equipment – for many projects, home improvement  or otherwise, it is so important that you have the right tools and equipment for the job. Can you rent or borrow them? If you purchase, is the expenditure justified by the money you save doing it yourself?
3. Skills – Do you know what you are doing OR can you find a good Youtube video to follow? An additional question here is two parts: a) if you make mistakes, how expensive are your material replacement costs to correct or redo the project, and b) will you end up hiring someone to fix it?

eMarketer Home Improvement Survey

According to this survey by eMarketer there are various resources which home owners use for “inspiration.”  Not surprisingly, top popularity goes to DIY & design TV shows.  Also worth noting, however, the use of social media has doubled from 7% to 14% of homeowners surveyed. Planese, one of many mobile apps available for home renovation projects, also surveyed homeowners on this topic and “…95%—said they intended to go online via PC to find design ideas; 65% said they would use a smartphone for some of their research. However, when researching products or services, over two-thirds of respondents would use either device.” My suggestion is that searching for your project name and DIY either through Google or directly in the Youtube channel will give you some good results to help you “size up” your project and answer the 3 questions related to embarking on a DIY or hiring an expert?

Once you have a grasp on what your project entails if you are not 100% certain how to answer the 3 questions, call a contractor and request a quote. There are many resources that can help you find the appropriate contractor, and I recommend you start with Houzz.com – “Houzz, a company that now sees 35 million unique visitors per month, and over 800,000 home professionals like architects, decorators, and contractors engaging on the service,” is certainly growing in popularity and continues to enhance their home professional network regularly. Before selecting a contractor, I also encourage you to read the ratings & reviews and possibly get an actual local referral if the contractor has a client with whom you can speak. Lastly, based on the size of the project you may want to get more than one quote before proceeding with your decisions.

Have you previously done a home improvement or renovation project? If so, I would love to hear about it.  In the spirit of DIY’ers everywhere – whether it was a success or not what did you learn? Share your stories in the comments below.

This week’s update – Since the weather cooperated, this weekend I was able to finish up my “power washing”  in the backyard. My first picture is the final “after shot,” having completed the brick patio and the rock stairs.

Power washing ~ After

What follows is the “before” picture of the brick patio and stairs.

Power washing ~ Before

Lastly, a “before” in the foreground of this picture and “after” in the background.  My time (approximately 5 hours total) and equipment ($100) is all it took.  If you have a renovation that includes areas outside that need cleaning – The CleanForce 1800 can be found at your local store (example – Home Depot). Hook it up to your outside garden hose and you are ready to clean – brick, rock, sidewalks & driveways, as well as the outside of the house.

Power Washing ~ Before & After

How do you find a contractor for your home improvement project?

Google Map of Spicewood and Pedernales River.

As our renovation project continued, Central Texas got hit for the second time this year with very severe rainstorms.  Many areas including ours were under flash flood warnings for 2-3 days last week. Cities such as San Marcos made national news while flooding caused unusually heavy traffic and some major road closures.  The good news for us is that all the water caused area lakes and rivers to rise without too much disruption. Specifically, we live in Spicewood, Texas on the Pedernales River which feeds into the Colorado River. That flows into Lake Travis in Austin, Texas. (See the Google Map of the area). For those of you who are avid HGTV followers, we live approximately 128 miles southwest of Waco, Texas which is home to “Fixer Uppers” Chip & Joanna Gaines!

While weather didn’t cause any delays in our renovation projects, (see updates below) we continued planning for our next phase which will include hiring contractors. Have you ever tried to hire a home renovation contractor in your area? The task can be daunting!! Fortunately for the home improvement and renovation industry, there are many social media tools available online that provide handy assistance:

• Contractor locator & matching services
• Ratings & Reviews done by consumers
• DIY (Do it yourself) instructional videos
• Mobile apps that help you visualize paint on your walls

Online Lists – Perhaps the longest standing and most popular place to look for contractors in your area is Angie’s List. Angie Hicks was the pioneer of this service in 1995 when she had her own challenges with finding a local contractor to work on her house.  What started as a simple list of contractors along with “Ratings & Reviews” submitted by consumers of their services has grown into an enterprise of services listed as featured on their website:

• Access to great local reviews on AngiesList.com
• Live support through our call center
• Award-winning Angie’s List magazine
• Access to our Complaint Resolution Team
• Discounts from highly rated service companies

Contractor matching services – there are a variety of online “matching” services where you can enter as little information as your zip code and the type of services you need and the site does the rest. Major players in the online industry have picked up on a growing trend and are starting to offer services “for sale” much like they do products.  Amazon.com is branching into this area as Amazon Home Services where shoppers can browse by service categories or search by their specific needs.  Likewise, Google just announced (2015) Google Home Services which leverages their popular “Ad words” and “Google My Business” locator capabilities. Fundamentally, if a contractor signs up for the service and you search in the Google Search Box, the results that are specific to your location will be boosted to the top of your search results.

Good luck as you search for the perfect contractor to assess your project requirements and provide you with an estimate for your job! Meanwhile, let’s check in on our home renovation project – the lake house! My husband is proud to say the first room is complete! In his words, if he could talk to Chip  & Joanna himself he would say “you make it look so easy!”  His first room took a little under four weeks.  I say “job well done” as he not only designed the space but built it himself!  I helped pick out the materials. Check out the photos below.  Feel free to give us your feedback or tell us about your home renovation project in the comments box.

One of the key decisions to be made was “where to get the reclaimed wood?” We will be incorporating this into various rooms in the house. We decided to use the weathered fence from our backyard, which in turn is being replaced with new slats, one at a time as we use the old ones.

Old weathered fence in our backyard.

Next we determined what kind of look we wanted. We experimented with several versions of “whitewashing” and ultimately decided we liked the natural look of the wood “as-is!”

Various “whitewashing” options.

The final product! A laundry room with tile back splash, corrugated metal and reclaimed wood walls and faux wood tile floors.

Finished Laundry Room

Social Media Tools for organizing your home renovation ideas

During a recent purchase of a “fixer upper,” we quickly found ourselves flooded with excitement and ideas about what we wanted to plan for our first home renovation project. While friends viewed photos of our new lake house and exclaimed “that house doesn’t need renovation,” we were formulating our plans. Due to the plethora of online tools, we were able to quickly put some strategies in place for finding, organizing, sharing and collaborating on ideas that support our joint vision. We found two social media tools that matched our needs and helped us organize our home renovation ideas. If you are embarking on a similar journey, start by exploring Pinterest and Houzz both which are described in further detail below.

Pinterest – this handy online tool offers anyone who is in creation mode to find, view and “pin” photos to various boards that carry the user’s personal titles and descriptions.  A variety of categories are available to change the view while browsing the photo library. Photos and pins are readily grouped under headings like:

• Popular
• Everything
• Animals and pets
• DIY and crafts
• Home Decor

Pinterest viewed on iPad Mini. User has searched on terms “lakehouse decor.”

This tool is readily available on desktop as well as mobile devices. Regardless of how you access it, this tool continues to evolve and offer you the ability to search on your own terms. In the example where we typed in “lakehouse decor”  you can see that a variety of related search term buttons appear below the search bar, allowing the user to further refine their search to narrow results. Additionally, Pinterest has incorporated “buyable pins” which can also be seen in the example screen shot. These pins, available to iPhone and iPad users, are set up so purchases can happen directly from Pinterest without having to leave the application!

Houzz – Also available as a desktop or mobile version, this organization tool caters specifically to the home owner who is gathering ideas around new home decor or renovation projects. Categories group photos and pins under topics like:

• Kitchen
• Bath
• Outdoor
• Lighting
• Decor

Houzz viewed on iPad Mini. User has selected the category “Kitchen.”

Any home owner who is embarking on a renovation project can find this organization tool handy for idea formulation, sharing and various additional features.  Houzz also offers the user the ability to shop for featured products, search for a professional in their area using location information, share personal stories about their projects, and ask for advice by posting questions.  All of these time saving features support the user within the application itself, offering an additional layer of organization that has a “one stop shop” look and feel.

Regardless of how you  classify your  project – new home, renovation, “fixer upper,” DIY (do it yourself), both of these tools offer what you will need to organize your vision and allow you to share it with others. While there are some overlapping features in the “photo” libraries, each offers unique content and convenient ways to browse and find what you need to visualize your final goal.  We highly recommend downloading both of the mobile apps today and test drive for yourself. They are both available as FREE downloads in the mobile stores. Let us know what you discover in the comments below and feel free to share our blog with others!