Content Creation Contests Within Your Construction Company

A while back I was chatting with a construction company owner, and he had quite a cool little trick he used to incentivize his employees to take social media photos for his business.

Now, if you’re a business owner – you know that content creation is pretty important. Maybe you have a professional doing it for you, maybe you’re doing it yourself.

If up to this point you haven’t hired a professional to make your content for you yet, may I suggest content creation contests within your construction company.

What do I mean by this? Let’s dive in.

So, this company owner has all of his employees take process photos for him while they’re on the job site – and it’s treated like a contest. The guys tend to egg each other on. At the end of each month, they give a prize to the best photo that was taken.

So, to steal this idea and use it for your own company, this is what you want to do.

First of all, teach everyone how to use their phone cameras to the best of their abilities. You’ll want them to keep a few things in mind.

Make sure that the lines and angles are good and plumb. That means level planes all the way across the frame, as well as straight angles up and down and side to side.

Have them put their camera setting on 0.5x if they’re on an iPhone. This will make their camera switch to the wide angle lens.

Teach them about light, and try to have them resist harsh shadows. Always move around and get the best lighting before taking the photo.

Always make sure they aren’t shy and that they experiment. Have them take their time and make sure they’re happy with what they have.

Another point on lighting to remember is that you’ll get the best results out of a smart phone camera on an overcast day. Always aim to shoot when it’s cloudy out. If it needs to be a sunny day, just be aware of your shadows in the photo, as well as anything that looks too dramatic.

So, you’re going to teach all your employees how to take better photos with their cellphones – and then once per week you’re going to have them all email them to you or whoever is going to be running your social media.

Write some descriptions ahead of time for the photos that go best together and put a list of hashtags together. Throw them up into posts, and you’ve developed yourself a good, consistent social media presence.

Remember to give out a prize once per month for the best photo. It doesn’t need to be huge – maybe a Home Depot gift card for $50 or something. In the long run, this will be huge for you, especially considering hiring a professional to do this can cost anywhere from 2k – 5k per month.

In this sense, all you’ll be investing is some time and 50 bucks per month.

Having a presence online is important – remember that it’s about consistency and continuity. You’re telling a story with the content you’re posting, especially in the construction world. So this is why content creation contests within your construction company works.

Keep up with it, and please let me know if you need any pointers.

To Your Success,

Jay Ashcroft

Ashcroft Media Co.