Client: The Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB)

Over the past 10 years, CIOB’s social media presence has grown but needed to be reviewed to ensure an optimum mix of channels to reflect corporate goals. They asked CMDi to undertake a full analysis of the social media landscape to improve engagement and provide a more valuable member experience.

With around 50 official CIOB social media channels and almost another 50 non-official channels set up by members, and 200+ new followers a week, there was too much choice, too much to manage, and too varying a degree of quality – some of which was damaging to their brand. The review focussed on their local accounts and how stakeholders want to engage with them.

Our research entailed a deep dive into all the data captured over the years, including interviews with members and colleagues, comparing CIOB’s experience with other professional bodies’ social approach to uncover best practice. Our review revealed where the CIOB should most effectively spend time and effort, based on where and how members and professionals expect to find them.

Our research proved that members view Facebook as a personal channel, Twitter mainly for broadcasting news rather than entering a conversation, and LinkedIn as the professional channel for engaging professionals about their profession. The plan thus became to create presence on LinkedIn for their local hubs and migrate from, and then gradually remove, local Twitter and Facebook accounts.

Instagram will be developed to engage the next generation with rich visual content that supports the CIOB’s mission but presented in a way that creates conversation. In addition, the use of Instagram Stories and hashtags are areas that will be used to bring the CIOB’s voice and content into broader conversations to extend their reach and engagement.

Concurrently, CIOB will also be supporting colleagues with specific training to help them make use of local LinkedIn pages in the same way they have in Twitter and Facebook but with greater guidance to support them. In the future, a series of online learning tools for CIOB members will be developed to help them get even more from social media and the interactions it triggers.

To come up with a new, streamlined and simplified social media strategy that is integrated with the new CIOB corporate strategy, and to recommend how best to manage social media messages at a local level as well content led by CIOB HQ.
Member research and interviews • Social media audit • Review of analytics • Best practice benchmarking inside and outside the industry • Social media strategy and report
CIOB will be carefully measuring results and member responses via a structured approach to analytics in the UK and Internationally.
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We enlisted the help of brand strategy and communications agency CMDi to undertake a full, impartial analysis of CIOB social media. The research entailed a deep dive into all the data we have captured over the years, telephone interviews with many members and colleagues, and compared the CIOB experience against how other professional bodies approach their social channels and general best practice. The strategy has been well received by members and will move us into a new era of Social media management that will enhance the CIOB brand and increase member engagement.

Kate Macbeth, Director ‑ Marketing and Digital, The Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB)