Share your finished home online: 5 ways to spread the word with your dream team
People love to share their home renovation or new build on social media. It’s a journey like no other – an expression of creativity in the form of a home for your family. Pretty powerful stuff.
Once you’ve been on this journey, you join a community of like-minded women who love nothing more than spending a Saturday night devouring before-and-after renovation projects on TikTok, peeking into home tours on Instagram or seeking home renovation ideas on Pinterest.
To really spread the word, get other key players such as your builder, designer or architect on board. Extend your reach by tapping into their social followings, or team up to attract attention in other ways. Here’s how!
Engage with your builder on social media
If you’re already a social media pro, it’s possible you actually found your builder or architect on Instagram or Facebook – they’re powerful platforms for sharing beautiful images, and renovation and building information.
Follow your builder, designer or architect on all possible platforms, and start engaging – that means commenting, sharing and liking their content, or even writing a glowing testimonial. This helps them grow their audience of possible clients – a win for them, and the reason they’re on social media in the first place. It also encourages them to like and respond to your content, helping you grow your own following.
If their social presence is limited, suggest they set up pages on popular platforms such as Pinterest and try formats such as Reels, which will yield greater reach via the Instagram algorithm.
Create content about your build that they can share
Remember, builders and architects are busy and work long hours, so they may not be as active on social media as much as you are. By tagging them in your posts, they’ll be able to showcase their work by quickly and easily sharing your content to their own channels.
A simple content win is filming regular, quick behind-the-scenes interviews. Ask your builder what’s on the agenda today, to describe what you’re looking at and how it’s going to change, or do a walk-through of the site. Similarly, ask your designer or architect to explain their design vision.
How-to videos are also really popular on all social platforms. Ask your builder to explain in layman’s terms a simple part of the process while you film (use portrait ratio), or capture them in action completing the job and add a text layer to explain the vision, with a fun soundtrack.
Everyone in the building business relies on referrals, so seeing how they work and how they respond to you will help their business – it’s a win-win.
Capture the finished build
When the new build or renovation is complete and looking at its sparkling brand-new-home best, it’s time to call in the professionals. Speak to your builder and/or your architect about sharing the costs – there’s plenty in it for them.
Book a professional photographer and stylist to shoot your home, focusing on the key rooms such as the kitchen, bathrooms, laundry and living spaces, with the master suite and bedrooms secondary (unless they are particularly beautiful!). It’s essential to capture its sleek new facade – let that exterior cladding highlight your new home’s unique street appeal.
Feel like you’re up to the task yourself? Go for it! Style it yourself and use your smartphone to take photos, capturing it in great natural light. These photos won’t be usable for glossy print media, but they’ll definitely be Instagram worthy.
Be your project team’s marketing assistant
Got a build that’s worth sharing beyond the usual channels? Lucky you! There are a few ways to do this.
Enter your builder, designer or architect (with their blessing) into competitions for home design and renovating. An award that recognises the quality of your build means it will be shared well beyond your own platforms, creating opportunities for all of you.
Popular competitions include the HIA’s Housing Awards, which identify, highlight and reward excellence throughout the housing industry across Australia.
Another example is the Master Builders Association of NSW Excellence in Housing Awards, which celebrate excellence in construction, innovation and quality in the building and construction industry in New South Wales.
Share your assets for more exposure
You can also pitch images of your home to popular home renovation sites such as The Interiors Addict and The Design Files. These sites showcase outstanding architecture, beautiful exteriors, and interiors that flow seamlessly to the outdoors – and you’ll likely be interviewed to tell your story. You can also share your finished product with us, by including the hashtag #hardiedreamhome and tagging @jameshardieau on social media, or submitting your project here.
Finally, share your home with local magazine editors. You’ll find contact details on the mastheads. They may use your images in the magazine, or share them on their online platforms – sometimes both. This can raise your profile as a budding influencer, and at the very least is a beautiful memento of a project you’ve worked hard on.
Ready to share? Explore the James Hardie Pinterest board, Instagram page and Inspiration Gallery for ideas and inspiration on how to present your home.
