Lafarge’s Social Media Success Story

Lafarge Austria’s social media is growing, despite having limited resources. Romana Ramssl explains how the company uses Swat.io to implement time-saving social media processes.

About Lafarge

Lafarge Austria is a cement company that operates two cement plants, manufacturing its products in Lower Austria and Styria, while its headquarters are based in Vienna. Lafarge Austria employs 250 employees and is the leader in its market.

The company doesn’t just sell cement: it has a broad portfolio that also encompasses a sustainable range of innovative concrete and cement products. Its Perlmooser concrete and Airium mineral insulation brands are also part of Lafarge. Its cement sales are purely B2B, with end customers able to purchase products from building materials retailers. Lafarge sells loose cement to construction firms directly. However, end consumers can buy concrete and insulation products from Lafarge itself.

Employer Branding and Product Positioning

Lafarge Austria has only recently started using social media. Their social media work primarily pursues two strategies. Firstly, they use their social media channels for employer branding. Young people, in particular, can see the company from a new perspective on social media, which is used particularly heavily in recruiting.

Secondly, they use social media marketing with an eye to bolstering their brand. Lots of explanations are needed when it comes to cement, with plenty of people seeing it as a simple gray powder that generates vast quantities of CO₂ when it’s manufactured. In this respect, Lafarge Austria wants to show that cement is actually a natural product and that two-thirds of the CO₂ comes from the raw material itself – which is why it showcases and explains its products on social media. Although social networks are only a recent addition to the company’s communications strategy, the team is already seeing an impact.

Saving Time with Social Media Marketing

There are currently three people on the marketing and communications team at Lafarge, which is why all the company’s social media marketing is coordinated by Romana Ramssl. All the departments with ideas for content can send them to her. One of the challenges facing Lafarge is that not every team has a good sense for social media content, which is why they need a good strategy for their content planning.

Alongside social media marketing, Romana handles lots of other marketing-related tasks. She regularly blocks out time for creating social media content and prepares all the posts herself. As she can’t spend her entire working day on social media, she needs a time-saving process – which is where Swat.io comes in.

Centralized, Flexible Planning With Simple Processes

Romana Ramssl uses Swat.io to prepare content and set out plans for it to be posted directly from the tool. This enables things like events or themed days to be planned clearly in advance. There’s no longer any risk of important data and content ideas getting lost: they’re all stored centrally. If plans change, pre-prepared posts can easily be moved with drag & drop, making editorial planning flexible.

A few other people at the company have access to Swat.io so they can save posts themselves or leave internal notes on proposed posts. This feedback is stored transparently in the activity log, with the integrated approval processes leaving the status of a post clear at all times. In the past, interns worked directly on content creation in Swat.io, and soon the marketing department is to grow, too. Swat.io makes collaboration much easier for the team at Lafarge.

Why the Team at Lafarge Austria Chose Swat.io

What impact has Swat.io had since you started using it?

“Swat.io really helps with time management. It simplifies planning and helps me save time. It’s hard to regularize content planning if you’re not using a tool. Now, I don’t need to constantly be thinking about the next post. Instead, I know it’s all planned in advance and I’ll get a notification if something happens.”

What made you choose Swat.io?

“Previously, we drafted our posts in Word, which made the whole process harder. It was important to us that we could work collaboratively and that multiple people could be involved in planning. That’s why we turned to Swat.io: to bring everything in one place.”

Who would you recommend Swat.io to?

“In principle, every marketing and communications department. Whether it’s just one person who’s responsible for social media or lots of people in a team, Swat.io makes everything super easy. It’s also great value for money.”