SOCIAL MEDIA ZEITGEIST

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In December 2023, we published the first Beedier Social Media Zietgeist list, the first time that Social Media performance across the architectural sector in the UK and Ireland has been comprehensively accounted for. At the end of last month we ran the stats again to review the numbers. We have looked at over 7,500 architectural companies in the UK and Ireland, and have found that nearly 5,000 of them use social media accounts in some way to promote themselves.

The second iteration of the Zeitgeist demonstrates more clearly the movers and the shakers. Who is growing their social media presence at a faster rate than others, and who is in decline?

Of course there are many reasons why follower counts might fall – perhaps internal priorities have meant that the gas is off the pedal when it comes to resourcing social media communications, a change of staff or approach, or perhaps social accounts have been closed down or pruned. But going by these numbers alone – here are some of the takeaways from the March 2024 Beedier Social Media Zeitgeist list.

At the top of the table, Foster + Partners is now growing at a higher rate than Zaha Hadid Architects, while Heatherwick Studio shows the fourth highest growth overall.

Initiate Architecture is a one person start-up studio based in Bridgend, with an Instagram presence that is going viral – genuine followers and high engagement. It increased followers by over 24k, the third highest rise this quarter to break into the top ten. Also in the Top Ten, Koto Design are a small studio in Devon, with a highly focused social media strategy and diversified practice that includes prefabricated timber cabins. Likewise, Ström Architects in Lymington specialises in bespoke one off houses, designed in a Scandinavian modernist style – and very popular on the socials.

Across the regions, Woldon Architects based in London and the Cotswolds, who fuse traditional country house design with contemporary touches, grew their followers by 31% hitting the top 150. William Green Architects in Banbury showed 34% growth to rise more than 150 places.

Peter Cook’s CRAB Studio showed 25% growth in the socials this quarter, breaking into the Top 200 for the first time. Hackney start-up studio, Material Cultures continue to show steady growth, 23% this quarter, with a social portfolio of cultural projects and material research that also shoots them into the Top 200. Fraher & Findlay, and IF_DO are small studios in South London who continue to show great follower growth – both are rising fast in the Top 100.

There was also great movement further down the list from young start-up studios – among the highest growers were Studio Colab (60%), Built Works (56%), Of Architecture (47%), Northern Bureau for Architecture (38%), Variant Office (37%), Mibe Architects (37%) and Format Architects (36%).

Congratulations to all studios for your continued efforts to grow your socials, and correspondingly, your brand.

Beedier will continue to interrogate the stats, and bring forward other engaging and useful insights over time. For an overview of the first published list November last year, including industry wide stats – visit our article here.