Promoting the importance of apprentices for The Forshaw Group

(Posted on 09/06/21)

A property restoration specialist based in Knowsley, Liverpool, our client, The Forshaw Group, is a keen supporter of providing apprenticeship training for the wellbeing of the industry and the wider community. 

Managing director, Liam Hanlon, first joined the construction industry on a Youth Training Scheme Apprenticeship. He remains passionate about supporting young people. In 2014, The Forshaw Group launched an Apprentice Academy Training Centre to support construction, restoration, and loss adjuster apprentices throughout their chosen vocational qualification. The centre has been recognised by The Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB), the British Damage Management Association BDMA, and several other leading institutes.

To date, The Forshaw Group has helped support over 100 apprentices. This includes year 11 students from All Saints Secondary School, in Kirkby, Liverpool, who have had the opportunity to develop their careers in plumbing, plastering, painting, joinery and electrician work. The company is currently supporting many of its own staff to build on their career success through apprenticeships.

The Forshaw Group is also proud to continue to promote and support The INS-Pire Academy through its virtual training and Apprentice Open Days at the company’s premises. These are designed to attract young people to learn trade skills and help address the looming skill shortage in the industry.

 

Raising awareness during #NAW2021

We provide marketing support to The Forshaw Group, ranging from writing and uploading web articles, to creating and distributing press releases, as well as managing the profiles and content for its Twitter and LinkedIn social media accounts.

Earlier this year, we focused social media activity for The Forshaw Group on promoting the importance of apprentices – and the company’s ongoing support of their training – during National Apprenticeships Week (8 – 14 February 2021).

This year, the #NAW2021 awareness week highlighted the importance of ‘building for the future’. This was especially important at the time, as we continued to struggle through the impact of Covid-19, and intermittent schools and college closures, which has interrupted apprenticeship training.

The aim of focusing content around this topic was to further position The Forshaw Group as a leading supporter of apprentices in its sector, to generate more apprenticeship enquiries and business partnerships, and drive social engagement and traffic to the website. This was certainly achieved.

 

Social success

During #NAW2021, The Forshaw Group’s Twitter account gained a number of new followers and saw increased numbers of visits to the Twitter profile. The most popular tweets from this week were promoting the new INS-Pire Academy enhancement day on tree root subsidence (616 impressions) and promoting The Forshaw Group’s Apprenticeship Academy (499 impressions).

The LinkedIn profile also gained more new followers, which were mostly based in Liverpool (26%) and set within the Construction industry (27%), followed by Insurance (15%), showing that The Forshaw Group’s LinkedIn profile was reaching and engaging with the right sectors during a crucial awareness week for apprenticeship training. The most successful post for during #NAW2021 promoted The Forshaw Group’s involvement with apprentices. This gained 1,192 impressions, 31 engagements and 57 post clicks.

The training of apprentices is a highly popular topic, not just on social media but across the field, and we regularly secure PR coverage for The Forshaw Group on the subject in Construction, the Business Desk, Liverpool Business News, the Knowsley Chamber of Commerce, Premises and Facilities Management, and BBP.

Overall, this activity shows that engaging with key awareness events helps to build on engagement and connections with others in the relevant sectors, positioning The Forshaw Group as a key leader in its field.

The managing director of The Forshaw Group, Liam Hanlon, said: “The team at Zebra Marketing is doing a great job building our social media profiles and increasing our business presence in the offline world too. The work around National Apprenticeship Week provided the chance for apprentices to learn more about our services, so that we can deliver the knowledge and skills to develop their careers, and address the skills gap across the trades industry. We look forward to engaging with more apprentices through social media events in the future.”

 

Speak to our team of PR and social media experts to see how we can best optimise your business online.