We were lucky to catch up with Dillon Black recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Dillon thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Let’s start with a story that highlights an important way in which your brand diverges from the industry standard.

Being of an online generation coming up in an industry that has not typically tapped into social media, I use my platforms as a search engine and portfolio for current and potential clients. I leverage my online presence as a way to vet new vendors and establish collaborations with other colleagues. Many of the partners I currently work with share my enthusiasm for social media which allows us to create content that is mutually beneficial.

Dillon, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I am a Nashville native originally from the Franklin area. My family has generationally played a role in construction and development as my father led the business for 40 years before I took over. We cover the entire design and build process from initial space drawings, construction, interior design, all the way to turn key. Though I originally was on a different career path, I transitioned into this business from building a home for myself and in turn, wanting to give other people the same gift.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

I initially grew my audience on TikTok in 2020 when the popular app was on the rise. I had just moved into my Downtown Nashville loft and spent my days redesigning it and sharing my progress along the way. My first video, an empty walkthrough of my space on closing day, gained millions of views and upwards of 175k people following along within the first week. While this seemed completely accidental in the moment, I realized I was entering a hot market where there was a demand for this kind of content: pandemic, everyone at home wanting to redesign their space, a new social media platform pushing users content – it was a perfect storm.

While posting aesthetic content was, and always is, a large piece of the puzzle, my biggest challenge was sharing my personality. I have noticed a shift from the perfectly filtered, not-one-hair-out-of-place mentality that we have always approached social media with to users wanting a sense of connection and familiarity. While the aesthetic content is still a necessity in my field of work, I find that my online presence has a greater reach when I am posting the behind the scenes, day to day, monologue, mess ups, speed bumps, and then some. In sharing myself along with my work, it allows my community to feel the connection and a sense of friendship.

My advice to those starting out: be aware of the trends, peel back the curtain and share yourself, and stay consistent.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

A year or so after establishing my online presence, I dove into my local design community and started learning the “who’s who” of the Nashville market. I started attending all the events, happy hours, and galas to build my network. Eventually I gained a feature in publications such as Nashville Interiors and Nashville Voyager as well as a spot on the ‘Couture and Construction’ podcast. I have also since hosted events with local vendors such as Cambria Surfaces where I invited panelists to converse with me about the power of social media in their respective fields. Altogether, this press brought mainstream validity to my online community.

With the ever-changing landscape of social media and the fact that I am still growing my business and following, my focus lately has been collaboration with other industry professionals in such a way that we are strengthening our working relationships and building each other’s businesses in the process. My latest project was in works with Eurostone, and other local designers to create the Eurostone Club at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://hausofblack.co
• Instagram: hausofblck
• Other: TikTok: Hausofblck

Image Credits
Brittany Bell Sam Calderon Heather Hughes