You may be wondering how a manufacturing company can use social media to expand its audience and build brand awareness. Social media makes sense for marketing companies and other traditional industries, but for non-traditional industries, how does it work? How are you going to find things to post to keep your audience engaged? We have several ways in which social media could help your manufacturing business and how you can effectively use it on different social media platforms.
Using Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Pinterest for Brand Awareness
Social media is all about building relationships with others. Therefore, the most important part of your business should be building lasting relationships with your customers. Create a brand people will want to return to, one people will stay loyal to. How do you do this? Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Pinterest. Facebook will allow you to build a fan base and keep that fan base engaged with information from your industry. Providing both your own information and relevant third-party information will keep your fans returning because you will be their trusted source of information.
LinkedIn is the best social media network to make business connections. Using LinkedIn you can create and join LinkedIn Groups. LinkedIn Groups is the place for professionals in the same industry or with similar interests to share information, make contacts, establish themselves as experts, view and post jobs, and find support.
Twitter is the perfect network to connect with your customers by engaging with followers, using hashtags, and building brand awareness. Twitter allows you to search for experts in your area, follow trends and hashtags, create lists, and use images and videos to engage with your followers. It is important with any social media network to remain consistent by posting regularly and continue building relationships with others.
Pinterest can be used by manufacturing companies to show manufacturing in action. Show your finished products. Show your team in action. Share inspirational boards. Honda is using Pinterest for advertising, unique contests and concepts, and product-centric boards. They are even using their own hashtags to get their followers involved. You are not limited on Pinterest. Your manufacturing company could build brand awareness by using creative boards and hashtags to get your followers involved.
Video Marketing
Using YouTube or Vimeo or another video platform, you can offer tutorials, product training, testimonials, and a behind-the-scenes look at your business. According to James McQuivey of Forrester Research, “a video is worth 1.8 million words”, so why wouldn’t you want to give your fans valuable information through video?
Blogging and Newsletters
Say goodbye to outbound marketing and hello to the amazing inbound marketing. Inbound marketing is marketing bringing visitors in. It works because it’s not “in your face, cold-calling, annoying” advertising. You’re not shoving your services in their faces and this is partly why it works. You provide the information for visitors and they come to you. Create engaging content through blogs and e-newsletters. NOW Marketing Group uses Paper.li for our clients’ e-newsletters giving them and their customers information relavent to their industry. Content creation will keep your visitors coming back and again, you will be their trusted source.
Traditional marketing does not build relationships. Direct mail, cold-calling, praying for leads, and buying ads and email lists is annoying and will quickly drive your leads away. Social media marketing and inbound marketing work because it gives visitors the information they need without pushing them away using annoying ads or calling. However, in order to market effectively, you must be consistent, engaging, and you must be willing to talk about other things but yourself and your services. If you want to get started with inbound marketing to expand your brand potential and be the source of information for your customers, call NOW Marketing Group for a custom quote and let us help you take social media by storm.
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