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Despite the evidence of its effectiveness, only 7% of manufacturers use social media proactively. This is because:
- Many manufacturers believe social media is more relevant in B2C markets
- Many are heavily invested in outbound marketing such as events, advertising and trade shows
However, research from TNS shows a strong correlation between social media marketing and year-on-year growth. So if you’re looking for ways to position your business as a leading authority, nurture your prospects and delight your customers, then social media marketing should form an important part of your overall marketing strategy,
But how do you go about building an implementing an effective social media strategy? Read on to discover 5 ways to make social media work in manufacturing.
1. Choose the Right Platforms
From Facebook to Twitter and LinkedIn, you need to leverage the social media platforms that are most relevant to your business and customers. How do you go do deciding which platforms to use? You need to base your decision on detailed research and analysis, and utilise the platforms that will deliver the most value to your business. What’s more, you need to regularly review and optimise your strategy, depending on real-time information from your customer base.
2. Build a Compelling Profile
Your social media profile needs to be congruent with the story you tell about your business and the values you embody. It cannot function effectively in isolation. You need to tell social media users, clearly and concisely, why they should care about you – and what makes you different from your competitors.
3. Create Great Content
By creating content that is relevant, meaningful and genuinely helpful to your customers, the majority will already have made the decision to buy from you before they make the decision to contact you directly. Great content is usually not about you: as a guide, at least 70% of your blog posts should be about industry issues that concern your customers or information that’s helpful to them.
4. Automate Your Posts
You get the best out of social media by planning your activity in advance and automating your content. Automating your social media makes it easy to tailor your messaging to different audiences, shortening the sales process and making you more profitable. What’s more, by reducing the time your team needs to spend on administrative tasks, it frees them up to focus on adding strategic value.
5. Integrate All Your Marketing
Social media is most effective when it is integrated into a marketing plan that uses all elements of the marketing mix. From advertising and direct mail to blogging and email, an integrated marketing campaign means a targeted, relevant experience for your prospects and customers. In fact, 80% of all sales come from between the 5th and 11th contact, so you need to create multiple contacts to convert sales.
Ultimately then, to make social media work effectively in manufacturing, you need to target the right platform with the right message at the right time. That way, you’ll build authority, attract and nurture prospects and delight your current customers.
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