How to Use Social Media: A Manufacturer’s Guide
In today’s digital landscape, social media has become an essential tool for manufacturers looking to connect with their audience. While platforms like Twitter are popular for real-time updates, it’s crucial to identify which platforms align best with your business goals. A common pitfall is spreading resources too thin across multiple accounts. Instead, focus on a select few platforms where your target audience is most active. This article will explore various social media options and provide tips for maximizing their effectiveness.
LinkedIn: Reach senior management
LinkedIn is often perceived as a platform for job seekers, but it holds great value for manufacturers and B2B companies. Just remember than LinkedIn, because it is mostly available in English, is not always used by all levels in a company. Directors, top managers and senior Sales may have an account and/or be active, but other positions, such as Purchase and Procurement, may not be very well represented.
That said, creating robust LinkedIn profiles for their company and leadership team members, businesses will be able to engage with potential clients and industry peers in a way that other social media platforms do not allow. Regularly posting relevant content can position your business as a thought leader in the manufacturing sector, attracting the right audience and fostering valuable connections.
Here are some tips you may want to be using (as of 2024):
- Personal content is more viral than company page content (that’s just the way it is so you consider advertising instead!). It may be a good idea to create specific version of your content for the team to relay, while also tagging your corporate page in the process.
- For photos, use photos with actual people and tag them is a good way to increase exposure.
For image content, consider using multipage PDFs as an alternative (appearing as carrousel).
For video content. Upload video files directly on the platform rather than sharing Youtube videos to ensure more views. Provide subtitles as the video on smartphones may roll out muted at first. - In term of timing, posting on business days in the morning will allow more early engagement and signal the platform to push your content to a larger audience.
- Reaching out to people? Craft your introduction message in local language when possible instead of English, this will help making you more approachable.
- Want to accelerate, consider Advertising. LinkedIn is expensive but by far provides the best targeting. LinkedIn provides Lead generation ads format which allow to capture contact information easily. In term of brand awareness, we would recommend experimenting with video formats.
Facebook: Powerful if you can master it
Facebook remains a dominant force in social media. For manufacturers, it offers a unique opportunity to engage with a broader audience. This can be particularly useful if your prospect base in fragmented and made of SMEs. In Southeast Asia, it is frequent that business owners of Small and Medium companies would not be active on LinkedIn.
Some key qualities of Facebook for B2B manufacturers are:
- Powerful ads targeting capabilities. by center of interests, geography, age range, level of studies. You may be able to profile an interesting audience.
Cost effective. Facebook advertisement in Southeast Asia is relatively cheap for the exposure it can give your brand and your content.
Good for employer branding. Facebook can be a good solution to further boost your employer brand and showcase life at your companies and vacancies available. - Can benefit your distributors or eCommerce channels. Facebook advertisement can be used to provide your distributors or eCommerce channels with additional visibility.
- Good to reach new entrants. If your solutions are suitable for companies willing to add a new product or service to their portfolio. You may find Facebook is good at advertising “business ideas” and “educational” content to business curious entrepreneurs that may convert down the line.
In particular 2 formats stand out when advertising:
- Lead generation Advertisement built-in. Facebook features lead generation format that allow to capture contact information in a form and forward it further to a spreadsheet or lead management system.
- Great for video. Facebook advertising can be combined with Instagram to extend its reach even further. Short video formats are performing particularly well.
However Facebook is not without its own set of challenges. Make sure you try to migitate the following with your team or external agency when running B2B facebook campaigns.
- Volume of enquiries. You may quickly end up with hundreds or even thousands of incoming contacts and requests. Make sure you have a system in place to collect, qualify and answer the incoming requests.
We recommend using a CRM or Lead Management system that allows you to create automation campaigns. - Noisy. Facebook enquiries are noisy. You need to have a strategy in place for qualification. Understanding the companies activities, purchasing stage. In Southeast Asia, a good way to deal with the volume is to have a dedicated telemarketing resource available to follow up on phone numbers collected.
- Potential need for moderation. Make sure the comments published on the ads are getting answered and controlled to ensure a qualitative experience for people interacting with the ad.
YouTube: The Power of Video Content
Video content is rapidly gaining traction, with studies showing that viewers prefer watching videos over reading articles. For manufacturers, YouTube presents an opportunity to:
- showcase products, machinery features video
- share tutorials or tips on how to use products
- highlight the successes of your customers (great to build trust and credibility)
- share vision and direction of the company’s with leadership interviews,
- discuss business trends and market opportunities for your customers,
- provide insights into your quality processes and manufacturing capabilities.
Creating engaging video content can capture the attention of potential clients and provide them with valuable information in an easily digestible format.
Remember that videos on Youtube can be watched elsewhere too. Use video embedding features to bring Youtube videos onto your corporate website solution or blog pages. Videos increase the time your visitors spend on pages, a signal used by Google to assess the quality of the content and improve your SEO rank.
Posting frequency is the #1 key to success
It is vital to think of social media efforts as a long-term initiative, not a campaigns over a few days. Indeed it will take several pieces of content to get noticed and develop that “snowball effect” required to develop your reach and receive enquiries.
- A good way to organize is to “commit” to a certain frequency, for example 2 or 3 times per week.
- Another way to progress is just to experiment with several types of content and formats, in order to find what clicks with your audience. Overtime, your company will get a better understanding of what works and will be more confident boosting the reach with advertising budget.
Conclusion
Navigating the world of social media can be challenging for manufacturers, but with the right strategies in place, it can lead to significant growth and engagement. By focusing on platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, and YouTube, and implementing best practices, your business can effectively connect with its audience. If you’re looking to enhance your social media presence or need assistance in developing a comprehensive digital marketing strategy in Southeast Asia, Reachlane is here to help.
