Did you know people spend an average of 2 hours and 27 minutes a day on social media, and more than half of the world is using it? That’s why anyone in the manufacturing industry needs to develop a social media marketing strategy to take advantage of all that social platforms have to offer. However, effective social media marketing is not as simple as a few posts, reels, or stories. With growing competition for clicks, views, and likes, manufacturing companies must have a plan of action that uses the most effective tools available to get their content, and ultimately services and products, out to customers.
If you are looking for B2B social media marketing tips, you’ve come to the right place. We've put together this guide for people like you. Follow these tips, and you will become a B2B marketer in no time.
Advantages
There are some exciting benefits to using social media platforms for industrial companies:
1. Brand awareness—Social media marketing will promote your brand to potential customers, especially if your brand is new. A strongly cultivated brand will influence customer decisions when they are choosing from multiple companies and ultimately result in repeat purchases.
2. Generate leads—Social media marketing is a great asset when you want to generate quality leads. It is important to optimize your social media presence in order to reach your target audience, get to decision makers, and convert potential customers into buyers who will refer business to their friends and family.
New tools can help you reach these goals. LinkedIn’s Sales Navigator offers search capabilities, insight into extended networks, and tools to reach the right decision makers. Meta’s paid ad campaigns for Instagram and Facebook can help get more traffic to your website to ultimately increase sales revenue.
3. Connect with your customers—Social media allows you to share or connect with your customers and prospects, as well as the influencers who impact decision makers. You can keep it real by asking your followers' opinions on your service or products, industry news, or a trade show.
Social Media Marketing Tips for B2B
1. Always Start with a Plan—It’s always crucial to have a strategy for your social media campaigns. Having a digital marketing plan will enable you to know whom to target, what kind of content to use, and, most importantly, what type of language to use. A perfect social media strategy should have the following:
2. Create a Social Media Post Calendar—Develop a posting schedule to ensure you are posting consistently and getting the most benefits of using social media to reach your audience. A social media calendar will guide you in selecting a social media platform and knowing when to use text, images, video marketing, testimonials, a webinar, or other types of content. Tools such as HubSpot, Hootsuite, Semrush, and Sprout Social are all-in-one tools for coordinating social media and marketing. These tools can help streamline and organize your industrial manufacturing marketing efforts.
3. Focus on Quality—The quality of your content marketing is critical. This helps you get more engagement on your social media channels and allows you to build trust and a following. Consider sharing educational information about your industry or giving a behind-the-scenes look at how your products are made. Don’t be shy about showcasing your employees and telling the stories of their roles in your business as a way to connect with potential clients.
Lots of exciting opportunities exist within manufacturing marketing to use striking images, interesting infographics, and video content to make information come alive. While growing content, don’t overlook the importance of search engines, and make sure you are including keywords to maximize SEO.
4. Know Your Target Market—Take the time to understand your target market well. Use the following questions to know your potential customers: What makes them tick? What hobbies interest them? Where do they live? How old are they? Which social media platforms do they frequent? Do they follow certain manufacturing topics or product pages?
5. Expand Your Audience—Your ultimate goal should be to expand your audience. Use social media advertising to reach that goal. For example, once a week, you can boost your TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn posts to reach an audience beyond your current followers.
6. Build Relationships—Be social! Use social media platforms to build long-lasting relationships with customers to make your marketing efforts more effective.
7. Explore Social Media Trends—Make sure you and your team members familiarize yourselves with the latest trends and what is happening in social media for manufacturers. Including popular hashtags can also be an important marketing tool. The more you know about social media trends, the easier it will be to tailor your product or service offering to your target audience. You may also want to expand your digital outreach with other content marketing strategies such as e-newsletters, blogs, and podcasts.
8. Track Your Performance—Lastly, it's always essential to track your social media performance and marketing campaigns. Tracking performance will let you know which areas to improve and which people to re-target. It is valuable information you can share with your sales team and other staff so they can employ the best marketing strategies and topics that resonate with people in their work offline.
If you follow these social media tips, you will take your B2B marketing to a new level and be pleasantly surprised with the return on investment and success that will follow.
We know it’s a lot to learn and manage, especially as much as social media continues to evolve and trends continue to change. We would be happy to assist in guiding you through the process to ensure your success.
If you need some help with social media marketing, a winning social media strategy for your business, or selecting the right tools to meet your goals, reach out to us today!
