How LinkedIN and other social media platforms fit into job shop sales

At this point, it is challenging to imagine the business world without social media (or our own social lives, for that matter). Social media platforms allow your company to make deeper personal connections with your target engineering audience by providing an easy way to share your knowledge, content, and offerings. If you are late to the social game, don’t worry it is never too late; make a free account and get rolling. Otherwise, you are missing out on easy and inexpensive ways to target and reach your preferred customers.

How does social media help your industrial manufacturing business?

Let’s start by looking at one of the best social platforms for industrial manufacturers – LinkedIN. LinkedIN is a professional networking site that currently has well over 750 million active business users. Users on the platform are specifically business-focused, typically the business decision-makers, and are looking for the latest updates across a wide range of industries. You can craft posts targeting people who would benefit most from your company’s offerings by utilizing filters that allow you to narrow by location, industry, job title, experience level, interests, educational background, and more.

What about YouTUBE or any of the others?

While LinkedIN is by far the best social platform for businesses, there are a wide variety of other social platforms out there and more and more come online all the time. It may not be clear which platforms would be best for your manufacturing company. Here is a quick overview of a few of the other popular platforms for industrial companies.

• YouTUBE – YouTUBE currently has over 2 billion active users on the platform. Second to LinkedIN, YouTUBE is particularly great for industrial companies since there is no better way to explain complicated technical data than through well-crafted videos. Users do not even need to sign up for an account to be able to watch the content either, which makes it incredibly accessible to a very broad audience. Here you can share how-tos, tutorials, product demonstrations, walkthroughs, and much more. This is the perfect platform to share your industrial knowledge and establish yourself as a leader in your industry.
• Twitter – Twitter currently has well over 200 million active users on the platform. Twitter is a great place for industrial companies to post short, interesting facts or point customers to more detailed information about their industry, products, or services.
• Facebook – Facebook currently has well over 2.8 billion active users on the platform and is one of the most popular social platforms in the world. This platform is a great place to share video and image content and your technical articles and updates.

What kind of content should you share on your company’s social platforms?

As an industrial job shop, your primary objective is to be the optimized solution provider for your customers. You need to help them get their job done with the most significant degree of expertise in a way that makes them look good. You are selling your ability to solve a specific problem or pain point for an engineer and their team using your particular products, manufacturing methods, and expertise. To that end, you must consistently publish new helpful content for your customers to consume. Content such as (but not limited to):

• Blog articles
• Product guides
• Demonstrations
• Video
• Case studies
• eBooks
• White papers
• Webinars
• And much more

Another thing to keep in mind is that posting on social platforms is great for your company’s SEO. We recommend that you focus more heavily on LinkedIN and YouTUBE over any other social platforms but once you have your content created for those two it is a good idea to share it across other channels for better exposure.

Your engineering customers are well connected on the web – on your company website, your competitor’s sites, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIN, YouTUBE, and plenty of other sites and social platforms looking for information about the things they need and want to buy. You already know that a dominant online presence is the key to establishing a strong, recognizable, trusted brand within your industry, and in today’s increasingly fast-paced digital world, users demand access to a constant stream of informative, engaging content – both on the go, in the office, or in the comfort of their home. Be where your customers are looking for you and engage with them in positive ways; your efforts will pay off.

All industrial – all the time!

With over 30 years of experience, The Rico Group specializes in helping industrial manufacturers and job shops grow their business and diversify their customer base. We are your bolt-on marketing department. Our solutions give you the full capabilities of an in-house marketing department at a fraction of what it would cost you to hire a full-time marketing crew. We know how engineers think and what they are looking for. We know your processes, equipment, and materials. We also know that you have very little time to take away from your production and getting your customer’s orders delivered.

Interested to see what your current digital marketing efforts are really doing for your company?

We offer a free comprehensive analysis of your company’s online marketing to give you insights into what your true digital footprint is and how you can improve it. The report also comes with an in-depth competitor analysis and a free expert consultation to review the report with you and answer any questions you may have.

Also, please grab a free copy of our comprehensive digital marketing success guide to help you accelerate your job shop’s growth. The guide walks you through the process of generating more qualified leads for your industrial manufacturing company.

Our industrial clients swear by our strategies – because they work.

Grow your manufacturing business with better marketing with The Rico Group.

www.thericogroup.com

 (805) 497-7401