Industrial Manufacturers are Overlooking Content Creation & Social Media

I was recently discussing the changing tide in industrial marketing with a colleague. We talked about the different forms of advertising, how print was being usurped by digital media and that many industrial manufacturers are overlooking content creation and social media in their marketing strategy.

Social media is an extremely effective and viable form of marketing today. It’s a perfect extension of the sales process. Let’s face it sales is all about relationships. Business relationships are social interactions that enable people to get to know one another better, build trust and ultimately do business together.

Why do we do business with some people and not others? Most people will say because I like that person, I trust them and they take good care of me. How did they get to that place? Through social interaction. It’s the same with social media. Social media expands relationship building to the internet. For business it isn’t about posting the latest movie you went to or what you’re eating. It’s about exchanging ideas, getting to know people or a company and trusting their ability to do what you need.

So how does it work? In the industrial world social media works in the form of extending your reach through content creation. When a company creates content that helps their prospects do their job better, solve problems and exchange new ideas it builds brand awareness and a trusting relationship with your audience.
 
Here’s an overview of the top business social platforms you should consider in addition to a blog:

• YouTube – The second largest search engine in the world – create your business page and start posting videos that will help your customers and prospects.
• LinkedIn – Your direct line to the business community worldwide. Create a page for your business. If you don’t have one for yourself create one as well. Post original content and repost interesting content you come across. Google indexes content from Linkedin.
• Google+ – A Google+ page for your business will help you rank higher in Google searches by using the business tools such as Hangouts, Communities, YouTube, Google Maps and others. Getting reviews on your Google + page will increase the importance of your page and rank you higher in local searches.
• Facebook – Create a business page. Post content about your company, the industry, your people and items of interest to your prospects. Facebook also has powerful marketing tools that can help you specifically target your audience.

 
The key to an effective social media strategy is to post content at least several times per month and interact with your audience. You can do it in-house or use outside vendors. The important thing to remember is that this type of interaction leads to building trust in the market, improving your search rankings and ultimately drives new business to you.
 
Explore how the Rico Group can help your manufacturing business increase your sales volume through the use of content creation-video-websites-ads-tradeshow displays and more.
Call us at 805-368-6653 or shoot us an email.