Manufacturers - 3 Tips to Drive Big Leads with Social Media

We are specialists in creating leads for manufacturers. When we first bring up social media as one part of the mix, we usually receive a tepid response. It's understandable, social media programs for manufacturing require special handling and they are often not well crafted. We can help you fix your manufacturing social media today.

#1 Your Posts Need Appeal - Regardless of the Social Media Platform

Regardless of the platform, you need to make your headlines appealing. You should not post "Acme releases the new T35c with improved spooling capabilities". You should post "See how one manufacturer increased their line speed by 12% with our new T35c".

You don't need to hide the fact that you're bragging about your product, in fact, I don't see enough manufacturers showing  excitement about their products. Most posts have a very clinical feel - no joy. You can fix that.

I get excited about industrial products - I love to tour plants and watch videos on industrial equipment. We recently visited a manufacturer of natural gas compressors and the guys had to practically drag me out of the showroom. I couldn't help touching the compressor and really looking over how it worked. You should have seen this thing, it was glorious in it's industrial perfection...sorry - there I go again.

You may personally find little joy in the products your company produces. It's OK, let's just accept this and let the healing begin. If you don't get excited about a natural gas compressor or an air diaphragm pump, you'll need to tap in to someone else's excitement. You can find this excitement in your customers. Listen to calls, or jump in on a plant tour. Watching your customer drool over your product will help remind you just how awesome your product is, and why what you're doing really is important - you're connecting someone with a real need to your solution, and that's noble work.

This is the most important factor in your success with social media for manufacturing. Spend the majority of your time on a great headline, then write your article in support of the headline.

#2 Start With a Targeted Approach

This advice seems a bit obvious, but many aren't aware of the level of targeting that is available on social platforms. For example, with LinkedIn's advertising platform you can promote your posts to very specific industries, job titles, levels of seniority, and even directly to specific companies.

I generally recommend beginning with a targeted approach and moving your activities to a broader audience over time. This allows you to learn from watching the engagement of your ideal customer and apply your discoveries to a broader audience. There is much less "noise" to filter when you only display your updates to the types of people that may likely be interested in your product or service.

#3 Tailor Your Content to Your Platform

Naturally YouTube will be a less targeted platform than LinkedIn, but powerful targeting options nonetheless. You'll need to be very deliberate in what you post and how you promote it. YouTube is a great platform for instructional videos, product demonstrations, and tutorials.  It's a tough crowd to try and "sell to". Approach YouTube as a channel to help your potential customers learn. LinkedIn performs best when your material is developmental in nature. For example, posts that speak to "How To" perform much better than advertisements.

We tested a post that was promotional vs a post that was instructional and the promotional post received zero interest while the instructional post received a 18% click through rate. How you position your material is critical on LinkedIn, and of course what you write limits how you can promote it, so think developmental!

The best way to discover the perfect content for each platform is to watch for a while and learn what trends and use this as a model for your posts. Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube all have mechanisms for discovering what's trending. Watch, learn, and apply!

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If you're interested in learning more about using social media to build more manufacturing leads, give us a call: 866.432.8235