Social Media in the Manufacturing Sector

Social media is just one of many channels open for use as a way of engaging with customers and prospective customers. The manufacturing sector has been a little slower than some in embracing social media. However, in recent months activity from various manufacturers using this channel to engage with their audience has been on the rise.

A lot of businesses are trying to do social media without any real business objectives. Organisations need to take a strategic approach rather than doing it for its own sake. Savvy businesses must exploit the full potential of the social media world.

Here are ten tips for getting started in the right way.

1)Plan what you want to achieve.

Some use social media as a way of listening to customers for feedback, and to demonstrate that they are listening, engaging, and showing an interest. Others want to use it to generate new business. Be clear about what you are trying to achieve. Inevitably this will directly affect your approach to social media activity.

2)“In space no one can hear you scream”.

If you’re spending your time shouting into a vacuum you may as well not bother. Find where your audience is and use those networks. If your customers tend to use Facebook don’t build your strategy around LinkedIn. Otherwise no one will be listening to you.

3)Listen and share.

Social media is “social” and this means having conversations. So don’t just broadcast. Listen and engage with people. In addition, your content doesn’t always have to be original content you have slaved over for hours. Sharing what you have found is by definition “social”.

4)Pick your theme.

Stick – broadly speaking – to a subject relevant to your business. For example, in my role as a marketer for Kingston Smith, I look for articles people have written on the subject of small business and entrepreneurship and share them with our followers.

5)You are a person with a life.

Some of your tweets or posts should give an insight into you as a person. This helps attract and engage people like you. People like you are more likely to like you – and it’s easier to sell to and do business with people who like you.

6)Use the tools at your disposal.

Don’t spend your time duplicating posts on multiple networks when you can use excellent tools like Hootsuite to manage almost your entire social media presence and activity.

7)Look for ways to get direct value.

Foursquare is a great way to get direct value out of social media. You can make offers and promotions with ease, and the check-in concept is a great way of rewarding loyalty.

8)Treat every foray into social media like a special ops mission.

Go in, do what you need to do and get out again. You can spend your life in there if you really want to, but you probably have a business to run!

9)Don’t miss the easy wins.

Using tools like Hootsuite you can easily set up searches for tweets containing “car broke down again” within a certain distance of your location. Why not respond – politely and gently – that you might be able to help?

10)Monitor your competitors.

If your competitors are active on social media too, keep an eye on what they’re up to!

For more information and advice on social media strategy, contact Kingston Smith’s Practice Development Manager Graeme Trigg on gtrigg@kingstonsmith.co.uk or 020 7566 4000.

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