Quick hits:
- Social media best practices for manufacturers
- Take advantage of social media’s strengths
- Create a content calendar and schedule social media posts
- Harness the power of video
- Keep videos short, but informative
- Don’t limit your presence to “B2B” platforms
- Repurpose content and media to create organic and natural content
- Leverage analytics and insights to find out what performs well
- Go beyond equipment content
- How OEMs Can Make Marketing Meaningful
- Exhibitors: How to Prepare for PACK EXPO Las Vegas
- Want to know how beverage manufacturing has changed over the past year, especially with COVID-19? Read PMMI's Business Intelligence Report, "2021 Beverage Trends Driving Change."
 | Read the transcript below: |
Hi, my name is Natalie Craig. I'm the managing editor of OEM Magazine.
And today, I'm going to talk to you about social media best practices for manufacturers. I have a question for you. Are you on social media? You're probably on Facebook or LinkedIn, the business social media platforms that you think are appropriate for your company. But I have news for you. There are emerging platforms and there are different platforms that you will need to be on in the next couple of years in order to appeal and attract to talent that you might be recruiting to your business as well as customers. So there are 3.6 billion people who are currently on social media, and that's expected to increase the $4.41 billion in 2025. So not only should you be ramping up your social media efforts and making sure you have all of your boxes checked, but it's something that you really want to invest in and spend a lot of time as this could be a really great way for your company to communicate your brand story, attract potential customers, and then also reach out to talent.
So I'm going to share some social media best practices for manufacturers, because I'm sure as you know today, it's so important for us to maintain connections and build connections digitally. And so, we want to make sure that you have all of the tips and techniques that you could use to get off on the right foot. My first tip for you is to take advantage of social media strength. Think about how often people are on social media, on their phones. You have an opportunity to position your company in front of these people during all hours of the day and every day of the week. And so, it's not only smart to be on there showing behind the scenes footage of your people or machines, or just being friendly and social on these platforms, just to make sure that your brand awareness is there and people know you exist.
My second tip for you is to create a content calendar and schedule your social media posts. When you are venturing into social media, you want to make sure that you're staying consistent because consistency is the key to growth and getting your content seen, which is why I highly recommend a content calendar. You can plan out a week's worth or a month's worth of content, which will help you stay just on par with your goals and your social media plans. And you can also use scheduling services like Hoot Suite to schedule out social media posts. You can create them in one batch and schedule them throughout the weeks that you don't have to worry about them, but this is a great way to stay consistent and make sure that you are on par with your goals.
Also, you want to harness the power of video. Video is so important on social media today, not just on YouTube, but on platforms like Pinterest, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. People love video. If you can stay under five minutes, even if you're uploading something to YouTube, that is the perfect length. Some people say the ideal length is about two and a half minutes. After that's when you start to lose people. So two and a half minutes for any kind of social media platform is a sweet spot. So make sure you're harnessing the power of videos from machine demos, to videos of your people, talking about why they like working for you, or industry trends that they're really excited about. Those kinds of videos perform really well. And they can look great to potential talent or potential customers.
When you're using videos, you want to keep them short, but informative. Like I said, two and a half minutes. Some social media platforms don't allow you to upload more than a minute or more than 30 seconds. So make sure you're paying attention to that, but you can actually cram a lot of information in, and this is the best way to catch someone's attention, give them the information they need, and position yourself as a thought leader on Instagram or Pinterest or Facebook or LinkedIn. The possibilities are endless.
Also, do not limit your presence to business-to-business platforms, like LinkedIn, Facebook. I know that those seem like the best places to go for business and for your kind of business, but they're not. More people are on Instagram. More people are on Pinterest.
And you want to make sure you're positioning yourself in front of these people all the time. So we talk to companies like Dorner and Morrison Container Handling Solutions about their voyage into Pinterest and Instagram. And they've actually found a lot of success on those platforms.
You also want to repurpose content and media to create organic and natural content and a feeling to your social media presence. So think about all the kinds of different content you're already taking, but maybe not posting social media. If you have to take video of a machine before it leaves your plant floor, that's something with the customer's approval, of course, that you could easily post to YouTube on and get a lot of views and maybe some potential leads as well. You can also take videos that you've taken of your people, your culture, anything like that, and repurpose that for social media. You're probably creating a lot of social media content already, and you don't even know it.
Also, you can leverage analytics and insights to find out what performs well on your social media platform. And a lot of these apps like Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, you can see real time insights of how your posts are performing. And if you're making a significant investment in your social media and marketing presence, this is a great way to demonstrate ROI. Also, go beyond equipment content. Of course, a machine video is going to be great for potential customers, but people want to get to know your business inside out. So make sure you're taking videos and photos of your people and also diversifying your content. We also have more tips on social media best practices. So be sure to check that out.
