Social Strategies That Work for Manufacturers

Companies that use social media marketing effectively show prominent displays of success. However, to those who are unfamiliar with its capabilities, it can be difficult to understand how it can lend itself to business. Here is a metaphor that can help: social media is a digital multipurpose room. In many ways, being on social media is like walking into that one unspecified, enigmatic room in the office – sometimes it serves as a gathering place to connect with others. Other times, it can even be the glass window outside your favorite store on the high street.

It is evident that the use of social media is no longer uniquely personal. Companies that use social media marketing can benefit greatly and engage with their customers through it. This is because more than half of the global population is traceable to social media. With the ability to reach that many people, what business wouldn’t want to take advantage of it? The better you are at reaching your customers, the better chance you will have at making sales. It really is that simple!

Furthermore, let’s take a deeper dive into the bridge between social media and marketing. In this article, we will review companies that have flourished from using social media marketing. As a result, this will help us consider what manufacturing companies can do to reap the same rewards.

Social Media and Marketing

A Further Explanation

Let’s continue with the metaphor of social media above and expand. It should be noted that it is not just the room that is so important, but also the door that opens into it. This is because social media can come by means of many different platforms. From photo-sharing Instagram, to career-advancing LinkedIn. Additionally, each specific platform can also be called a social networking device. In summary, social media is any digital tool that allows its users to create and share content quickly and publicly.

Its Marketing Capabilities

Consumers all around the world are already linked together via social media. When people gather together, they discuss all sorts of topics. What topic does your family talk about most at the Thanksgiving table? For many, it is their Black Friday shopping plans or past experiences. Similarly, many people come together through social media to make decisions about what they want to purchase. Platforms like Facebook or Instagram are perfect for users to locate instant reviews on products, conduct price comparisons, and even see what their favorite public figures are buying. At minimum, each platform allows customers to engage with companies and explore their products. This is why companies that use social media marketing are set up for success.

Above all, we hope that you can see the marketing opportunities that exist all because of social media’s existing structure and design. Since online consumers represent 59% of the world’s population, it is logical that any business would want to hop on the social media train. There are a plethora of ways to use social media as a channel for marketing. Some of the prominent ones include: familiarizing the public with your brand, better understand competitors, increase your ROI, and build relationships with your customers.

Companies That Use Social Media Effectively

Undoubtedly, a social media marketing is not easy to get right every time. Like any other arena of marketing, there are those that have refined their approach and others that have yet to rise to the occasion. With this in mind, let’s take a deeper look into some of the companies whose social media strategy is earning them high accolades.

Kylie Cosmetics

The beauty brand Kylie Cosmetics, founded by reality TV star Kylie Jenner, is renowned for using social media marketing effectively. Per a study by BrandTotal, Kylie Cosmetics generates the most social media engagement within the cosmetic brand world and spends nothing on paid social ads.

According to the study, 82% of Kylie Cosmetics’ social media marketing was spent on Instagram. Instagram continues to be the most popular platform for all social media brands. 11% of Kylie Cosmetics marketing is spent on Facebook and 6% on Twitter. To reiterate, all social media marketing that the company implements are non-paid, organic posts. Kylie Cosmetics’ success in social media marketing is attributed to the cultural prestige of its founder. Kylie Jenner’s Instagram profile has over 248 million followers. By connecting with those already invested in her life, Kylie’s company has seen extraordinary profits.

Playstation

According to a 2020 article by Econsultancy, Sony’s PlayStation is the most followed brand on Twitter with a whopping 18.7 million followers. Between 2014 to 2019, PlayStation added 12 million followers.

PlayStation has honed its social media strategy through its diverse activity on the platform. Its account continuously posts a range of content to engage with its fans. Some of the kinds of media it posts are new game trailers, gaming footage, or even streaming events. In addition to this, PlayStation has even utilized social media strategy to kickstart its marketing campaigns; PlayStation generated support on Twitter for its #PlayAtHome initiative. The campaign encouraged users to stay at home and download two featured games for free. Consequently, more than 10 million people participated in the initiative.

Chipotle

As you have seen thus far, each company’s social strategy has been enhanced by its knowledge of a particular platform. This is the case for Chipotle and TikTok. TikTok specializes in short-form video sharing. Chipotle was one of the first major brands to give TikTok a stab. Now, its investment has paid off greatly for the restaurant chain. Most of Chipotle’s content on the site involves a trend of TikTok-specific challenges.

Chipotle was one of the first brands to take a chance with TikTok, but it’s an investment that’s paid off for the restaurant chain. Its first, #ChipotleLidFlip, generated over 240 million views. Similarly, the #GuacDance, was even more successful with 430 million video views in just six days.

TikTok in particular engages a younger demographic of audiences. Due to Chipotle’s creation of fun and unique content on the app, its been able to maintain relevance amongst a young crowd. In its announcements for Q3 of 2019, Chipotle disclosed digital sales growth of 88% and revenue growth of 14.6% to $1.4 billion. This rise resulted from the contributions of its social strategy.

Content Marketing for Manufacturers

Content marketing involves creating, publishing, and distributing online material. These can include anything from videos, blogs, or even social media posts. Reasonably, aside from websites, social media platforms are the other most opportune locations to display content.

What Makes Content Marketing Different for Manufacturers?

Content marketing for manufacturers continues to be a challenging endeavor for many companies. In fact, fewer than one in four manufacturing companies report having an actual content strategy. When thinking of content strategy, many consumers think of brands that have “flashy” or “exciting” products/services to unveil. Unfortunately, this expectation is not the same for the manufacturing industry. In contrast, the space is filled with products or services that many would probably consider “boring” or “plain.” Therefore, creating engaging content is often a daunting challenging for manufacturing marketers. Here are some additional factors influencing this challenge:

  1. Complex Products – Manufacturing brands tend to sell fairly complicated products that require a particular knowledge to use.
  2. Audiences Expect Expertise – Potential customers of manufacturers are not looking to be “hooked” on a product. In general, they are entering the space with expectations. Audiences want efficiency and expertise from manufacturers before they can trust them with their money.
  3. Longer Buying Cycles – Manufacturing marketing is B2B (business-to-business). Therefore, the buying cycle is inherently longer.
  4. Specialized Niches – Many manufacturers provide products for people in specific niche groups. These products are particular for a handful of uncommon situations.
  5. Marketing Information – Research is a very important component of marketing. Acquiring the information related to niches can be difficult without extensive experience in the industry.

Tips to Enhance Content and Social Media Marketing for Manufacturing Companies

It is evident that manufacturing brands are uniquely challenged with content and social media obstacles. However, considering the following tips may help manufacturing companies use social media marketing effectively.

Begin by Listening

Before creating or posting something to social media, make sure you listen to what people are already saying. Knowing what others are saying about your company or industry will help inform the way you create and engage with others on social media. Consider utilizing tools such as socialmention.com or creating a Buyer Insight Report to do this.

Create and Share Useful Content

This goes back to something we mentioned in the earlier section. Manufacturers are selling complex and niche products. This can be misleading to potential new buyers. Therefore, create and share content that will educate your audience and make their lives easier.

Ask Your Audience to Contribute

This is one of the best and easiest ways to develop social media content. For example, Hampton Creek, a food manufacturing company, tweeted its audience asking them to share tricks for recycling/reusing empty product jars.

Join Online Communities

Join social media groups that span all manufacturing industries. Engaging with other companies will offer a great opportunity to network with other professionals. This can help you brainstorm new strategies and best practices.

Connect with Influencers

Our culture is full of thought leaders and experts. While creating and sharing content, keep in mind who already has a strong social media following. Seek out the Kylie Jenners of the internet. Connecting with them will help you tap into their audiences.

Combine with Other Marketing Strategies

For enhanced results, your social media marketing strategy should link with other content marketing like newsletters or blogs. Make an effort to infuse these channels of communication in as many ways as possible. Perhaps consider combining social media strategies with paid ads to further boost your posts.

Track Your Progress

Monitor your progress as much as possible. This will give you an idea of which content is yielding a successful ROI. There are a number of free measurement tools to help do this.

FAQs:

  • What companies are successful at social media?
  • How does social media affect marketing?
  • What makes manufacturing marketing different?
  • What is the best social media strategy for manufacturing?
  • Who are some companies that have used social strategies efficiently?

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