social media

In this age of social media, industries are looking to build their brand presence digitally. Customers are increasingly moving service interactions online, with people nowadays being short of time and looking for easier ways to purchase. Digital businesses can engage their audiences, undertake trend analysis, research sentiment regarding its products, identify industry influencers and conduct competitor comparisons. These trends present a massive opportunity for manufacturers to stand out as a service differentiator as there are techniques by which manufacturing brands can leverage social media to reach B2B buyers and future proof its supply chains. This blog will dive deeper into this interesting topic with relevant use cases.

Shifting To Full Online Customer Service

The value of data has been listed as a top manufacturing technology trend. The inherent high visibility of social media platforms underscores the critical importance of delivering exceptional customer experiences based on data and harnessing their potential to substantially enhance a company’s reputation. Transforming social media activity into a comprehensive customer service channel is not always straightforward but with a well-crafted strategy, prioritising response times and cultivating a consistent tone of voice, brands can provide a meaningful experience for customers. For instance, James Hardie, a large manufacturer, has renovated its social strategy by wholeheartedly embracing customer care via social media. The company uses monitoring tools such as Sprout Social to increase knowledge about their audience and optimise customer care operations with a single line of sight on customer sentiment.

Questions For Thought

Some questions which manufacturers need to ask themselves regarding social media trends of the audience are as follows: –

• What is being said about your brand on social media? (such as the social media chatter on the environmentally invasive Scarborough project)
• What is the general sentiment of the conversation?
• Where in Australia or globally is the conversation happening? What print and online publishers are promoting quality editorial around your vertical?
• Who are the most active individuals and groups within the conversation – on and offline?
• What resource organisations have engaged online communities? What led to their success?

Social media monitoring tools such as Hootsuite, Sprout Social, Brandwatch, and Brand24 are useful starting points for streamlining and managing customer interactions on social media platforms.

Transforming Social Stories

By crafting compelling content, manufacturers can drive social media engagement, expand reach, and encourage audience interaction and sharing. Brand social display can leverage brand benefits to tell the brand story. Facebook & Instagram carousels can expand on a brand’s story with slightly longer messaging and multiple images. Prospects can be retargeted with product features or price-led messaging. As an example, Avery Dennison, a major pipe fabrication company is taking full advantage of video to attract its audience. Fully loading its YouTube channel with product deep-dives, how-to videos or employer brand clips has proved to be a winning strategy with the brand amassing 26,000 subscribers.

Ending Comments

To help drive successful digital programs, B2B marketers need to translate overarching goals, such as creating positive brand association and affinity, into specific measurable online actions. Examples can include acquiring supporters to social channels, acquiring email addresses for outbound marketing efforts, or engaging broader online communities to independently disseminate the firm’s message. The major takeaway is that there is a new customer and stakeholder journey in the increasing impact social media networks have on purchase decision and behaviours. Different brands may need to use different social media platforms and a strategy that is fit for purpose – hence it is vital to understand who the brand is trying to reach else the message will likely get lost in translation!