In the digital age, the shop floor isn't the only place that manufacturing puts in work. Today, many industrial companies are incredibly active on social media, sharing their stories and interacting with fans and followers.
If you want to get in on the conversation, or see how a manufacturing company can effectively leverage social media as a sales channel, these are the accounts you want to follow.
Facebook continues to be the dominant social media platform, even despite recent news of the network flubbing video advertising metrics. This social media giant has grown into a space for businesses to market themselves through online interactions with prospects and customers alike.
With a 23 % increase year-over-year, Facebook has 80 million small and medium sized business pages listed. If you ask us, that's a whole lot of companies to engage with. And just like the increased viewership of videos on YouTube, according to Facebook's user behavior studies, people are 5x more likely to gaze at a video post on the platform than a static image.
Here are some companies who get our thumbs up for using Facebook right.
Rockwell Automation, Inc.
With just over 160,000 followers, Rockwell uses Facebook to promote diverse content with videos, blogs, and a perfect place to promote the events the company has coming up. Rockwell uses visual creatives to tell their story and engage with followers.
UNIDO — United Nations Industrial Development Organization
What’s great about the UNIDO Facebook page is its ability to stay on brand. Upon clicking onto the page, your hit with a bold profile picture and a cover image that has powerful brand messaging that details what the page is all about.
United Steelworkers
The United Steelworkers Facebook page does a great job of posting individual campaigns, which are categorized easily with hashtags. For example, with elections coming up they’re promoting the companies political program through employee posts around the hashtag, #USWVotes.
Thyssenkrupp
With over 200,000 followers, Thyssenkrupp often posts content from its blog and followers gain a real understanding of the kind of culture that the company boasts.
GE
Who doesn’t know GE? This power giant is the epitome of what we should all be doing on our Facebook pages. GE posts diverse content and media that is almost always timely and newsworthy.
With video marketing becoming an increasingly essential part of any content marketing strategy, establishing your channel on YouTube is a requirement for any business. With over 1.9 billion monthly active logged-in users, it should come as no surprise that YouTube is the world's second largest search engine and the second most trafficked site behind Google. Hence, you should consider expanding your SEO strategy...
Building an audience of potential buyers on YouTube is crucial and should be a part of your brand strategy. Whether you're new to the video world, or already obtain a large subscriber base, here are some great examples of industrial brands using YouTube to increase business.
IBM
The IBM YouTube channel does a great job with a lot of things, but something that stands out is the use of testimonial videos. Short testimonial videos help the company build credibility.
Tesla
Tesla has a plethora of video content on its YouTube channel, but there’s one type of video that stands out from the rest. The abundance of product demonstration videos allows Tesla to show the benefits and proper use of its products and technologies.
Modern CNC Machines
This YouTube channel stands for everything satisfying and interesting. The account is not attached to any specific brand, but it’s content is worth sharing and talking about. See for yourself.
Thomas
Want to keep up with the latest trends in sourcing and learn new ways to grow your business? Thomas has you covered on its YouTube channel, where you can get the latest Thomas Index Report and actionable marketing tips.
Instagram isn’t just for individuals anymore; it’s a platform that helps brands, businesses, and companies humanize content, sell products, and connect with like-minded individuals through media. We're talking a whopping 71% of businesses in the United States using Instagram. Yes, it's very clear how Instagram can be used for B2C marketing, but B2B brands are also seeing success on this growing social platform.
More businesses are embracing user-generated content, showing off its employees and culture, and even showcasing customer success stories. All this content can land your business on the map of buyers — especially when using targeted hashtags.
Below are the top profiles we recommend following for some “manufascinating” content.
@manufascinating
@engineering_enigma
@sheetmetalfab
@teslamotors
@3m
@ibm
@cnc.worship
@badassmachinists
@3dhubs
@maschinenbaude
Hashtags are a great way to follow topics, trends and different posts related to specific categories. Here are the top hashtags we follow on Instagram:
#manufascinating
#manufacturing
#instamachinist
#machinist
#engineering
#3dprinting
Last but not least, Twitter is another great platform to promote your business and engage with prospects. However, this is an extremely fast-paced environment. According to Wiselytics, “the shelf life of one tweet is four times shorter than anything you post on Facebook.”
Whether you're looking for the latest news in industry, retweeting a hysterical meme, or even providing customer service, Twitter is another great place for your business to be. In fact, 75% of B2B businesses market themselves on Twitter.
With 20,000+ followers, KUKA Robotics tweets live from industry specific events, and the company’s personality shows through the tone on their twitter feed.
Manufacturing Day — @mfgday
Everything manufacturing. All in one spot.
Plastics Today — @plasticstoday
Plastics Today stands as the global community for plastics professionals. This profile follows and posts about specific hashtags including: #injectionmolding, #resin, #plastics, #blowmolding, #thermoforming, and more.IndustryWeek - @IndustryWeek
IndustryWeek — @IndustryWeek
Industry week is a great profile for manufacturing business leaders as it explores the issues, strategies, trends and technologies that build more competitive and profitable companies.
SpaceX — @SpaceX
Who doesn’t love all things space related? SpaceX tweets live updates about rocketship landings, liftoffs, successful deployments, and awesome projects the team is working on. Although the average shop floor may not be as cool as a SAOCOM 1A orbiting the earth, this profile proves that content is queen.
If your manufacturing company doesn’t have a presence on social media, it is time to get started. Take a page out of the playbook of the companies above to give yourself a head start. You can also connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn to join in on the conversations we're having with suppliers and buyers every day.
If you have questions about finding your company's place on social media, check out our eBook, The Complete Guide To Social Media Marketing For Manufacturers.