This is the second installment in our on-going series on Social Media for Manufacturing.  This is an extension of a recent seminar Web Marketing Manager Carmen Fontana gave on the topic for the Cleveland manufacturing association, WIRE-net. While geared towards industrial companies, many of the principles can be applied to businesses of all types.

There are tons and tons of social media channels out there.  From the common to the not so common, it can be overwhelming understanding the differences between all the different platforms.  

Here are a few of the most common social media outlets used by manufacturers:

• Blogs – An extension of your website, blogs allow you to share extended thoughts, ideas and commentary about your business and industry.  They are usually between 300 and 500 words, which requires a serious time commitment in order to be produced on a regular basis.  If you can find the time, they can really be worth it.  The content produced adds to the usability of your site and positions your company as a thought leader.  And it is great for search engine optimization!
• Facebook – The biggest social media platform of them all is seeing a lot of action from manufacturing companies.  Since many marketers already have a personal account, it is an easy transition to setting up a corporate one for their company.  That said, Facebook is not always the best route for industrial companies.  One, there is still quite a few companies that block Facebook on their internal networks, leaving your company’s corporate Facebook page inaccessible.  Second, there is a perception that Facebook is a “playground” of sorts and not appropriate for B2B companies.  This may change as more and more B2B companies break ground on Facebook.
• Twitter – A “microblogging” site, Twitter users converse in 140 character “tweets”.  Since it is less time intensive than blogs, many companies are turning to Twitter to converse with their “followers”.  However, it is still fledging in the industrial world and only time will tell if it gets universally adopted by this group.
• LinkedIn – The more “professional” social networking platform, LinkedIn allows individuals and companies to connect and share information in a more formal atmosphere.  No vacation pictures or videos of funny dog tricks here!
• YouTube – This well-known video sharing site is growing in popularity among industrial marketers because it allows companies to show (versus tell about) their product.  This is especially important where product installations may be particularly large or custom.  Additionally, videos cut down the language barriers that many international manufacturers contend with.  As the old adage goes, a picture (or in this case – a video) is worth a thousand words!

Next installment: How does Social Media fit into your manufacturing marketing plan?

This is the first installment in our on-going series on Social Media for Manufacturing.  This is an extension of a recent seminar Web Marketing Manager Carmen Fontana gave on the topic for the Cleveland manufacturing association, WIRE-net. While geared towards industrial companies, many of the principles can be applied to businesses of all types.

What is Social Media?

The words “Social Media” are often intimidating to manufacturers. There are a lot of fancy (and sometimes conflicting) definitions out there.  So let’s strip away the marketing speak and see what the dictionary says:

“Forms of electronic communication (such as Web sites for social networking and microblogging) through which users create online communities to share information, ideas, personal messages, and other content (as videos)” - Meriam Webster

So simply speaking, Social Media is nothing more than communication that just happens to be on the web.  There’s nothing mystical about that!

Why Social Media?

• Communication: Social Media gives you a forum tolet your constituents know what you are doing and why.
• Brand Development: An extension of your tradional marketing, Social Mediais another medium to share your message about what your company stands for.
• Relationship Building: Manufacturers tend to be more national and international than other businesses.  Social Media allows you to connect to people around the globe you may not have an opportunity to otherwise.
• Thought Leadership:  Know one knows your product (or marketspace) better than you.  Leverage Social Media to share what you know.
• Knowledge Gathering: What’s happening in your industry?  What’s happening with your competitors?  What are people saying about your products?  Social Media allows you to listen in to these conversations.
• Search Engine Optimization: Social Media signals are now being used to influence traditional SEO.  Expect for Social Media’s influence on Google and Bing’s rankings to continue to grow.

Next installment: An overview of the most common Social Media platforms for manufacturers

June is shaping up to be a busy month for the WRIS team.  A quick rundown of where we’ll be and when:

June 2: WIRE-net Rountable on Social Media
Led by WRIS Web Marketing Manager Carmen Fontana

• Description: LinkedIn. Twitter. Facebook. YouTube. Among the many choices for social media marketing, what makes sense for manufacturers? This workshop will help you identify appropriate social media outlets and develop a strategy, as well as expose you tools to make the process simpler and less time-consuming. Part of WIRE-Net's Roundtable Series presented by US Bank, this event has been designed with the manufacturer in mind, so don't miss it!

• Location: Summers Rubber Company, 12111 Berea Road, Cleveland, OH 44111

• Registration Info: http://bit.ly/mOM5pL

June 8: Columbus Chamber of Commerce Business2Business Network Expo
Make sure you stop by our booth and pick up our legendary GROW kits!

• Description: Connect with the Columbus region's top businesses, see their products, services and innovations, and learn how you can do business with them.

• Location:
  Greater Columbus Convention Center
  Battelle Grand
  400 North High Street
  Columbus, Ohio 43215

• Registration: http://bit.ly/iwwojJ

June 26-29: International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) Conference
Meet up with WRIS Client Services Director John Strathern

• Description:
  The International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) is the premier membership association for educators and education leaders engaged in advancing excellence in learning and teaching through innovative and effective uses of technology. ISTE is the trusted source in education technology for professional development, knowledge generation, advocacy, and leadership for innovation.
  ISTE’s annual conference and exposition, formerly NECC, is one of the world’s premier education technology events. ISTE is also home to the NETS, education technology standards that deliver a roadmap for global digital-age learning skills for students, teachers, and administrators.

• Location: Pennsylvania Convention Center, Philadelphia

• Registration: http://bit.ly/8ZvPbN

During the week of August 8-13, teams of students from nine Ohio universities gathered at Baldwin-Wallace College to participate in The Entrepreneurship Education Consortium's "Immersion Week" program.

Each student team gathered on the first day to develop an idea for a business or product and spent the rest of the week putting together a business plan and presentation for the final day.

On Wednesday, the team was visited by Carmen Fontana, Web Services Manager at WRIS, who presented the What, Why and How of Web Marketing with a focus on new businesses.

On Friday, Charlie Meyers and Bonny Lafave attended the final presentations and awards ceremony. The winning team was from Hiram College with a product concept for flavored straws. WRIS presented the team with a free inPHASE Introductory Site and a full year of free web hosting.

The winning students were excited and overwhelmed with the prospect of their new business venture and will be coached by the EEC's representatives on their college campus.

In today's tech-savvy marketing community, SEO, PPC and Social Media are common buzz words in the industry. There are endless blog posts, articles and webinars on maximizing your ROI and perfecting these areas of business, but for those who are completely new to the Web Marketing arena, we want to provide a quick and easy guide to get you started.

1.     Why should you consider web marketing?

After you put your time, effort and money into creating or redesigning a website - it is likely that getting potential clients and customers to your site is important to you. Instead of waiting for customers to find you, web marketing will help you find them when they are in the buying mindset. The costs of web marketing are much lower than traditional advertising and there are more measurable results. For example, a Google AdWords advertisement can cost as little as $0.25; once placed, you can determine how many people viewed and acted on your ad.

2.     What is web marketing?

Search Engine Optimization: Often called "organic" or "SEO," this type of web marketing is represented in the listings that appear on the left hand side of Google, outside of the yellow Sponsored Ads box. The position that your company holds is dependent on 100+ factors; your goal is to optimize your website to satisfy as many of those factors as possible to boost your organic ranking. This can be done through selecting keywords and using them in web copy, increasing credible inbound links, submitting sites to search engines and ensuring that back end items like ALT tags and H1 headers are optimized. Not only does a higher ranking give you credibility, but once you secure a comfortable ranking it takes a long time lose it. With SEO, potential customers are actively looking for your product or service and you have the ability to be at the top of the list when they search.

Pay Per Click Marketing: PPC is often considered the opposite of SEO. It is represented in the yellow Sponsored Ads box at the top of the page, and down the right hand column. You select the keywords you want to advertise your company on, and ads only appear when that keyword is entered into the search engine. When your ad does appear, you only pay when someone clicks on it. Your advertisement position depends on your bid and past click through history, so it is important to choose relevant keywords and ad copy. Companies like PPC because it is a quick way to advertise on the web, it offers good visibility and there is complete control over advertising costs when you set budgets for your campaigns. After setting up your account on Google, Bing or Yahoo! (which will soon merge with Bing) you can select keywords and write ad copy. As you move forward and tweak your campaign, you should shoot for a position between 1-3.9 and pay attention to click through rates.

Social Media: Social Media is essentially a variety of websites and tools that allow you to share information, connect with other users, and increase brand awareness. Some common avenues of social media are Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn and Blogging. The benefits of social media include the ability to communicate with existing or potential customers, develop your brand, and establish yourself as a thought leader in your industry. Getting started it easy, just sign up for accounts with a consistent username, determine your goals, create a strategy and begin publishing content that is consistent with your strategy and meaningful to followers. It is important to interact with others through various methods on each site. On Facebook you can "like" companies and post on user's profile walls. On Twitter you can reply, retweet and use hash tags (#) to engage in conversations. On LinkedIn, you can follow companies and respond to posted questions. You should continually monitor what is being said about your brand, and engage in discussions with people who are talking about your company, or the industry it is in.

3.     How do I begin web marketing?

There are a few strategies for beginning web marketing. Companies can choose to do all work internally, hire an agency to do the work for them, or a combination of the two. We recommend the combination, especially when it comes to social media. The people representing your brand should have an in depth knowledge of your organization, which only comes from being immersed in it. In order to determine what is right for your company, ask yourself:

• How much time do we have?

Typically social media is the most time consuming avenue of web marketing, with SEO close behind. PPC Advertising requires the least amount of time because once it is set up, only minor maintenance is required.

• How much money do we have?

In general, you will find that PPC Advertising is the most expensive, since you pay for every click on one of your ads. You can always set budgets, however, to control these costs. SEO requires ongoing maintenance, which can introduce costs for items like directory submissions. Social media is likely to be the least expensive option, as networking sites are free to use.

• How soon do we need results?

The quickest option to get results from your web marketing efforts will be PPC Advertising. To set up an account and post ads, you only need a couple hours to start receiving leads. Social media demands more time to build a following and establish your company as a leader. SEO efforts need to be spread out over a longer period of time so search engines don't perceive the website as spam. In order to increase your organic ranking, a few changes should be made each month, rather than all at once.  

With this brief overview of web marketing, you now have the ability to select what areas you would be most beneficial for your company. All industries, companies and customers have different needs, and they like to be communicated with in different ways. Make sure you have a firm understanding of these things before diving in to any of these web marketing tactics.