Social Media Explained

Social Media for Industrial Distribution

 

I think we’re all familiar with Social Media, well the stats say most American’s spend on average 37 minutes a day using it, which essentially making it the most dominant form of online activity, even ahead of email.  Interestingly, the trend hasn’t traditionally been utilized by businesses in the Industrial Distribution Channel.  Why not?  I mean with more people in the world having access to internet than they do to clean water, it should intrigue anyone with a sales bone in their body.  Now, there are some players that are capitalizing on this strategy and obviously there is plenty of room in this space.  The beauty of this channel is the main investment that it takes, is TIME!!!!  Most gurus in marketing state that the time to start marketing on social media was yesterday.  Below we will breakdown the main resources that are available and how you can use them to potentially increase your bottom line. 

 

1. Facebook

The elephant in the room is Facebook, with over 2 billion users and growing, this is where most people start.  How does a distributor use this tool to their advantage?  Establish a company page and use this to post promotions, training videos, or even interesting industry articles that will grow your network.  Now, with the addition of Facebook Live you can create live video that you can invite your followers to attend your broadcast which allows you to give product training, demonstration, Q&A Session, etc. that your audience can engage in. 

 

2. Twitter

This tool allows you to create a short text updates (of 140 characters or fewer), along with videos, images, links, polls and more.  You can easily interact with your followers by mentioning their usernames in your posts, so Twitter is an easy way to connect. 

 

3. LinkedIn

LinkedIn is arguably the most widely used in the business segment with roughly 74% of professionals having an active account.  This resource allows you to connect with colleagues, receive referrals, locate contacts that are connected to a prospect, etc.  Like all of the other mentioned accounts you also can share videos, articles, pictures, etc. 

4. Instagram

This is the newest kid on the block, in regard to being a business resource.  The process is you start an account and follow users that you want to connect with, in hopes of them following you.  To cast a larger “net” you add #hashtags in your description that are related to your topic, so that your photo is cataloged and discovered by a user.  Historically it has been used by users to share photos with friends and family, but in the last few years it’s also became a way for businesses to connect with a targeted user audience.  There is the ability for businesses to sponsor an ad, so that can market to a broader audience to gain more followers. 

 

            These are just a few of the social media resources that are available, but there are many more and new ones are being developed.  You might be thinking this is a lot to manage, but there are great tools that can streamline your updates, such as Hootsuite, Sprout Social, and Buffer.  Using these social media resources not only give you another channel to market to, but the added presence helps establish your brand and improves your SEO. 

 

We hope this article helps you get a better understanding of how social media could help your business.  If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact our office and we will assist the best we can!