by tradesmeninsights | Aug 22, 2019 | Marketing Trends, Public Relations, Social Marketing, Tradesmen Insights
By Andrew Poulsen, Content Engineer, Sonnhalter
Social media has been an essential cog in every consumer brand’s marketing machine for more than a decade, but manufacturers in the trade industries have been slow to embrace the many marketing advantages that come with social media. I believe this comes from the perception that social media had originally only targeted the younger generations, and with the average age of the professional tradesmen skewing higher and higher, these manufacturers felt more comfortable using more traditional methods with their marketing dollars.
However, with Facebook and Twitter both grossing hundreds of millions of users, it quickly became clear that almost any brand had customers and prospective customers on these platforms. While many companies in the trades have adapted and are actively using Facebook and Twitter to connect and engage with its audience, there are plenty of other digital and social platforms whose features can be useful to companies in these industries. And with only so much time, effort and money available, brands should examine all of these platforms and their potential and effectiveness in reaching the professional tradesman.
Here is a rundown of some of the most popular social and digital tools out there, how they help reach the professional tradesman and how well they do it.
Facebook
Despite its well-documented PR hiccups, Facebook still casts a wider net than any other social media network…for now. Facebook has more than two billion users, and there are more than 65 million businesses using Facebook Pages. Because of the sheer volume of users, every company should be on Facebook to regularly promote new products, announce trade show appearances, share positive media coverage and company news, etc. (more…)
by tradesmeninsights | Apr 24, 2019 | Marketing Tips, Social Marketing, Tradesmen Insights
by Matt Sonnhalter, Vision Architect, Sonnhalter
For those of you who might be looking for ways to generate more awareness and conversations, generating new content may not be your only option. It makes sense to use other social media outlets as a way to get your existing messages out.
To achieve higher reader engagement you need to know your audience, their habits and pain points. Different social media outlets reach people differently. So whether you’re looking to repurpose existing data or convert outdated info, consider delivering them in smaller bite size pieces using alternative avenues.
Looking for ideas on how to do this? This article in Social Media Examiner, “19 Tools to Create Social Media Content,” shows you ways to repackage existing material and use other social media outlets to get the message out. They outline several ways and give examples of tools to use.
Here are some highlights that I think manufacturers could use in reaching the professional tradesman:
Present your business via video. Tell your story, not the corporate one, but the one that talks about ways to come up with solutions to help contractors do their jobs better.
Use infographics. They are 30 times more likely to be read than pure text. People like visuals and are more likely to share them.
Convert long form content into slides. Use existing presentations and break them up into smaller groups. You can use them as PowerPoint presentations or there are programs that will easily allow you to incorporate animation.
Use podcasts to share your voice. Podcasts are one of the fastest growing mediums for social media and it comes as no surprise. Interview contractors and talk about the newest technologies. I’m sure you can come up with a multitude of topics to cover.
by tradesmeninsights | Nov 13, 2013 | Marketing Tips
Other than me writing about stuff, there are ways that you can change it up and throw in some outside options about issues. The most common way is to ask someone who you know and respect to write a guest post for you and your target audience.
I have found that interviewing industry leaders, either in a Q/A format, or better yet, interviewing them for a podcast, has proven to be very beneficial and useful for our audience. Here are some steps that I use that might be helpful:
- Pick an appropriate topic that would be of interest to your audience.
- Identify an industry expert that would be willing to go on the record with an option.
- Focus the interview/podcast on a focused subject. General topics don’t normally do well.
- Get the questions to the interviewee before so they can contemplate their response.
- Get interviewee’s input in finalizing questions.
- I find that the fireside chat format (more conversational) works best.
- Put them at ease, especially when doing a podcast (tell them this isn’t live and if they want to re-answer a question, we can do that and edit it).
- Get them a copy prior to going live for final approval.
- Let them know when it does go live and supply them a link in case they want to promote it.
- Thank them. You never know when you want to reach out to them again.
Hope these ideas help.
by tradesmeninsights | Dec 12, 2012 | Marketing Tips
Podcasts are a very popular medium today and rightfully so. Podcasts can add another dimension to your audience as they can hear the voice behind the words.
You can also put them on iTunes which can give you access to more potential customers who are searching for info on key subjects by key words or phrases. Don’t be obsessed with the number of people who listen to your podcast but more on the quality of them.
There are several ways that you can use podcasts to get to the professional tradesmen. Here are a few to consider:
- You initiate them. You can talk about issues affecting the tradesmen and possible solutions they could consider.
- You can interview industry experts or association leaders that can talk about everything from legislative issues that might relate to your business in the future, or talk about things you can do now to improve your business.
- Be a guest on someone else’s podcast. There are bloggers out there that target the same types of audiences you do. Follow them for a while, and if you determine it would be a good fit, contact the blogger and ask if they would consider doing a podcast with you. You’ll need to lay out the reasons why you think you can contribute to their audience and propose several topics for discussions. Don’t know any bloggers? Go to iTunes and type in under podcasts some of the key words that you are associated with. You’d be surprised at the number of podcasts that already exist. Listen to a few and contact the originator.
Podcasts help set you apart and be known as not only an industry leader, but if you do your own podcasts and get guests to interview, it will also show that you are wired to the right people who can give a different view or experience that will help your listener. It’s a win-win for everyone.
Happy Podcasting!
