Social media marketing focuses on using social media platforms to promote a brand, product, service or idea. In current times, social media coincides directly with a person’s everyday life, making it one of the best places for a brand to reach its target audience. Therefore, even more traditional industries such as the trades can benefit from incorporating modern social media marketing. From sharing and creating content to engaging with users, creating marketing campaigns and more, the goal of social media marketing is to drive engagement, increase sales and to connect with the target audience.
Below are some of the key roles that social media marketing plays in 2025:
Brand Awareness
Brand awareness is crucial for creating trust between a brand and its customers. Social media is often where customers are first introduced to a brand, so it is important to form a strong and positive brand presence.
Some brand awareness tactics that are used in social media marketing include video ads, memes and viral trends. Posting short-form ads on high-engagement platforms like TikTok, Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts are effective for brand storytelling. Engagement can also be increased by a brand participating in a social media trend, effectively increasing brand awareness.
Brands in the trades industry such as plumbing, HVAC, construction and more can participate in these social media trends while simultaneously showcasing their expertise. For example, a plumbing company can put their own twist on a social media trend to align it more with their brand and target audience.
Customer Engagement
Once a brand has strong awareness, it is important for them to implement customer engagement to build relationships and increase loyalty with their target audience. Engagement algorithms on social media platforms prioritize content with interactions, rewarding a brands content with heavier circulation.
Brands can engage with customers on social media by responding to comments and reactions, hosting real-time Q&As on livestream or posting polls and questionnaires for customer feedback. This can be especially useful for trades companies, specifically in terms of customer loyalty and brand competitors.
Sales
Social media marketing provides a simple way for brands to increase their sales. Brands can create shoppable posts on platforms such as TikTok, Pinterest and Instagram where users can buy directly from the post. Brands can also team up with ambassadors and influencers who can post tracked links within posts and bios. These tracked links allow for the influencer to earn commission while increasing the brands exposure.
For brands whose sales are obtained mainly through distribution, social media marketing is still useful. Equipping distributors with social media content that can be shared and then reshared can help with sales efforts. Brands can also create targeted posts and social media campaigns that highlight their distributors.
Social Media Monitoring
To understand trends, track engagement, conduct social listening and more, brands can use social media marketing tools such as social listening tools, polls and platform specific social media analytics tools. Social listening tools can track brand mentions, hashtags, keywords and more while social media analytics tools can track key metrics like reach, engagement and follower growth. In the trades industry, being able to monitor brand mentions is important because people often ask for recommendations on social platforms, brands can then quickly respond with help and answers.
In using these tools, brands can receive real-time consumer insights to help them with their future social media marketing strategies.
