What is social media management, and how does it work for an industrial company?
Social media management means running accounts to a plan, regularly and with measurement. For an industrial company the aim is for buyers, candidates and partners to see the company’s production, products and people on a regular basis.
Why social media is different for a B2B company
The followers of a machine maker or a steel service centre are buyers, engineers, dealers and employees. This audience wants to see production, quality and expertise rather than promotional posts. So the content comes from the plant, product applications and fairs, and LinkedIn and YouTube lead as channels.
Strategy comes before posting
Which audience, on which channel, with which themes and how often is decided in a written strategy. Themes such as product introductions, executive views, recruitment and fair announcements are spread over a monthly calendar, so the accounts work like a trade channel that publishes to a schedule rather than now and then.
One shoot day produces weeks of content
A planned shoot day produces several weeks of content in one go: short videos from the production line, product detail photos, an executive interview and team portraits. Before the shoot, a shot list is prepared from the monthly calendar, so it is clear which post and which channel each image is for. The same shoot gives landscape edits for LinkedIn and vertical cuts for short video.
Reaching the right people with ads
Organic posts reach existing followers; reaching new buyers needs advertising. LinkedIn ads can be targeted by sector, job title and company size. The campaign budget and goal are set up front, and the results show in the monthly report.
Online advertisingMeasuring and updating the plan
At the end of each month reach, engagement and follower change are reported, and what worked feeds into next month’s plan. Social media can also be treated as part of the year-round media plan, together with other channels.
Media planning