Manufacturer of Hydraulic Presses
Consistent marketing is essential for small- to medium-size machine shops, providing your shop with a consistent stream of new customers. It is the one effective method of overriding the worry that your one big customer might walk out the door.
One of the cheapest and easiest forms of marketing is using social media. Setting up accounts for your business and posting to them regularly lets you connect with potential customers 24/7.
Here is a look at what social media can do for your shop and where to get started
The goal of your posts on social media is not to sell. What you are trying to do is to establish a connection. Keep that in mind and you will use it successfully.
The biggest thing social media can help you with is establishing relationships with potential clients. People respond positively to the soft approach. Getting a new customer might be an indirect outcome, but it’s not your main objective.
On social media, you share information in your network, ask questions and answer them. People reciprocate and a relationship starts. If people have questions about hydraulic presses, you can answer them. If they mention a problem that you know your C-frame press can handle easily, you can explain how it will solve their dilemma.
Even if the people you interact with online don’t need your services, they are likely to suggest you to friends and business owners in their networks as someone with the answers. As the word gets out, you get more customers.
As people express an interest in your shop, you can collect their email addresses and put them on your subscriber list. Then you can send targeted newsletters about new presses you have bought, your employees, new services and successful jobs you have finished. Instead of cold calling customers, you can send them interesting articles and updates that can prompt them to use your shop.
Using social media also helps how well your website ranks in the search engine results. When people search for Hydraulic Presses Specialist, you want to be on page one of the results. How much difference does it make? If you are in the number one position, you will get clicked more than one-third of the time. Overall, the first 10 spots on page 1 get almost 90% of all clicks.
LinkedIn is the place to begin. This is the most business-to-business oriented of all platforms. LinkedIn lets you create a profile for you as a professional in the industry, as well as a page for your shop.
It is easy to search for other people in the industry, including machine shops, equipment manufacturers, suppliers in the field and, of course, customers. If you want to specialize in the certain industry like automobiles or aircraft, you can easily research the people to target and contact them directly.
If you have finished up a major contract, LinkedIn makes it easy to brag! You can easily post photos of your work, establishing a portfolio that will generate interest and leads.
After you have LinkedIn up and running, add Google+. This is an excellent way to get more visibility since it is Google’s own platform. Google+ has fewer users, but it helps you search rankings and makes your machine shop easy to find.
Post updates and photos of your current work. Fill out the contact information completely to makes it as simple as possible for interested businesses to contact you.
Companies are using social media more and more each year. It pays to leverage your marketing with LinkedIn and Google+. Posting regularly will attract notice and result in a steady stream of new leads for your machine shop.
