Quick Tips for Manufacturers to Get Started on LinkedIn
by Vin DiGioia
As more and more manufacturers look to the digital landscape for marketing opportunities, “social media” is often one of those areas that consistently pops up as the place to be. However, trying to decide which platform makes the most sense for a manufacturing brand can often be tricky. Twitter? Facebook? TikTok? Where do you begin??? Well, when in doubt, a logical first step in social media for manufacturers is LinkedIn.
So what exactly is LinkedIn? Some popular explanations include:
- “It is the place you post your resume when you’re looking for a job…”
- “Where you go to find out what the competition is doing…”
- “How you find out if a job applicant is lying on the resume they submitted…”
- “Tracking down former colleagues/classmates/old flames…”
Well, it’s pretty much all of the above – and a whole lot more! According to their own “About” page, LinkedIn is the “world’s largest professional network with more than 830 million members in more than 200 countries and territories worldwide.” Simply put: for today’s manufacturers that are looking for ways to increase brand awareness and expand lead generation efforts, LinkedIn offers significant opportunity for growth. Here are a few ways that your manufacturing brand can get started on LinkedIn, quickly and easily:
1.) Complete Your Company Page
This is an important first step because this is how people may first be introduced to your brand. When considering what to put up there, start with the basics:
- Upload a compelling profile image and banner
- Write a well-optimized “About Us” section to tells the story of company story, while also demonstrating the value of your products or services. (Best practice would be to keep this under 2,000 characters)
- Add your website URL
2.) Make Sure Your Staff Is Connected
It sounds simple, but you’d be surprised how many employees don’t have their personal LinkedIn profiles properly associated with their employers’ official LinkedIn pages. All it takes is a simple email asking all current employees to spend 5 minutes and make sure that make sure that their LinkedIn profile is updated. Just by taking this simple step, you are immediately increasing your brand’s visibility, as it can now be seen by anyone and everyone connected to each member of your staff on LinkedIn.
3.) Post Original Content
Sharing general articles is great, but the quickest way to demonstrate the true value of your company (read: “thought leadership”) is by writing and posting original content. Start simple by having your staff produce blog posts and other long and short form content. From there you can move on to more labor-intensive assets like videos, white papers, and infographics. The idea that “the more you put in, the more you will get out” really does apply here, but start small and build your way up – or hire a b2b marketing agency to help you produce content.
- PRO TIP: Don’t forget the hashtags! Including relevant hashtags will not only allow you to associate your content with ongoing conversations, but it will also show your readers which topics you are writing about.
4.) Advertise
Linkedin has a fairly robust platform with multiple advertising options that can be chosen based on your objective. From brand awareness, to lead generation, to job applicants, LinkedIn has something for companies of all sizes – and more importantly, budgets of all sizes.
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Social media offers manufacturers significant opportunities for brand expansion and lead generation. If you are considering social media as part of your marketing mix, a good place to start is on LinkedIn. If you need some assistance putting together a social media marketing plan for your manufacturing business, drop us a line today. We’ve been helping American manufacturers expand their brands for over 30 years.