Social Smackdown: What Are the Best Social Media Ads for Manufacturers?
by MGB2B
Social media advertising is a valuable piece of your manufacturing company’s marketing program. It’s right up there more traditional media like in-person events and trade publications. And just like choosing trade shows or magazines to run ads in, social media channels depend on your brand, message, and budget. So, to help you along the way, we’ve evaluated Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn below. Take a look and determine which offer(s) the best social media ads for manufacturers based on campaign goals and budget.
Social Smackdown: The Best Social Media Ads for Manufacturers
First up: the channel that is still largely believed to be a B2C only platform. While Facebook certainly falls on the more social side of social media, it has a whole host of B2B benefits. Facebook is a good place to highlight your company’s personality and culture through photos and videos. Imagine your target audience scrolling through their news feeds – what are they doing? Glancing at photos of friends and family, checking out local events, and reading articles related to their personal interests. So Facebook isn’t the ideal place to promote your highly technical white paper. But it is a great home for photos of your latest employee recognition night, holiday party, or trade show. When it comes to advertising on Facebook, here are a few things to keep in mind:
What Facebook Ads Are Good For:
- Growing your social media audience
- Recruiting talent
- Promoting content (blogs, infographics, videos)
What Facebook Ads Cost:
- Under $0.50 CPC (cost per click)
- Under $0.50 per like
To learn even more about what to expect with Facebook advertising, check out this guide from Buffer.
Next up: Twitter, the micro-blogging channel often favored by manufacturers and B2C companies alike. Twitter has made rapid response a standard in social media customer service. Twitter is ideal for dropping a quick hook and pulling users onto your manufacturing website. Many users follow a combination of personal and professional accounts. Users are generally less put off by promotional messaging than they would be on Facebook. That being said, Twitter has become an advertising ocean where your message can easily get lost. Using attention-grabbing visuals and carefully built audiences can help your ads land in front of the right eyeballs.
What Twitter Ads Are Good For:
- Growing your social media audience
- Promoting content (blogs, articles, infographics)
- Building awareness
- Highlighting event attendance
- Launching new products
What Twitter Ads Cost:
- Around $1 CPC
- Under $2.50 per follower
To learn how to improve your Twitter ads (while they’re running), read this blog.
As the social media network for professionals, LinkedIn fits right into many B2B social media strategies. Since profiles are tied to users’ professional identities, it’s more likely that their information is valid and up to date. Half of B2B buyers refer to LinkedIn when making purchase decisions. Running social media ads for manufacturers makes a lot of sense. Content like white papers, blog posts, and technical articles that didn’t work on Facebook are a great fit for LinkedIn. And, you can target users based on their job titles, functions, and seniority. But before you slap some ads up, here’s what you need to know:
What LinkedIn Ads Are Good For:
- Promoting content (white papers, technical guides, downloadable resources)
- Recruiting talent
- Building awareness
- Lead generation
What LinkedIn Ads Cost:
- CPC ranges between $3-$10
Including social media advertising in your marketing strategy can help your manufacturing company reach new audiences, share valuable content, gain leads and talent, and help support existing customers. Every campaign is different, as are the costs and benefits, but the guidelines above can help you begin to form a plan for your social strategy. Need help taking it to the next level? Drop us a line.
Continue ReadingB2B Monday Myth: A Persona Is the Same Thing As a Target Audience
by MGB2B
The Myth: A Persona Is the Same Thing As a Target Audience
The Truth: A Persona Is Much More Detailed and Personalized
For years, marketers have created “target audiences” for their brand or product. That means they’ve put large groups of people into one category, and labeled them. But today’s digital marketing world has become very personal. Brands now reach out directly to individuals. So, it’s time to take things one step further. If you want to give yourself a clear picture of the audience you’re attracting, you need to craft audience personas.
The difference between the traditionally defined target audience and an audience persona is that a persona is a narrative that describes a very specific type of person. It’s highly detailed and provides enough information that you could actually pick this fictional person, your buyer, out of a group.
Your buyer is a real person, so they should be identified as one. And every last detail you give is a potential clue for how you can most effectively target them. This means constructing a clear picture of your customer – including what will resonate with them both personally and professionally.
Some examples of questions you should answer as you’re writing personas for B2B brands:
- What is their position? Their day-to-day responsibilities?
- What are their personal and professional communication methods?
- What media do they consume? What’s their information source?
- What is their education background?
- What challenges face them? How can you help solve them?
- What do they value? What are their goals?
A traditional target audience might just read “head of marketing at a mid-size company.” But an audience persona will be more like a narrative, encompassing everything there is to know about this marketing head.
Let’s take James Smith, for example:
James Smith is 41 years old and the head of global marketing at mid-size insurance company. He is a “decision maker” who works above a team of about 25 marketing professionals in the Hartford, CT office. His main responsibilities include overseeing the development of new marketing initiatives and coordinating these efforts with the company’s overall business plan. James has the most say within the communications division of the company, but he still struggles to prove the worth and ROI of marketing to the top executives of the company. His top challenges include optimizing the work of the marketing team under a small budget and gaining approval up the ladder for new initiatives.
At the beginning of every day, James reads the New York Times, and sometimes browses through Forbes and the Wall Street Journal. He also reads several trade publications, like AdWeek and Direct Marketing News, in his free time. His goal is to prove the marketing team’s value by having the ability to quantify and measure leads for the sales team. He is most frustrated by stagnating sales productivity and work that is not measurable, and he is most motivated by recognition from executives and his peers. James also spends several hours a week maintaining his personal Twitter account, where he often engages with industry content.
There are an endless number of benefits that come from writing several of these personas. A target audience description can only generalize, and therefore deliver the same generic content to varying types of people. In comparison, a audience personas can identify opportunities for personalized content and solutions.
Putting a face to different audience segments conveys to your buyers that you’re tailoring specifically to them. Personas can determine how your content is written, what kinds of images should be used, and where advertisements and media should be placed.
The biggest benefit from taking the time to write personas for B2B brands? When you learn your audience inside and out, sales will naturally follow.
Continue ReadingPutting Your Message in the Hands of Your Audience: A Case for Direct Mail
by Ben Quinn
The goal of a marketing campaign is to sell your products or services. But is also should convey that your company shares the same core values as your customer. The most impactful companies gain customer trust by providing real value to a persons life. So when considering your communication tools, don’t forget he benefits that traditional mail brings to the table.
Nearly two-thirds of consumers told the United States Postal Service they “value the mail” they receive in their mailbox.* Even millennials site paper as more trustworthy than digital documents.** There are real benefits to the tried and true vehicle of a well-executed direct mail campaign, even in this digital age. When a consumer gets something tangible in the mail, you send a message that transcends an email viewed via smartphone or desktop.
First, before the the piece is even opened, the consumer assumes they likely agreed to receive it. Second, using direct mail also reflects the company has gone the extra mile to print, package, and send the message through the employees of the mail service, as opposed to hitting “send.” And last, the consumer can’t simply hit delete. They need physically dispose of the piece themselves. And oftentimes the piece lingers on the kitchen counter – allowing more time for consideration.
The 40/40/20 Rule.
The benefits of using direct mail are all real advantages. The execution, however, is what makes or breaks how effective your direct mail piece is at affecting your bottom line. There are many components to a good direct mail campaign. Ed Mayer, a marketing expert from the sixties, developed a rule called the “40/40/20 rule.” It states that the first forty percent of your efforts should determine your audience. The next forty percent should focus on your offer that incentivizes a consumer to action. The last twenty percent should focus on the creative details of your piece, such as format, design, copy and structural delivery.
This tried and true formula for using direct mail worked in the sixties. Like a good pair of blue jeans, it still injects value and style to your overall brand even today. In an era where mail is declining, there is real opportunity to tell your audience that you want their business enough to make the effort that a direct mail piece represents. Using direct mail goes beyond “hitting send.” It conveys that what you have to say is important enough to put it in ink and paper. So when considering your overall marketing campaign, consider using direct mail and show your audience that you value their business to send them something tangible.
*Carrier, Joyce. The Power of Direct Mail. USPS Deliver Magazine, vol. 7 issue 6. Dec. 2011
**Millennial Paper Usage and Attitudes, TRU presented at Paper2011 sponsored by the American Forest & Paper Assn. and the National Paper Trade Alliance, March 2011
Other credits to Sappi Fine Paper North America’s “Act Now” 2013
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