Hasta La Creative!

Social media marketing often appears irrelevant to companies in the industrial and manufacturing sectors. While the value of this channel is well-established in b-to-b verticals such as SaaS (software as a service) and business services, industrial marketers who want to move their organizations forward in this space can encounter significant internal objection. One of the most common arguments: “Our audience isn’t on social media, so why should we be?”

To start, let’s separate perception from facts. While the numbers indicate that industrial professionals are a somewhat passive social media audience, their usage is far from negligible. A recent IHS GlobalSpec study, “2014 Social Media Use in the Industrial Sector,” found that 44% of technical professionals spend more than an hour per week on social media for work-related activities, and technical professionals maintain the following social media accounts: LinkedIn (74%), Facebook (61%) and Twitter (17%). Furthermore, 47% of those LinkedIn users spend time reading product or industry news on the platform, while 26% research suppliers; and 69% of those Facebook users follow businesses or groups within their industry, while 38% research or read work-related content.

We can see there is definitely some social media momentum among this audience. Of course, not all platforms are created equal. From the numbers, it’s clear that LinkedIn offers the most opportunity.

Continue reading at AdAge.com