Sorry... as you can see the frustration can easily arise. But the fact of the matter is that social media is a fantastic tool to use to build your audience and gain more leads. So, let’s keep it simple today. Here are 7 easy methods for you to utilize to gain more leads for your food equipment manufacturing company.
When do you find yourself sending out your content on social media? Ok, now that you’ve answered that, when do you find yourself checking social media and reading the most content? Make sure you are including those timeframes in your tactics as well. Many people focus all of their publishing on the weekdays during the workday, which is great; but you also need to remember that potential food equipment manufacturing leads could read their content on Sunday night while they are relaxing on the couch before they start their work week. Probably thumbing through LinkedIn or Facebook during the commercials on Sunday Night Football or Game of Thrones.
Want to get more leads from social media? Yeah, duh! So, be super specific. Show your product or service in action. Show how your food equipment works. Show it packaging materials, show your trucks filled with products leaving your warehouse, etc. Also, when you share these things make sure that you are pointing to specific pages on your site. And, keep url short… under 15 characters if possible. If you have to, take advantage of a url shortener to make this happen. (You can do a Google search for “Google URL Shortener” to find their easy-to-use version).
Premium offers can not only convert unknown visitors into leads, but they can help convince a lead that it's time to take action. Create an offer that will bring in interested visitors or even leads you're already in contact with. Maybe it is as simple as a free estimate, if you don’t already offer one.
Then, make your offers time-based or keep them limited to a certain number of people. This creates urgency to convert. Your potential food manufacturing leads will want to take advantage of the deal and will feel like they need to do it quickly before they run out of time or are too late.
Remember that social media is for bringing in new leads, but more than anything, social media is about building relationships. People don’t want to work with asshats (I love that word). But seriously, make sure that you are keeping things positive even if others aren’t. If someone looks at your page you want to make sure that they see a food equipment manufacturing company that seems like a nice, positive, real person. If you lash back at people who are being negative or fill your page with content that is boring, negative, mean, unrelated, etc… people will be turned off.
Ready for this brain buster? (I told you I was keeping it easy.) Simply ask. Have you asked your email newsletter list to like you on Facebook, to follow you on LinkedIn or Twitter? No? Well then, you are missing out on an opportunity to further your relationship with these people.
I know this one seems like a “duh” statement too, but it is so easy to screw up. Great content makes you look smart and professional and sets you up as a reliable resource for issues that your food manufacturing prospects might have. Also, people are more likely to share and engage with great content. Ultimately, this is one of the best ways to grow your social media audience.
You know, simply taking the time to do some of these simple things can put you ahead of the pack. So, good for you for taking the time to read this and good for you for giving it a shot if it is something that seems a bit overwhelming to you.
Remember though, that if you ever need assistance with your social media or content creation in general, there are agencies out there that are ready to help. Utilizing a marketing agency to create a tailored social media marketing strategy for your food manufacturing equipment company can take a lot of the stress out of your everyday routine.