By John Sonnhalter, Rainmaker Journeyman, Sonnhalter
Social media has been around long enough that by now you should have an idea of whether or not it’s working for you. Is it? Do you really know? Do you really care?
I guess the first question we should ask ourselves is why are we doing it? Hopefully it’s not because everyone else is. The next question would be which of the many social media options out there are you focusing on?
Let’s explore the first question – Why are you doing it?
- Are you really sold on it?
- How much of your promotional budget is set aside for social?
- Do you have a written strategy for social?
- Do you have some way of defining and measuring success?
If you’re really sold on it, you’d have a written plan and a dedicated person responsible for its implementation and success.
How about the second question – What social media tools are you using?
- Is Facebook and Twitter the right way to connect to your audience?
- Are the photo sharing apps making sense for you?
- What type of YouTube presence do you have?
- Are you utilizing SlideShare?
- Are you participating in appropriate LinkedIn groups?
- Have you started a blog?
I have found that Facebook and Twitter have little impact on reaching contractors. The best tools for results, in my opinion, are blogs, YouTube, SlideShare and LinkedIn. Here are some interesting factoids:
- 80% of all B-to-B social media sales come from LinkedIn.
- SlideShare receives 500% more traffic from business owners than Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube combined.
- Google+ gets an average of 1.2 billion visits per month, compared to 800,000 for Facebook.
I’d be curious to find out from you what social programs are working for you.
Here are some links to posts that you may find interesting regarding social media:
SlideShare is probably the most overlooked social media tool to reach contractors
Social Media: does it affect marketing to the professional tradesman?
Why Manufacturers should personalize content for the professional tradesman.
Do you have a company LinkedIn page? You should.
How to use content to reach Contractors
