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In the previous blog, we discussed why supply chain leaders should consider building their company’s presence on social media. However, an important point to note is that when it comes to social media, one size does not fit all...
Signing up on every social media platform may not benefit your business. So what is the best way to do “social for supply chain”?
Answer the following 3 questions before you decide which social media platforms are most suitable for you as a supply chain business owner:
Who is your target audience?
Where does your audience spend most of their time for entertainment?
Where does your audience spend most of their time for business-related activities?
For instance: Your ideal customer X could be spending most of their time on Facebook but for entertainment purposes only. Does that make Facebook a perfect platform for your business? Probably! Facebook, in such cases, would be an ideal platform to share light-hearted and entertaining content such as relatable memes, gifs, etc. But will they be interested in engaging in serious sales conversations on Facebook? Definitely NO! You will most probably need to connect with the customer on LinkedIn for those business conversations.
Hence, it is imperative to figure out which social media platform is suitable to market your supply chain business.
Below are details of different social media platforms and how they can be utilized appropriately by supply chain & logistics business owners.
LinkedIn: How to use LinkedIn for supply chain businesses?
With over 800 Million users active on the platform, it is considered the best tool for marketing, especially amongst B2B business owners. Supply chain leaders can highly benefit from the hyper-targeted niche that LinkedIn offers based on location, profession, and industry specifics. Knowing who your audience is and what they are doing on LinkedIn helps curate content, build brand authority, and develop meaningful connections.
Leaders from the supply chain industry can use this platform to share valuable industry insights in the form of blog posts, articles, and pdfs to establish themselves as industry experts. In addition, LinkedIn provides features for connecting and following like-minded industry leaders and forming meaningful connections.
Moreover, the platform has proved to be highly effective in collecting leads and generating sales through targeted ads. LinkedIn also offers features such as In-mail and LinkedIn Ads.
LinkedIn Ads are very effective in growing the overall brand as well as promoting products and
services through reaching out to your target audience by filtering by job title, company, and industry to generate quality leads.
Here is an example of how Logistics Plus (https://www.logisticsplus.com/) runs ads on LinkedIn to get in front of prospects.
The premium feature of LinkedIn allows business owners to send messages to contacts they are still not connected with. This is especially helpful when you want to reach out and promote your services to specific people allowing the messaging to be personalized and thus improving the chances of conversion.
Additionally, you can be part of multiple LinkedIn Groups to share valuable industry information and gain attention from thousands of potential clients active in these groups.
2. Facebook: Why use Facebook for supply chain marketing?
Facebook as a platform is used by brands to connect and engage with their consumers directly. For example, B2C and D2C brands maintain their Facebook Pages and run Facebook Ads to reach out to new audiences directly. Supply chain marketers can consider creating their company’s page on Facebook to build their brand presence by hosting LIVE events that can be cross-promoted on other social media channels such as YouTube and LinkedIn.
3. Twitter: Is Twitter good for marketing supply chain & logistics business?
Think micro-blogging. Think Twitter!
Twitter has to be the best platform to share short, quirky, value-packed information and gain massive attention. With the reduced attention span of people, the inclination to get quick information on various topics has increased, and Twitter is the platform best suited for that. The content shared over Twitter has helped B2B businesses drive traffic to their website, newsletters, and private LinkedIn groups to generate sales.
The supply chain industry is undergoing massive changes with the introduction of advanced technologies and changing market dynamics. Twitter, as a platform, serves as the best medium for real-time information across the industry. Moreover, the platform is pegged to undergo massive changes with Elon Musk at the helm, and it would be interesting to see how these changes affect brands and their growth on Twitter.
Twitter allows business owners to stay ahead of trends by allowing them to keep abreast of topics of interest.
An easy way to look into trending topics is the Explore section of Twitter, where you can search for topics of interest.
4. YouTube: How can YouTube help in supply chain marketing?
YouTube is the oldest video platform the world knows and is famous for providing free content for different kinds of users. The platform is full of leaders from the supply chain industry sharing information on how one can grow their business in this sector starting from scratch.
As a supply chain & logistics business owner, one can focus on sharing in-depth information about various supply chain topics, tutorials, challenges, and business models.
A very popular way to grow your business on this platform would be to involve diverse industry leaders in panel discussions. This cross-promotion would not only enhance your brand’s presence but also foster healthy relationships with your competitors and allies.
Conclusion
For a long time, supply chain leaders have ignored the benefits social media platforms can bring to their businesses, but the world is changing, and adapting to these new changes is the key to success. Getting creative and sharing relevant industry content on these social media platforms would help supply chain and logistics companies to stand out as a brand and connect deeply with their clients and prospects.
Keep in mind:
Follow industry trends.
Share relevant information according to the nature of the platform.
Be creative!