In this article, we’ll examine why paid social media has become a must-have for your manufacturing company and how to use it to multiply your customer base.
Whatever your specific niche and products, we’re certain that your manufacturing company has spent a considerable amount of time perfecting your products. Now that your products are ready to hit the shelves, it’s time to shift your focus to how you can make people buy your creations. However, the harsh reality is that you have tremendous competition: there are almost 600,000 manufacturing companies registered in the United States alone (data as of early 2023). To get your products seen and (hopefully) loved by your potential customers (or other businesses, in the case of B2B manufacturing), you need to bring your brand to where the people are. Paid social media can help you do this.
Social media is where most people nowadays spend much of their time. In 2021, more than 4.26 billion people worldwide were already on social media sites, and this number is expected to reach approximately six billion by 2027.
From toddlers watching YouTube videos of nursery rhymes to teenagers posting TikTok videos, young adults posting their party outfits on Instagram, and older adults sharing their family videos on Facebook, social media appeals to everyone. Whatever the demographic of your potential customers, you’re sure to find them using at least one social network on a daily basis. Thus, being on social media is not just smart advice—it’s a must for your manufacturing company to survive the cutthroat market.
However, if you think having a company or brand page on social networking sites and posting on it regularly (an example of inbound marketing) is enough, you’re in for a rude awakening. Practically all the hundreds of thousands of other manufacturers have those, too.
To stand out, you need to consider using paid social media ads (or simply, paid social).
In this article, we’ll take a close look at why paid social is now a necessary element in digital marketing for manufacturing companies. We’ll also share some expert advice on how you can add a successful paid social strategy to your list of manufacturer marketing strategies.
Table of Contents
What is Paid Social Media?
Paid social refers to ads that are shown to active users of social media sites. Paid social is an effective manufacturing digital marketing strategy that promotes your products in a social platform using any of various formats, such as (but not limited to) image ads, video ads, and carousel ads.
One of the main benefits of social platform ads in manufacturing marketing is that they allow you to reach your target audience using your own personalized message. By tailoring your ads to suit the distinctive needs and interests of your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP), you have a higher chance of engaging prospects and converting them into paying customers.
For example, let’s say that your California-based company manufactures high-quality leather chairs. Using paid social media ads, you can set your ads to be shown to small-to-medium-sized businesses in your area that may be interested in purchasing such chairs. You can set your ads to be shown to working adults living in California who might want to upgrade their office setup. How specific (or general) you wish to target your ad audience would depend on you.
Why Your Manufacturing Firm Needs Paid Social Media
Advertising on a popular social platform is a useful ingredient in digital marketing for manufacturing because it helps your firm be seen by far more people compared to if you just have organic (nonpaid) social media posts. Keep in mind that most social media users follow multiple businesses online, so you’re competing for the same eyeballs on those platforms.
Paid social ads can immensely help with industrial marketing because it increases brand awareness. In particular, ads that look good and provide value to people (whether in the form of education or entertainment) can help your brand be known and gain the trust of people who may not even have heard of your company before.
Finally, paid social media ads can not only help you with lead generation but can also help you stay top-of-mind of your existing buyers. When they see your ads on their social media feed, they are reminded of your brand and products. This is especially valuable to manufacturers that have a longer sales cycle, or if you sell products that people don’t buy often.
Paid ads on a social platform can increase brand awareness and bring in more customers for your manufacturing company.
Statistics on Social Media Advertising for Manufacturers
If you’re still on the fence when it comes to investing in paid social media for your manufacturing marketing, let’s take a look at some impressive numbers that might change your mind:
- A whopping 85% of manufacturing companies already use social media to reach their marketing objectives (source: Constant Contact).
- 78% of Facebook users in the U.S. report that they found new products on Facebook (source: Hootsuite).
- 75% of B2B buyers rely on social media when doing research about new products and services (source: HubSpot).
- 71% of customers who had a good experience with a brand on social media are likely to recommend it to other people (source: Forbes).
- Overall spending on social media ads is expected to balloon to $268 billion this year 2023 (source: Sprout Social).
All of these are a testament to just how powerful social media can be in your lead generation efforts and in growing your manufacturing company.
How to Set Up Your Manufacturing Company’s Paid Social Campaign
Although different platforms have their own advertising setup and dashboards, they all generally have similar features and processes.
They usually require having a business account/page (rather than just a personal one) and to add in your payment details (e.g., credit card info). Once you’ve done so, you can start setting up an ad on their platform. They generally allow you to use your own title or caption and upload one or more media files like a graphic or video as your ad material. Then you can set up your ad campaign to be shown to your target audience by specifying their demographic information such as age, gender, location, interests, and behavior.
Your company can set a budget for how much you’re willing to spend on the ad as well as how long you want it to run. The cost of the ad will depend on what platform you use, the type of ad you’re posting, and the competition for ad space during that time.
Once your paid social ad goes live, you can easily track its performance in real time through the built-in dashboard. You can monitor how many users have seen your ad, how many have clicked on it, and how many have converted into paying customers (or whatever other action you set). Those metrics will provide you with valuable insight into how effective your ad is and allows you to make adjustments quickly if needed.
Expert Tips on Using Paid Social For Your Manufacturing Company
There is no doubt that paid social media advertising is a powerful tool for growing your manufacturing business, but developing a successful marketing strategy for it can be challenging, especially if you haven’t done this before.
Here are some expert tips that can guide you through your social media marketing campaigns:
- Clearly define your target audience: Who are you trying to reach with your ads? What are their specific interests, behaviors, and demographics? The clearer and more detailed your description of your target audience is (which is ideally also your ICP), the better.
- Set your goals and make sure they’re S-M-A-R-T: What exactly do you want to achieve using your social ads? Do you want to generate more leads, increase your sales, improve brand awareness, make people subscribe to your newsletter, and so on? Make sure that your goals are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-Bound—and that they’re aligned with your marketing and corporate objectives.
- Choose what platforms you’ll advertise on: Which social media platforms are your target audience using? Focus your advertising efforts on that/those platform/s. It’s best if you have detailed information about where most of your prospects spend most of their time.
In general, as we mentioned earlier, younger audiences are more likely to be using Instagram and TikTok, while older audiences are more likely to be on Facebook. However, it’s still important to have the actual information to make an informed decision on where to put your advertising budget.
- Create compelling ads: There are thousands of businesses—from large corporations to local mom-and-pop stores—advertising across different social media sites. If you want your ads to stand out, make sure that they provide value to people and they look good.
Always use high-quality or high-resolution images or videos that have been proofed and checked for any errors. Once you’ve got that ready, craft some great copy to go with it that will grab people’s attention and compel them to act.
- Set your preferred ad budget and duration: Determine how much you’re willing (or able) to spend on your paid social then set your budget for each ad campaign. Also, set how long you want your ads to run on the site.
- Track your performance: Finally, monitor your ad performance. Pay attention to important metrics like impressions, clicks, conversions, and other metrics in your marketing campaigns. Use the data you have to make adjustments and improve your ads over time to get better and better results.
Your target audience, goals, platforms, ads, and budget are all important parts of your paid social ad campaign.
Leverage Paid Social Media for Your Manufacturing Company
By following the steps and tips we shared in this article, you can create successful paid ads on any popular social platform to help you achieve your goals. However, for best results, it’s best to combine paid ads with at least one other marketing strategy, such as content marketing, email marketing, etc.
If you need any help, Zero Company is a manufacturing marketing agency with over two decades of experience in providing high-caliber digital marketing services, including paid advertising on social media.
Book a free consultation to find out how our paid social media ad experts can help your manufacturing company expand your customer base!