While you probably don’t need a TikTok video of sales reps dancing on pallets, you do need a social media strategy. Most pallet companies barely have a website, much less a social media campaign. But this is going to change, especially in an increasingly challenging sales environment. Social media will become an increasingly popular way to attract customers, workers and vendors.
Here’s how most companies mess up; an executive or owner realizes that a company’s social media presence is being ignored. This business leader asks a salesperson or manager to add this to his/her duties. Little direction is given, and the employee creates accounts and makes posts a few times per month. If the company is lucky, this will continue for a while. Most social media accounts get started and are ignored.
So, what should a pallet company do with social media? First, you have to start with your goals in mind. What do you hope to accomplish? Who is your prime audience? You may want to create a profile of your ideal customer or recruitment target. Do you want to use social media to drive engagement with prospects and customers? Do you hope to appeal to a new customer base? How about social media as a recruitment tool for new workers? Do you want to use social media to find potential managers or sales team members? What about using social media to drive connections with brokers and third-party partners? Maybe social media will play a critical role in launching new branding or new products/services.
Your goals and your audience will guide the development of a social media strategic plan. This document will be used by the team members tasked with overseeing your social media implementation.
Your goals should be specific and measurable. Set goals that are realistic and will produce easy wins that can snowball into more challenging successes after the first year or so. Next, you have to select the social media platforms that work best for your audience. The most common platforms are Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Instagram, YouTube and TikTok. You may have a basic presence on a number of platforms. But it is best to focus on one or two platforms. The Pallet Enterprise has focused on LinkedIn and Twitter. The reason is that LinkedIn has become a very popular platform for businesses, recruiting workers and connecting on business topics. Twitter is the number one news source for many people who want quick headlines on critical news topics. Some platforms work best for different audiences. For example, if you want to reach Millennials with images and infographics, Instagram may be your best choice.
The Pallet Enterprise LinkedIn Group has become the new Pallet Board online for the latest updates on our content, posts from machinery suppliers and lumber providers. If you want to get the word out about your new product, the PE LinkedIn Group is managed by me and has almost 1,800 users. To try it out for FREE, visit https://www.linkedin.com/groups/8133689/.
Success relies on tapping the right person or team to develop your social media presence. You can use in-house personnel or an outside contractor. You want this person to develop a regular social media content calendar with different types of posts every week. Content calendars can be used to make assignments, set deadlines, and invite team collaboration. More than just a sales pitch, focus on storytelling and inviting others into the industry and your business. You want to humanize your brand and make an emotional connection with content, images, videos, contests, questions and polls. Use hashtags that relate to larger audiences and specific topics and keywords. But don’t use more than two to three hashtags per post. Too many make them less effective.
Remember that each channel or platform is different. What will work on one will flop on another. Some are more text-driven; others are video or image-driven. There are some social media tools that can help you streamline your process, track progress with analytics, find new targets and more.
Your content should be quality, but it doesn’t have to look like a professional TV commercial. The key is to create engaging content, even if it is just a video of a person talking at their workstation. A popular way to engage your audience is by creating a conversation. Ask questions and hit on important topics; invite participation; and show appreciation for users who contribute.
When you start, you will create social media profiles and bios. These should be optimized to reflect your brand and promote your goals. Provide a “Call to Action” when you post content. This encourages visitors and customers to move forward in the sales funnel or interaction process. Don’t be afraid to try different things and be willing to pivot when a strategy stops working. Collaborating with other companies or content providers can double or triple the reach of your campaign.
Some popular topics to consider are sustainability and ESG, pallet quality, lumber market information, mold and pallet contamination, company culture, the benefits of working at a particular company, pallet and lumber sizes available, tips for selecting the right pallet, etc.
So, what’s your strategy? Who is driving it at your company? What has stopped working? Increasingly, social media will become more important for marketing and selling your product. This is even true in the pallet and lumber industries. The Pallet Enterprise can help because a lot of our content can be reposted and used to link to your questions, pictures, posts, etc. Did we cover your company in the last two years? Post the link on your company’s social media about those stories/coverage. Let us be a third-party authority that you tap into. It all starts with taking the first step.
