The manufacturing industry is often the least transparent on Twitter out of all of the industries that I’ve had the pleasure of working with.  Social media in general seems to leave most manufacturing companies skeptical, leaving them with questions like, “Well… what can it do for me?”

Before I dig into the topic, one thing is for certain: some manufacturing companies will benefit from Twitter a whole lot more than others.  Some manufacturing companies may even be pretty hard pressed to find any clients or customers on Twitter.  But no matter what level of “Twitter” skeptic you may be, one thing is for sure: Twitter gives you and your clients or customers another outlet to contact you and get more information about your company.

Apart from that, here is how other manufacturing companies are successfully using Twitter to gain more clients and customers:

Create Brand Awareness

Besides making yourself more accessible on the web, there is another important reason for having a Twitter account: it will help you build brand awareness and increase your company’s credibility.  Twitter is a microblogging site that allows you to speak in more “human” terms, something which is definitely appreciated on the World Wide Web.  Having a Twitter account will allow you to create your company’s “personality” and give it a unique voice amongst the competition.

Twitter isn’t just about sending out a ton of tweets every single day promoting new products or services that you may offer.  Mix up your promotional or sales-related tweets with other messages that would be of interest to clients and customers.  Send out links to blogs on your website that curate an important or groundbreaking story about what’s happening in your industry.  Build yourself up to the point where you will have the status of “expert” in your industry.  You won’t see any results overnight, but if you continue to tweet with your brand’s personality in mind, then your brand’s identity will grow stronger, become more easily recognizable, and more credible.

Boost your Customer Support

It doesn’t matter how many or how few customers you may have.  Having a business Twitter account will allow you to provide superior customer service, and in a few different ways.  One of my favorite ways to provide customer support is through “eavesdropping”.  Unlike other social media sites out there, Twitter allows you to actually monitor your customers’ conversations.  Check and see if you have any customers on Twitter, then, follow as many of those customers that you can find.  Try to check in on their conversation streams at least once every couple of days (if not more often) and reply with helpful information when warranted.  Similarly, if there is a complaint about your company or something in your industry, help amend their concern.  If they have something positive to say, thank them!

It’s also great to have people follow your company on Twitter so that they can contact you directly with any concerns or queries that they may have.  Make sure that you advertise that you have a Twitter account, and you can even coerce people to “follow” you on Twitter in order to partake in great promotional offers (i.e. free Ebook offers or product giveaways).

TIP:  Following people on Twitter also allows you to get a real insight into who your customer is.  What do they like?  What do they hate?  What is their biggest pet peeve?  You may be surprised to find that a lot of your customers have a whole lot in common when it comes to these things, which you can then use to your advantage.

Spy on the Competition

If you’re in the manufacturing industry, you must know of at least a good handful of competitors in your area.  Why not see if they have a Twitter account?  If they do, by all means follow them and see what they’re tweeting about!  This can help you formulate your own ideas of what to tweet about, or you can even create “counter tweets” and reply to your competition with that.

Another great thing about finding competitors on Twitter is that you can then see who their followers are.  Why not “follow” those followers yourself?  Then when you’re checking up on people you know, if those “followers” of the competition voice a concern and you’re the first company to step in and offer a solution, you may be able to get their business.

Key Takeaways:

Though manufacturers may not find it worth their while to allocate as much time to Twitter as other industries, it is still an incredibly valuable (and free!) tool for marketing purposes.  Not only can you build your brand, but you can get to know your customers and even nab leads and current customers from the competition!

Need Help?

If you’re a manufacturer interested in generating more traffic and leads from Twitter, contact us today to schedule your free marketing analysis.