According to an audit performed by Kindered Agency on 20 firms across the commercial vehicle sector only 2 examples of social media usage were found. Compare this to the consumer car industry where over 50% of companies would have strong usage of social media and there is a stark difference in the results.
So why are most CV firms not embracing this low-cost (albeit sometimes time-consuming) manner of advertising? There is always the argument that social media is way more effective for the b2c industry as opposed to the b2b industry. However, to counter that at the end of every purchasing decision is an individual who is almost guaranteed to be using some form of social networking in their daily lives whether for personal or business reasons.
Mercedes-Benz Trucks are one of the exceptions, with a very engaging Twitter feed and a very clever blog. Both are devoted to the thoughts and lives of British truckers – building emotional goodwill towards the brand.
So which forms of Social Media would we recommend?
1) Linkedin - Build your profile and your company profile. Connect to your target market. Join or set up industry-specific groups and participate in the forum activities, become a thought leader in your industry, and customers will come to you for answers.
2) Blog - The earliest form of online social media interaction. Try and post regular & relative content. Mix it up a bit sometimes serious but also don’t be afraid to use a bit more personality than your standard website.
3) Twitter - Use Twitter to promote your blog or website, special offers, etc. There are tools available like Hootsuite to link all the 3 together to save having to create content for each.
Photo by dole777 on Unsplash
