December 2014 – Krixis Consulting

Social media is a term familiar by everyone in today’s technological age. I’m sure you have utilized it to reconnect with old friends and update loved ones with what’s new in your life. However, social media also has business application, even in the machining industry. Unlocking these capabilities for your machine shop requires effort and a well-thought strategy.

After reading this post you will have a better grasp on the most applicable platforms for social media, and how to properly use social media for your machine shop marketing. You will also learn 3 benefits social media can provide for your machine shop marketing.

Best Social Media Platforms For A Successful Machine Shop Marketing Campaign

I am a firm believer in simplicity, and social media should not add complications to your machine shops marketing. Saying this, I am going to suggest limiting your social media efforts to 2 platforms, LinkedIn and Google+. It is easy to get lost and spend too much time attempting to master and get the most out of social media, be time conscience of your efforts. Before I go into more detail on why just these 2 it is important to address that social media adds to the foundation that your machine shop marketing campaign has already built. The base of this foundation being your website. It is key to remember that social media is a funnel that leads potential customers to your website. Therefore, without a website that showcases your machine shop and your capabilities, you are setting yourself up for failure. You can learn more of the importance of web-design by reading our previous post.

Social Media Machine Shop Marketing Essential – LinkedIn

LinkedIn is the social media platform for professionals. This is where you can connect and meet with others within your industry or those looking for your machine shop services. Below is a screenshot of my personal LinkedIn profile; you can click the image as well for an opportunity to connect with me.

You can also create a LinkedIn page for your machine shop. The below screenshot displays KriXis Consulting’s page, clicking it takes you to our profile as well.

Now that you have a visual, let’s cover why LinkedIn is essential for your machine shop marketing.

You are able to search other connections by industry. This can be useful in multiple ways.

First, you can connect with those within your own industry. Contracting and Sub-Contracting is a common practice within machining services, the more connections you have within your industry, the more likely someone is going to reach out to you regarding potential business.

Second, you can search by industry in which you specialize or wish to penetrate. Lets say that aerospace is your specialty. You can search companies or leaders of companies within that industry and connect with those individuals or organizations. At this point you as the machine shop owner have a few options; you can message them directly using “InMail” or actively comment on posts by those individuals or organizations. This interaction will move you from a random person online into a category of person of interest, you can continue to build this relationship, and nurture it into what matters, business.

You can showcase your machine shop work or services.

Say you finished a big contract for GE; you took pictures of the work for your own portfolio and moved on. However, you were seconds away from letting the entire LinkedIn community know just how great your machine shop is. All you need to do is upload the pictures and a brief description and click post, results from this would not be immediate but I can assure you that people will take notice if you continuously post superb machining work.

Machine Shop Marketing Social Media Underdog – Google+

This may be a bit surprising since Google+ is not used by most people, nor nearly as popular as platforms such as Facebook or Twitter. However, Google is where most people are searching for everything, and although not disclosed by Google, a reasonable person would assume that using a Google social media service would positively affect the search results that Google provides.

The boost in search results ultimately provides your business with more visibility. More visibility equals more traffic to your foundation. A pristine foundation equals more business. Therefore, Google+ equal more business for your machine shop in the long-term.

Below is a screenshot of KriXis’s Google+ profile, we invite you to click and connect with us.

As you can see you can post updates, just as you can with LinkedIn. Machine shop marketing should focus primarily on posts that can be placed in each of their social media platforms, allowing one piece of work maximum exposure, increasing the likeliness of conversions. This is known as leveraging your content.

There are a ton of options for social media platforms usable for your machine shop, I suggesting making a start with just these two. However, once you get a handle on these and if you have the time, I suggest exploring other options. Feel free to contact us if you have any other questions as well.

How Social Media Should Be Used For Your Machine Shop Marketing

So you now know what platforms to start with, but the question remains of “what do I post on these platforms?” The question is easily answered by looking at what you are already using personal social media for, which is to become updated with those that you care about.

The individuals that you are currently following are not trying to sell you anything by any means. If your cousin, the car salesman, is constantly posting car prices and deals you would more than likely consider “unfriending” him. It would be annoying and clutter the things that you actually want to see. Your machine shops goal should be to avoid being the clutter, and become the “want to see” material, and that’s the key to success, simple as that.

Lets begin with “if your machine shop had a face.” What would you want this face to look like? The slick-backed-hair used car salesman, or the uncle who always told the best stories?

I’m guessing you chose the latter. Here are 3 tips your machine shop can use on social media to avoid being clutter:

Take out a piece of paper and brainstorm ideas on the following, “what are my customers asking?” You know your niche better than anyone else, and I am sure you have been asked a ton of questions by potential clients. Use social media to answer these questions that have been asked. You can also think of questions that you might be asked and answer them. This builds credibility, and keeps people interested in what you are saying.

As stated above, post your work. Your machine shop completed a big project; share it via social media. Be sure to include pictures as well.

Strike up a conversation. You want people to be engaged with your machine shop’s social media platforms. Commenting on posts by others can start this; eventually they will reciprocate with your machine shop. Social media takes time and patience, but you will see results.

These are just a few examples of how social media can be utilized for your machine shop marketing. The more your machine shop becomes involved, the easier social media engagement will become.

3 Practical Benefits Social Media Has For Your Machine Shop

So you now have an understanding of how your machine shop can use social media, and what platforms could be utilized. However, I want to provide you with 3 benefits that I consider the most important when integrating social media into your machine shop marketing campaign.

Building Relationships For Your Machine Shop

Lets take a look at all relationships. The more time you spend keeping up to date with someone, the stronger the bond. This translates to social media as well. If you are engaging regularly with potential customers, you are building a relationship. This relationship will lead to more work for your machine shop and potential referrals from those you frequently engage with.

Building Lists For Your Machine Shop

As you follow the above plans regarding social media you will gain followers within targeted industries. You can take these followers or those you are engaging with and put them in a list for future business for your machine shop. After sometime you can choose to call them or reach out to them outside of social media. They are no longer a “cold call” but rather someone accustomed to engaging with your machine shop.

Your Machine Shop Gains SEO Ground

I am assuming that you already have an understanding of SEO. If not you can read how SEO affects your machine shop. Social media is being factored into SEO. The more activity found on your social media accounts, the higher you will rank. SEO is essential for your machine shop marketing, and social media is another boost to help you along the way.

Summary Of Social Media Integrated With Your Machine Shop Marketing

As you can see there are many benefits for your machine shop when utilizing social media. These benefits vary depending on the amount of effort that you are willing to put in. I want you to keep in mind that social media posts are visible to everyone. These posts will have a reflection on your machine shop, and I’m sure that you want that to be positive. This is why I suggest you, the machine shop owner, look over all posts before they are submitted, and give access to these accounts to someone that you trust. This should be fun, and show you results, and I look forward to hearing stories of your success.

We are giving away a free consultation to those who read our posts; it is our way of saying thank you for your time. As always, we hope that this was beneficial to your machine shop, and look forward to sharing again with you soon.

PPC may be something that you have never heard of, but it will generate your machine shop more business if done correctly. After reading this you will have an understanding of what PPC is, and how it can affect your machine shop.

What Is PPC

PPC stands for Pay-Per-Click advertising, meaning you pay a small fee each time someone clicks on your machine shops ad. The image below is a screenshot of what Google found for the search query cnc precision machine shop.

Note the top three results, and the two on the right hand side. These are the results of a PPC campaign. You can also see bolded words within the appearing PPC ads matching my search terms, and that they all contain each of the words I searched. This exact keyword matching is what will allow your machine shop to specifically target a niche. More specific niche searches are more likely to convert to customers rather than someone searching a broad term for informative purposes.

Keyword planning is the most important factor when creating a successful PPC campaign for your machine shop. Google provides tools to allow you to view the frequency of searched terms and phrases. I suggest hiring an expert to develop a keyword plan with you, but if you want to try for yourself Google Adwords is where to begin. I suggest following the acronym – CNC – for your research.

Constantly refine, research and update your search keywords. Put yourself in the customer’s shoes and think about what they would be searching for prior to making a purchase.

Not only niche, meaning, less common searched for terms could still be effective and prevents your machine shop from leaving money on the table.

Cost, Google charges you based on the competition for a particular word or phrase. You may want to make some adjustments to like terms, which in turn allows for more clicks for your budget, and more clicks equals more sales.

I also want you to look over the wording and appearance of each ad from the above search query. Determine which machine shop looks most fitting based on what I searched for. This PPC ad setup and layout is something I suggest leaving to an expert, getting serious buyers to click is what matters most.

The video below provides further explanation of PPC if necessary.

They Clicked The PPC Ad, Now What

Your machine shop was spotted by your exact target customer, they clicked your PPC ad, but what happens next? Based on the above search I decided to click on an ad, the image below shows where this led me.

This is called a landing page. Notice how this page is setup with basic information pertaining to my search, while including a call to action that gives this machining company a direct warm lead to a client whom is looking for a quote.

These landing pages are another essential piece of the successful PPC campaign pie. They are the difference between gaining a customer and having an individual exit your website.

3 Important Reasons Your Machine Shop Needs PPC

1. Niche customers ready to buy will see you at the top of Google. They know what they are looking for, and your machine shop matched their search exactly. Sale complete, and both parties are happy.

2. You can create multiple campaigns to match multiple specialties and the industries they service. Each ad is custom tailored to a particular need and a landing page can be made for each as well. This level of professionalism sets you apart, sale complete, and both parties are happy.

3. Easiest way to measure ROI. You set your budget, which determines the amount of clicks, not appearances (these appearances even if not clicked, build your machine shops brand). You can track or have your outside help track how many leads are coming from each campaign. This allows for agile investing into effective PPC campaigns.

Summary

I want you to keep in mind that all strategies should be focused on gaining a greater profit for your machine shop. Many people get lost in just seeing an increase in traffic to their website. A PPC campaign is one of the most effective strategies, and possibly the most effective as you begin your digital efforts. This is due to its immediate effect, while SEO takes time. If you are interested in launching a complete long-term campaign, click here; but if you would like to start smaller, click here. Thank you for your time and I hope you gained a better understanding of this strategy and its importance.