The world of manufacturing, and products for retail is really booming in the social media space. Your existing and potential customers are more active than ever, interacting with businesses, and getting inspired. So if your company is not yet on social media, here are the top 5 channels your brand should be on.

1. LinkedIn

There's no social network that provides more value to manufacturing companies than LinkedIn. This is the only social media outlet with the majority of users aged 50-64. The main reason for that is because LinkedIn is strictly a platform for professionals, thus the need for B2B companies to have a strong presence on this network is obvious.

When you create your page, make sure to properly complete the company's profile and use it to regularly share industry-related content. Since professionals use LinkedIn to read industry news and articles, get your business noticed by being helpful and active. This will also help you to position your food & beverage manufacturing company as an industry leader.

For lead generation purposes, you can also encourage your team to have a LinkedIn profile and be active on it. This way, they can build relationships with potential customers and business partners.

2. Twitter

Twitter is very popular, which makes it ideal for businesses looking to build a complete social presence. With hundreds of millions of monthly active users, you'll certainly find followers for your niche and industry. The value of Twitter stands mainly in its content sharing capabilities. More exactly, if your business has a blog, Twitter will help you promote those articles as long as you use hashtags that will make them seen by the right audience.

Although Twitter isn't the best platform for lead generation, it surely has an audience interested in industry news and content consumption. It is a place where people and businesses engage in short, yet meaningful conversations, which means that manufacturers can cultivate industry leadership by consistently sharing helpful content.

3. Facebook

As the largest social media platform in the world, Facebook boasts billions of monthly active users. It's usually the first network businesses create a profile on. For manufacturers, while it doesn't provide much lead generation value, it's a matter of audience. You can use it to show off the company and brand vibe.

Plenty of industry professionals, employees, and customers will follow manufacturers' pages in order to stay updated with the latest company events and news, such as corporate expansions, national and local media mentions, job openings, work anniversaries, new hires, staff outings, milestones, holiday party photos, as well as other events. Hence, Facebook helps you show the "human" side of the business and make connections based on the company culture.

If you want to expand your professional circle, consider using Facebook Groups. These online communities are focused on topics that improve industries and educate, and their objective is bringing people together.

4. YouTube

YouTube is a great social media channel for B2B marketing. Although filming and editing videos require some extra work, equipment, and knowledge, these clips are very helpful when it comes to landing potential customers and hiring highly-skilled people.

Videos can show people how your company produces products and serves the community. This way, visitors get a better feel of the solutions provided by the team. Some clip ideas are interviews with engineering experts, product demonstrations, and virtual tours. Make sure to properly use tags, descriptions, titles, and keywords in order to raise visibility.

5. Instagram

Instagram has become extremely popular in the past few years. With users spending more and more time daily consuming visual content, Instagram has certainly captured lightning in a bottle. For manufacturers, it's a great social media tool for culture building and recruitment.

Why should manufacturing companies use social media?

There are countless benefits to using social media. Here are some of the most important ones for manufacturing businesses!

Rank higher in organic search results listings

If your food and beverage manufacturing company is active on social media, it significantly helps the social profiles, as well as your website, show up on the organic search result listings. Once you type a relevant keyword for your industry, it only takes a millisecond for search engines to elevate what businesses are active or most active online. 

Improve employer branding

Much like having a website, having a few social media pages brands your company as being a relevant and trustworthy employer. Also, social media networks are some of the places future and current employers look at for fit with your corporate culture. Therefore, when hiring, you'll increase your chances that potential candidates find you and that those who apply for open positions are suited to the positions and the company.

It keeps your business top of mind

Think about it: whenever a prospect sees your posts, it will remind them of your products and services and lead to visits and conversions on your website and via email and form fills.