Top 5 social media channels for your marine business and how to choose the right ones
Every time I speak to a new prospective client I get asked which channels should they concentrate their efforts on. At SPC Marine Marketing, we have clients in the marine leisure market, marine commercial, and the superyacht industry. Over the last 5 years, we have adapted the channels we have used for our clients. We believe that today the 5 top social media channels for the marine industry are…
- YouTube
That does not mean to say that you need to use all the channels. I recommend that clients use at least 3 of these channels to get the widest reach in terms of potential clients. However, which ones will depend on their target audiences, budget, time, imagery available, the product, and whether or not they are selling to B2B or B2C or both. I will, therefore, discuss all the channels individually in order that you are better informed as to which ones will work best for your marine business.
It will come as no surprise that Facebook is still the largest social media site in the world. With 1.73 billion daily users according to statista.com. Facebook audiences are generally over 25 years old and a fairly equal split with regard to males and females. It is more suited to the B2C market but I would not rule it out for B2B especially if you are the manufacturer selling to dealers and distributors. It can be used for brand awareness and to give your dealers and distributors content to share. Even if you don’t think Facebook will work for your business and feel the other channels would fair better, you should consider having a Facebook presence. The reason for having a presence is that search engines such as Google, Bing, and Yahoo look at your Facebook page and the content you share affects your SEO positively.
Facebook has over the last decade declined in reaching your followers but there are many techniques you can use to overcome this. Facebook is always evolving and as a digital marketing agency, we change the techniques we use to ensure your products or services are seen by the people you want to see them. We consider the SEO value of the posts. The engagement potential. The audiences you are trying to reach, getting your audiences to your website, and who we can encourage to share your content.
So we would recommend a Facebook page for all our clients. The exception would be if you have few followers and you don’t have an advertising budget to spend to reach your audiences. Even a small budget of £1 a day can make a big difference in growing a loyal following and increasing your brand awareness.
Instagram is owned by Facebook and is the visual platform for your products. If some of your audiences are under the age of 40 and you have good imagery I would consider Instagram. It was designed for mobiles. This makes it easier to use for the vast majority of us who now browse on our phones. It is easier to reach new audiences with Instagram as you can grow your following organically and people can discover your page if you use the appropriate hashtags. It is great for B2C and used for B2B in brand awareness campaigns.
We recommend Instagram to all our clients who want to increase their brand awareness and be discovered by new audiences but they must have good visual content. We spend time growing their following and finding the right hashtags. We also create eye-catching graphics and videos.
YouTube
YouTube is a missed opportunity by many. If I tell you that YouTube is owned by Google and is the 2nd largest search engine in the World, that should be enough to make you want to utilise this channel. Obviously it does rely on you having video content but if you have a marketing budget and are not spending a decent proportion of it on video then you should be having a rethink. If your audience is below the age of 50 I would consider using YouTube. Because it is owned by Google you are going to reap some SEO benefits from it and if you optimise your YouTube channel your videos, you stand a great chance of your videos appearing in Google and YouTube searches.
For our clients, we manage their YouTube channels. We create video content, optimise their channel, upload videos, optimise the videos, add detailed descriptions, and share. It is not just a case of uploading a video. If you don’t optimise your YouTube Channel and videos when you upload them you are losing SEO value and the chances of your video appearing in searches. Learn how to optimise your YouTube Channel.
Twitter
Whilst Instagram may have overtaken Twitter in the social media rankings, it should still not be dismissed. When speaking to prospective clients the most common statement I hear is ‘I just don’t get Twitter’. You don’t have to get it. You just need to understand that it is great for B2C and B2B, relatively easy to grow a decent target audience and great for taking traffic to your website. Two-thirds of the people on Twitter are between the ages of 35 and 65. Of the 300 million active users a month 40% are very active i.e using Twitter multiple times a day.
With Twitter, we believe that retweeting is as important as your organic tweets. We retweet from influencers, clients, dealers and distributors. We post original content taking people to your website, we grow your followers but most importantly and uniquely we cross-market. We retweet your posts on our other clients’ Twitter pages. Assuming they have similar target audiences and obviously a non-competitive product or service. This increases the reach of your posts exponentially.
If you operate in a BtB market, offer any job-related service such as marine recruitment or training then you simply must have a good Linkedin presence. Whilst Linkedin does not have the high number of daily active users that some of the other channels have it is a case of quality over quantity. The earnings of the average Linkedin user is far greater than the average Facebook user. 45% of adults earning more than £60,000 per annum are on Linkedin.
We can manage personal Linkedin profiles and/or business profiles. This depends on many factors and something we discuss at length in our initial consultation. If you are a BtB marine business and not investing time and effort into Linkedin you are missing quite a few tricks. Find out how to network effectively on Linkedin.
Your next steps
I hope this has given you some useful information regarding where you should be focusing your efforts. If you are still confused or want to discuss outsourcing your digital marketing to the marine social media experts at SPC Marine Marketing then please get in touch. We will happily take a look at where you are and give you our thoughts for FREE in a consultation document and we will not send you annoying emails or calls afterward. Please call Heidi on 07804906261 or email heidi@spcmarinemarketing.com
