As part of its ongoing fabricator support package, AluK has just hosted two free workshops on ‘Demystifying Social Media Marketing’. The response from customers to what were billed as ‘beginner’s masterclasses’ showed that, even though lots of fabricators are active on social media, many still feel they can benefit from some truly specialist help and advice.
The marketing team at AluK joined forces with the social media experts at Spaghetti Agency to give customers guidance on how to make the most of the various social platforms in this sector – from growing your audience to avoiding the most common mistakes.
There were plenty of helpful tips like using fixed content pillars to come up with ideas for posts and incorporating video as much as possible, and some really useful insight into the algorithms that dictate when and where content will appear in feeds.
Antoniya Stoycheva, AluK’s Digital Marketing and Communications Manager commented: “This really was a masterclass and every one of the AluK customers who came to both workshops said they found it valuable. There was help for commercial fabricators concentrating on LinkedIn, especially around using polls and creating carousels to increase engagement and real expert insight into the benefits (or not) of using scheduling tools. And there was lots of practical advice for trade and retail fabricators on using reels on Instagram and Facebook and addressing misconceptions around hashtags.”
One of the most common responses from the fabricators who attended the workshops was that it had given them the confidence to show more personality online. One said: “I’ve realised that we would get more followers and better engagement if had a bit more fun with our social media, showed our human side a bit more and didn’t look so corporate.” Another added: “Learning about content pillars made me realise we should stop dabbling and have a proper plan which includes devoting time to capturing video footage of the team behind the brand.”
There was though widespread recognition that where social media has the biggest impact in terms of generating enquiries and driving sales is in the B2C market.
Graham Todd from Spaghetti Agency added: “I was really impressed with how willing the fabricators were to embrace the opportunities that social media gives you to build your brand in a new and exciting way and how many of them acknowledged that it is about so much more than just generating likes.
“What came through loud and clear though is how dependent fabricators in the trade market are on their installers to create and share content of finished installations and how many of them were planning to share what they had learned on the workshop with their own customers.”
The success of the masterclass for fabricators and the feedback on the B2C opportunities has prompted AluK to stage a follow-up online workshop for installers. This will focus on Instagram, Facebook and TikTok and will be live on Tuesday 4 July, with a recording available to view afterwards. Installers can register their interest via: info.uk@aluk.com
