Content marketing for manufacturers: Good. Hastily implemented content marketing with no strategy: Bad.

For a long time now, one of the hot manufacturing topics has been the United States’ tariffs on imported Chinese goods. Many manufacturers are scrambling for answers and solutions as President Donald Trump continues to add to the list of taxed goods.

Research shows that today’s internet users prefer videos over text and pictures. (As a former print journalist, it kills my soul to say this.)

In 2019, OptinMonster reported that companies using video marketing see 66% more qualified leads per year. We know video is a powerful resource for influencing buying decisions

Videos will drive traffic to your site and keep your visitors there longer. A higher retention rate will be good for your SEO and search ranking. Furthermore, videos boost your conversions and reach decision-makers.

If you’re afraid of getting started because you “don’t know how to do video marketing,” stick to the basics that have proven ROI.

Analysis is the most overlooked part of sales and marketing strategies. Knowing what’s working -- and perhaps more importantly, why -- ensures you’re not throwing your money away on crappy campaigns. And what’s a better source of smug satisfaction than a chart showing how great your campaign is performing?

Your B2B organization is primarily focused on finding customers and generating revenue. That’s the case for most companies. But if you lack B2B brand awareness, demand for your services is not reaching its potential.

Before you start writing blogs, before you even start an inbound marketing campaign, you need to know who your audience is and how to talk to them. If you’re not truly speaking to them, you may as well be talking with a mouthful of crackers.

Where does a manufacturing lead come from? Like the age-old question a prepubescent kid asks his parent -- “Where do babies come from?” -- the question of how to get online leads as a modern manufacturer can be … uncomfortable.

Why? It seems daunting to grow from best-kept secret in the middle of nowhere to an industrial lead generation machine. And the truth is that many manufacturers and other B2B companies have websites that simply don’t give themselves a chance when it comes to generating leads. Or, if they do, they lack the email and social media marketing to supplement it.

What are 43 million Facebook Page posts telling researchers? That Facebook Page engagement is down 50%, and social media engagement strategies should be re-examined ASAP.

In a B2B climate, where most manufacturers exist, social media may not sound like a priority. Or, if social media is a "priority," it’s one that often gets pushed aside due to tight turnaround times and small staffs. That’s why we created this social media cheat sheet for the little guys and the underdogs -- like you.

You can’t just blindly do social media marketing because some guy at a business seminar told you to. Whether you’re running a Facebook business page, looking for leads on LinkedIn, or (hopefully) using multiple social platforms to spread brand awareness, you need to track what’s working -- and what’s not.