5 minute read
Social Media: An Opportunity to Improve the Fence Industry by Mark Levin
by Mark Levin, CAE, CSP
Executive Vice President, Chain Link Fence Manufacturers Institute
As soon as my friends see the title of this article, I know what they are going to say: “What? Mark Levin is commenting about the use of social media? I didn’t even know he could spell ‘social media’.”
Well, they’re wrong. Not only can I spell it, but I am also one of the biggest proponents of using social media to improve the fence industry. That does not mean that I am especially proficient in using social media on a personal level, because there seems to be a new platform popping up every day for people to use. There are nearly 200 of them out there, but I have never chosen to delve into SnapChat, Pinterest, Reddit, and most of the others. Like most people, I have limited time and I never thought it was worth it to overextend myself by participating in too many of them.
However, there is a significant difference between using social media for personal reasons and using social media for business reasons. In today’s business world, using social media is a must. I am just not sure the fence industry, collectively, is using it as much or as effectively as other businesses and industries.
Here are just a few of the most important reasons why fence industry companies should invest more resources into their social media programs, and what that can mean not only to their companies but to our industry, as well.
Social media can help the “brand” of the fence industry. The more fence industry companies there are actively participating on the major social media platforms, the more opportunities there are for the industry’s key stakeholders to realize that this is a multi-billion-dollar unique industry. It’s not just a part of the construction industry. We need financial institutions, government agencies, general contractors, engineers, specifiers, developers, architects, and many other decision makers to recognize the fence industry as a dynamic and important partner in their business.
Social media is indispensable in attracting new people to the industry – and to your company! Job fairs, career days at schools, and want ads used to be among the ways to find new employees for the fence industry, but times have changed. We can’t keep looking for new employees, we must get them looking for us. Social media is, by far, the best way to get young people’s attention and interest. Just the fact that you have an effective social media program is one way to impress potential employees.
Social media helps you influence the influencers. Sometimes that “connection” to your target market (customers, potential employees, media, decision-makers, etc.) is blocked by what used to be termed a gatekeeper but is now referred to as an influencer of some type. Social media can help establish your credibility with those influencers so your message a) gets through to your target markets and b) may also include some level of an endorsement from the influencers. For example, the fence industry needs to get the influencers such as teachers and career counselors in high schools, trade schools, and the military to recommend the fence industry as a potential career opportunity.
Social media is already part of your company’s resume. Don’t think for a minute that most (probably all!) of those people and companies you want to do business with aren’t checking you out on social media. What kind of image do you project when all they see is a website and a Facebook page?
Social media can create a unified voice (where appropriate) for the fence industry. There are not that many issues where all the various parts of the fence industry are on complete agreement. But there are some. Getting fencing considered an essential industry at the start of the
COVID pandemic was one of those. When these issues do come up, we need to have more than just fence industry organizations (CLFMI, AFA, etc.) contacting state legislatures and governor’s offices. We need the thousands of fence industry companies and their employees contacting them, too. Social media is the most efficient and influential way to make those contacts.
So, what can your company do to build this social media effort into something that can lift the entire fence industry? 1. Be a follower. Don’t just have your company’s marketing and sales departments following other companies and influencers. Get your employees to follow them, too. Many of these influencers will want to see you following them on social media before they will reciprocate and follow you. This effort can be multiplied if everyone in the fence industry would get their employees to follow the industry associations like AFA, CLFMI, NOMMA, etc. 2. In addition to “likes” be sure to add comments and reviews. To really get influencers thinking about the fencing industry’s size and stature, we need to let them see us be engaged in social media, not just participating in it. They will be impressed by comments and reviews coming from various parts of the fence industry. 3. Be sure to coordinate social media efforts with your company’s website. The power of social media can be measured. One of the most basic and important ways to do that is monitoring the activity on your company’s or organization’s websites. That is where the process of turning prospects (lured in by social media) into customers begins.
Social media is not the be-all and end-all (there is a term you don’t hear much anymore) of growing our industry. But, it is a useful tool for moving forward and will become even more important in years to come. This article is just to get you thinking about how you can use it in your company. Let’s talk about it more at FenceTech and beyond.
