Digital Marketing

Social media presents key opportunities for organizations to reach their target audiences.

By / Jessica Kirby • Photo courtesy of Tim Eads

The difference between a trend and a fad is longevity. A fad, like bottle flipping and bell-bottom jeans, is fashionable for a short time and then peters out, usually in less than a year. Trends, on the other hand, have staying power. They signify an enduring change in human behavior with the ability to influence markets and social norms.

As social media use has become more prevalent over the years, opinions about whether it is a fad or a trend have wavered with the most extreme positions predicting its eventual fizzling out. But since Facebook was launched in 2004, the function, form, and importance of social media has only grown, securing its position as an important trend and a mainstay in social, political, and marketing life. When it comes to business and recruitment, this can only mean one thing: if you are using social media to reach your target audience, you have an important advantage, and if you aren’t, it is time to start.

Lisa Bordeaux, consultant to the SMACNA-SMART Best Practices Market Expansion Task Force, and Paul Pimental, communications and research for SMART, presented on digital marketing through social media at the 2020 Partners in Progress conference.

“To best leverage social media’s reach, it is essential to understand who is using it and how,” Bordeaux says. According to the presentation, 90.4% of Millennials, 77.5% of Generation X, and 48.2% of Baby Boomers are using social media. “Sixtyseven percent of users do so to stay connected with family, friends, and colleagues, and nearly half of users are looking to reconnect with old friends and acquaintances,” Bordeaux says. “That says a lot about where people are getting information and recommendations they trust.”

Because it has surpassed fad status and become entrenched as an influential trend, social media marketing carries with it a certain credibility. People trust what they see, though not necessarily at face value. In fact, 49% of consumers rely on brand influencers when making a buying decisions (see the Augusst 2019 issue of Partners in Progress for more on brand influencers).

“Brand influencers and brand ambassadors are the people who can best carry our message because they are experienced and relatable,” Bordeaux says. “There is real power in that.”

Users spend an average 2.2 hours per day on social media and messaging, which means there is time to get their attention. But

how? First, by finding out who they are and what they are after.

The Best Practices Task Force and ITI delivered a series of surveys to young people to help build recruitment efforts. They wanted to now which social media channels where best suited for reaching the intended audience, what kind of messaging would be meaningful to new recruits, and who needed to deliver that message.

“Because most users are connecting with friends and family through social media, they are most likely to share and receive trustworthy information about career choices from friends and family,” Pimental says. “This is where the brand ambassador program was born. Brand ambassadors are the best of the industry. They are the ideal worker and they are relatable.”

To help channel the message, the Best Practices Task Force used the data it collected to create personas of their ideal recruits to better tailor their marketing messages. Consider the following persona. “Josh” is an 18- to 25-year-old high school graduate who likes welding, drafting, and gaming design. He dreams of financial independence and fears never finding a meaningful career. Josh wants to live the dream. He wants to be independent from his parents and he abhors debt. He’s not ready to start a family, and he hates the idea of sitting at a desk. He values his independence and meaningful work, and he is looking for the perfect career fit.

If you want to get through to Josh, you have top speak his language. You have to use videos and materials he can interact with and manipulate. Josh appreciates guides and lists; he relates to narrative stories of SMART members having success; and he appreciates checklists that show him exactly how to find and choose a great career.

Looking beyond Josh as an individual, recruitment efforts must speak to Josh’s entire generation. Research says Millennials and Generation Z want very specific things from their employers. They want help navigating their career paths, straight feedback, coaching and mentoring, sponsorship for formal development programs, and the ability to work within flexible schedules.

From their employers, they expect opportunities to develop skills for the future, strong values, customizable benefits packages, work-life blend/balance, and a clear career direction. Most importantly, they are hungry to learn. They want to learn technical skills, self-management and personal productivity, leadership, industry or functional knowledge, and creativity and innovation strategies—and it’s up to their employers to teach them.

“Making the research work for your organization means translating what you offer into what new recruits are looking for,” Pimental says. “The sheet metal industry offers mentorship, a clear career path, technical skills, leadership, strong values, flexible benefits, work-life integration and functional/industry knowledge—it’s up to us to show them how.”

For help leveraging social media in your digital marketing plan, reach out to the Best Practices Task Force via pinp. org. Its My Job is My Gym (#MJMG) campaign celebrates the physical benefit of a career in sheet metal and offers monthly prizes for participation on social media. Customizable marketing materials are also available, and three webinars have been scheduled for 2020. Download the presentation notes and resources from Partners in Progress Conference 2020 at pinp. org. ▪

Jessica Kirby is a freelance editor and writer covering myriad topics for publications across Canada and the United States.

Best Practices Market Expansion Task Force Announces Recruitment Webinar Series

The SMACNA/SMART Best Practices Market Expansion Task Force will be conducting a four-part webinar series throughout 2020 focused on the topic of recruitment. The Task Force has developed several resources designed to support local industry recruiting efforts. This webinar series will present new resources as they become available, in addition to the materials that are currently provided.

Hosted by Lisa Bourdeaux, the initial webinar in this series will be held on Tuesday, June 9 at 2:00 pm EDT (11:00 am PDT), and will include an introduction to several newly developed resources available to SMACNA Members: • A PowerPoint presentation to use when presenting to schools and guidance counselors;

• The website that is available for ordering customizable resources; and • An overview of future campaigns in the 2020 plan.

Additionally, the webinar series will provide updates on resources previously made available, as well as updates on Brand Ambassador winners and other relevant news.

Webinar series dates and times are as follows: • Tuesday, June 9 at 2:00 pm EDT (11:00 am PDT) • Tuesday, September 15 at 2:00 pm EDT (11:00 am PDT) • Tuesday, November 17 at 2:00 pm EDT (11:00 am PDT) Learn more at pinp.org/resources/recruiting/