As part of its ongoing fabricator support package, the AluK team hosted two free workshops on ‘Demystifying Social Media Marketing’. The response from customers to what was billed as ‘beginners’ masterclasses’ showed that, even though lots of fabricators are active on social media, many business leaders feel that they can benefit from some specialist help and advice, according to AluK’s representative. The workshops took place on 20 April in London and on 5 June in Leeds.
The success of the masterclass for fabricators and the feedback about B2C opportunities prompted the AluK team to stage a follow up online workshop for installers. This took place on Tuesday 4 July, and a recording of the workshop is available to AluK installers.
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 various social platforms. The training covered advice on–growing an audience and avoiding common mistakes.
Helpful tips were also offered, like using fixed content pillars to come up with ideas for posts, and incorporating video as much as possible. Additionally, insight was given into the algorithms that dictate when and where content will appear in feeds.
“This really was a masterclass,” said Antoniya Stoycheva, AluK’s digital marketing and communications manager. “Every one of the AluK customers who came to the 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 expert insight into the benefits (or not) of using scheduling tools.
“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 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 we had a bit more fun with our social media, showed our human side a bit more and didn’t look so corporate.”
Another fabricator 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.”
Graham Todd, Spaghetti Agency’s director, said: “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.”
