Question

Topic: Social Media

How To Market Very Niche Products On Social Media?

Posted by Anonymous on 3/21/2016 at 2:44 AM ET 250 Points
Dear all
I am faced with certain questions and I hope to find some answers on this forum. I recently made the switch from journalism to content marketeer and have joined a established direct sales company which manufactures and provides fire safety and security solutions like fire extinguishers, fire alarms, smoke detectors, wireless smoke alarms and security solutions like vigil perimeter security, motion sensor lights etc . In the last 15 years or so , they have been happy to approach organisations and commercial establishments and directly sell their products. But now, they feel they need to include more of individual customers like the average house owner or the car owner and want to tell them why they should own a fire extinguisher or a security solution system.
Online marketing is a "new fangled" thing which they have recently adopted. We have set up an online shop and we have recently assembled a digital marketing team to increase sales through the online medium. So far i have initiated baby steps with things like infographics and blog posts and some fear marketing based ads but I feel for fire safety to really register in the minds of people i have to do something which seems out of my immediate grasp at the moment. Animated videos are something I have in mind but I am unable to correlate 'funny content for social media barring linkedin' with the products we sell.
Everybody seems to have social media advice when it comes to categories like food, travel and movies which I believe naturally find takers because of the nature of the content but very little advice seems to be out there regarding promotion of niches.

So, to cut to the chase, right now the objective is to
a. bring more new visitors to our social media platforms
b. also transform those visits to sales

So here are my queries

1. given that fire safety is such a niche topic here and it doesn't arouse much curiosity or alarm, how does one go about trying to evoke interest on fire safety through social media ?

2. Unlike most countries in the west, there is hardly any data in terms of statistics about the fire safety scenario. I haven't come across any people who blog about fire safety issues here. I doubt there are any.
How does one overcome these handicaps while trying to create meaningful content for the audience?

Apologies for this very long post but I will be more than happy if I can gain some insights from the learned members here.

P.S. I have written the usual blog posts on fire safety in the workplace, fire safety in high-rise buildings etc...
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  • Posted by mgoodman on 3/21/2016 at 10:54 AM Moderator
    I'm always skeptical about questions that put the media vehicle first. Why are social media the right vehicles for your marketing efforts?

    Who is the primary target audience? Where do they get their information on your topic today? What social media do they look to for practical information on your topic (if any)? How will social media marketing integrate with the rest of your marketing effort?

    Very often people jump to social media because they think it's free and/or it's the shiny new object in marketing toolkits. Sometime it works out. Sometime it doesn't.

    Before we try to solve your immediate problem, let's try to understand the basis for your strategic focus on social media and exactly how you will measure results. What does success look like for you? How many new visitors? How quickly? What conversion rate? Any budget limitations?
  • Posted by simpson.kayle on 3/23/2016 at 12:30 PM Member
    Establishing your target audience will answer 99% of your questions here. Who are you trying to sell to? Millennials? Moms? Business men? What platform you use and how you use it will be entirely dependent on who you are trying to reach. This is also crucial for niche marketing, and I'm a little concerned that a company that has established an entire marketing team for this hasn't considered the specifics of who they're selling to.

    A great resource for learning about building your target audience and how to market content to them, I highly recommend HubSpot's Inbound Marketing Certification. It's totally free and basically a requirement for working in content marketing. Should only take a day or two to complete too!

    Also, if you're deciding to work in content marketing, you should perhaps be a little more enthusiastic about online marketing - unless you were speaking on behalf of your company when you said "new fangled" - online marketing IS content marketing, and vice versa.
  • Posted on 3/28/2016 at 1:00 AM Author
    Hello mgoodman

    Sorry for the delayed response. Here are the replies to your questions. Thank you very much for your feedback so far.

    Why are social media the right vehicles for your marketing efforts?
    Almost everyone in my country, India, from an urban background is aware of social media and present there . One of the primary reasons for our presence on social media is for brand visibility and also outreach to our target audience.

    Who is the primary target audience?

    Primary target audience is between the age of 30 -45 who is social media savvy, has a middle class and upper middle class background and who is likely to invest in things that would mean better security for his lifestyle and way of living.

    Where do they get their information on your topic today?

    They primarily go to a search engine like google to search for keywords like 'fire extinguishers'.

    What social media do they look to for practical information on your topic (if any)?

    I don't think they look to social media for practical information on the subject but instead google the topic they want to know about.


    How will social media marketing integrate with the rest of your marketing effort?

    While our primary drive still remains in direct sales, the company wants to intensify the outreach on social media to create brand awareness as well as try to increase sales through the online shop by increasing visibility on social media.


    Having said the above, I feel there is no conscious awareness in the minds of an individual consumer about the need for a fire extinguisher or fire safety equipment but it is only searched for by people who have requirements for business or very few individuals who are convinced about the benefits of having a fire extinguisher or fire alarm in their homes. Fire safety for homes or cars as a subject is still not present in the consciousness of the non-businessman buyer.

    2ndly I believe we should not be on every social platform for the sake of being there. Google Plus, Linkedin and Twitter are all good platforms but I doubt how many of our target audience are present on these platforms. This is a view not agreed upon by my management.
  • Posted on 3/28/2016 at 1:09 AM Author
    Hello Kayle

    Sorry for the delayed response. Thank you so much for your response.

    I am with you on the need to take the hubspot inbound marketing certification. In fact, I am enrolled in it but yet to complete it. Our company has traditionally been a direct sales organization that sells to the corporate as well as government sector. We don't have showrooms or retail dealerships but our sales team directly approaches organizations and sells to them.

    Coming back to your question about target audience

    Who is the primary target audience?

    Primary target audience is between the age of 30 -45 which is social media savvy, has a middle class and upper middle class background and which is likely to invest in things that would mean better security for their lifestyle and way of living.



    We are on social media, as far as I understand it, to increase brand awareness and visibility and also generate sales for our online shop.

    And regarding your observation on being more respectful about content marketing, I was just speaking on behalf of the company. Personally, I believe content marketing is a great thing as it gives consumers a much needed break from a hard sell.
  • Posted on 3/28/2016 at 1:27 AM Author
    how can I edit my comments? Can't seem to do so.
  • Posted by Shelley Ryan on 3/31/2016 at 10:53 AM Moderator
    Hi Everyone,

    At the request of the asker, I am closing this question and refunding the points.

    Thanks for participating!

    Shelley
    MarketingProfs
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