Communicating with a global brand has never been easier, transformed in recent years with the development and growth of new technology.
Today, there are many channels people use to access information offering brands both opportunities and challenges in managing those lines of communication with their customers.
As a member of the Dormer Pramet marketing and communications team, I am tasked with developing our social profiles and media relations presence to enhance global awareness of our company.
A key social media objective over the last 12 months has been to expand our existing profiles through engaging content and multi-lingual posts. Also, we have established a presence with new channels in China, such as YouKu, Weibo and WeChat. We’ve started to use live video streaming on Periscope and Facebook Live too and these growing platforms will be further expanded in the coming year, so watch this space!
There is a growing need for regular updates from the cutting tool industry and we aim to meet this demand by exchanging information on social media in an open, practical and honest way, creating a sense of community with our followers. Also, we provide customers with a channel to make product enquiries, search for information about us and contact our team in a personal and informal manner.
At Dormer Pramet we not only have a relatively new brand, following the creation of the company in 2014, but also one of the most diverse product ranges in the cutting tool industry. So we have a lot to tell people! Social media and press releases provide us with the means to get those messages out to a wide audience. And judging by the results, people are interested in what we have to say.
Last year, we reached more than 1.4 million people across our Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and YouTube channels – almost a 100% increase on 2015. More than 220 different posts were published, targeting a wide number of countries and languages.
We saw a 300% increase in ‘social referrals’ - the amount of people visiting our company website directly from social media. Read more about our website performance in a separate blog.
Meanwhile, we had more than 1,000 articles published in the media about Dormer Pramet. The coverage, including both print and online news, featured in more than 200 different publications across 30 different countries. This exposure in the media allowed us to reach a total circulation in excess of 100 million readers.
All these activities support our global marketing and communication strategy to raise awareness of our brand, inform our customers and partners about latest activities and provide knowledgeable expert advice to the industry.
Roll on 2017!
Steve Hutton
Communications specialist