Building a Campaign

Building social media campaigns is an important step in any business. I believe it is more important in the case of a medium to small business. When that business deals with the B2C and B2B business channels. This provides a tough challenge on what type of content to create for each consumer demographic. This is why I chose to develop a social media campaign with the company I work for now, Mid-Cape Home Centers. Mid-Cape Home Centers is a small/medium-sized building supply company located on Cape Cod and Southeastern MA. Their revenue streams come from a large channel of professional builders in the region. A smaller revenue stream is produced from walk-in consumer clients looking for ideas on renovations or picking up material and hardware needs. What makes our yard different than most lumber yards our size is we allow the consumer to shop here. Generally, yards this size would cater only to those with contractor licenses or are design firms.

Because of this, there have been challenges on how to divide the consumer business and the b2b business models. Before 2014 there was no social media presence for the company, and the consumer was destroying the reputation of the yard. Eventually, there was a campaign put in place to redevelop those relationships with the community.

As the company matures, there is a need to develop strategic campaigns for both of the revenue streams, and to also try to attract the branded “Prosumer”, or the hobbyist if you will. So far in this class, I have developed an understanding of market segmentation and not rely too heavily on social media platforms. It is critical to understand your target demographics and know their habits and where they will be in the digital environment. This is important when trying to develop leads. Just this week, this course provided me with an aha moment on where different segments will be in social media. While the consumer might be browsing Pinterest for renovation and remodel ideas, the builder they are going to hire is developing contacts with vendors and suppliers on professional networks.

I have also developed more of an understanding of the content that attracts different market segments. The consumer is attracted to catchy and aesthetically pleasing things, while the business owner is interested in forming relationships with companies and vendors that provide them with a knowledge base of the industry and have solutions for their production or procurement problems. A business is looking for efficiencies and cost reductions. This is not a conduit to the consumer in the same market looking to spend money on the builder that is procuring goods through your supply chain. These are some of the valuable lessons I have learned. I am putting them into focus as I get ready to develop inroads for a HOUZZ and LinkedIn campaign where content will be targeted towards contractors design-build firms.