Use Social Media to Attract Young Manufacturing Talent

Nicole Wolter, president and CEO of HM Manufacturing Inc. Photo credits: HM Manufacturing Inc.

As manufacturing still struggles to fill vacant jobs across the globe, machine shops need to use every tool in (or outside) the box to showcase the benefits of a career in this industry. Nicole Wolter, president and CEO of HM Manufacturing in Wauconda, Illinois, believes a solid social media strategy is the best tool to reach high school and college students — the future of our workforce — who we must educate about this fruitful and rewarding career path. Production Machining asked Wolter, who finds much of her young workforce by offering internships to local high school students, about how her company uses social media and her advice when it comes to having an online presence.

PM: Why is it important for your company to have active social media accounts?

Nicole Wolter: I feel like manufacturing gets a bad rap because we aren’t targeting young people on social media. My company isn’t on social media to get work; we do this for manufacturing exposure. I decided not to pitch, not to say, “here’s what we can do,” but instead make manufacturing more inviting to more people. So, I showcase my employees and our diversity and the team aspect of my company. I do throw in product spotlights of something cool we are making, but it is always focused on what we’re doing, using the latest technologies and talking about the “how-to” instead of the sales pitch. I’m showing the interns and the 16- and 17-year-olds learning a new skill. And it is gaining traction. We see a lot of high schoolers on Instagram liking our posts, wanting to know how to reach a manufacturer in their area. We also use video to showcase our team.

I just opened a TikTok account because that’s where high school kids are, and they are on Instagram. They aren’t on Facebook or LinkedIn. So we need to do a better job of showcasing what manufacturing is by using those platforms.

PM: Have you designated someone at your company to manage these accounts?

NW: Yes. I have a 20-year-old college student who I’m paying to do my social media and marketing who has been working for me since she was 16. She’s written great content that’s not stale. I recommend hiring someone in high school or someone at a community college who is interested in marketing and let them run it and see what happens. That’s what I did. I was hesitant at first, too, but I figured, what’s the worst thing that’s going to happen? We aren’t going to get likes on social media?

PM: What are your strategies for engagement?

NW: Just last year, we only had 60 followers on Instagram, and now we have over 1,000.

We use Instagram stories a lot, and we can see who is viewing those. We learned to use alt text (text added to posted images) because that category is picked up on Google, so you get a larger share online when you do this.

I can see what kind of posts people like and what’s getting more traction. And you can play around with it to see what is working. You can target and see the busier times on the platform. Now that we are using reels (15-second video clips set to music), we are targeting even more people. And if you use hashtags that are related to the post that helps reach even more people and capture market data at the same time.

PM: How frequently do you post on Instagram?

Wolter says HM Manufacturing posts one to three times per week on Instagram. The company uses this platform to promote team members’ hard work, product spotlights and fun things the company does.

NW: We’ve decided to post one to three times per week. On Tuesdays, we will post something about the team, whether it’s someone’s anniversary, a new hire, a new skill someone is learning or training that has been completed for an apprentice or an intern. I’m more interested in posting about who my company is versus what we can do. Wednesdays we might show a product spotlight. Thursdays are up in the air. We might do something fun and show a grouping of parts with cool text or run a gif.

PM: How do you use TikTok?

NW: We will do some quick video, maybe a snippet of someone running something or a live feed shot that we splice and edit because you want to keep it at six to 10 seconds. But the beauty of TikTok is that it is shared so much that you can capture so many young people to show them what manufacturing is all about versus what they perceive it to be.

PM: What about LinkedIn?

NW: I think many companies are doing themselves and manufacturing a disservice on that platform because they use stale imagery, the content is overwhelming, the posts are too wordy and “salesy” and not innovative. People are going to like your content if it’s relevant, not “pitchy,” and if it’s something different and fun. We must start showing our plant floor whether it’s robots, automation and our younger generation at work. Manufacturing is inventive and we need to start thinking about what is up and coming and that’s GenZ in our workforce.

Follow HM Manufacturing on Instagram at @hmmanufacturing, TikTok at @hmmanufacturing and LinkedIn at linkedin.com/company/h-m-manufacturing/.

About the Author

Nicole Wolter

Nicole Wolter is president and CEO at HM Manufacturing Inc. and is on the board of directors at the National Association of Manufacturers and the Technology and Manufacturing Association. Visit hmmanufacturing.com.