Social Media Gurus... What would you do, your industry has no presence?

[donford]

You are tasked with creating a Facebook page for an industry which has a distinct lack of social media presence.

During your research for your industry or client you find none of their competitors are using social media to any large degree.

Reviewing the whys, you find that the demographics of people using Social Media outlets like, Facebook, Twitter, Pin Interest, and LinkedIn do not really fit with the industry.

Do you view this as a great opportunity for your company / client and push forward with creating a Social Media presence?

Or, do you inform your company / client based on your research, social media isn't a viable use of time or money?

Examples:

Plastic Manufacturing
Industrial Laundry
Tractor Trailer Wholesale
Copper Mining Equipment

I am interested in how the guru's handle clients / companies that don't necessarily fit the mold of social media, but ask and are willing to pay you to make it happen for them.

I am hoping this to be a good discussion as I don't see any right or wrongs in these situations. What would you do?

[polarking]

I wouldn't consider myself a guru but here is my two cents

Plastic Manufacturing Show pictures of people using the products (toys, show kids playing)

Industrial Laundry: Nice scenic hospital picture and hotels that use the service or if it is uniforms show workers in hard working conditions

Tractor Trailer Wholesale: !8 wheelers rolling down the highway with interesting statistics on the trucking industry

Copper Mining Equipment: Show the mining equipment and some of the specifications on mining.

[BenFox]

Having a presence on social media can be an enabler for other marketing methods. For example having followers on Twitter makes it a lot easier to get people to visit your blog which can drive links which in turn drives rankings and sales. Not to mention the potential for your client to set themselves up as a thought leader within the industry.

Even if you're just providing a curated source of industry specific information there's always something you can do on social media. Once I came across a maritime protection service who had a Twitter account that detailed all pirate activity off the coast of Somalia in almost real time. How cool is that?!

[blu42media]

I went to MozCon last year and a speaker presented info on just this sort of thing.... what to do when your niche category is relatively lame.  You might look at last year's presentations for some ideas.

This is a real opportunity!  Depending on your client reception to these ideas, you might want to take a look at a few things.  Decide on a social media tone that's appropriate and sales-worthy.

• Set them up as a leader in their field - authoritative tone and feel
• Offer up interesting material - who says it has to be business as usual?  As Ben mentioned about the pirates and creative posting - what if you inject some humor?  Laundry fails?  Cartoons/Comics?  Funny videos?
• Copper mining equipment ... sorry to say, that's pretty dry.  Wouldn't their potential contacts love some awesome humor interspersed with some helpful content.

Here's another perspective .... think about a big player like Pepsi.  Check out this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiP70pBUjuw&feature=related

Granted, big video, big budget ... but they were offering something memorable that really had little to do with drinking the product.

With a little creative thinking, that might be just the ticket for scoring decent returns in a tough category.