Meet Sir Pep

Sir Pep doesn't work for sea haitch directly but they do have some fantastic ideas on generating content

Sir Pep???

You'd be forgiven for not having heard of Sir Pep. They generally prefer to be stay behind the scenes, making solid suggestions for content. It's a little known fact that much of the content we consume for technical products, via social media, is produced in forests by owls just like Sir Pep. Sir Pep is one of the most undervalued yet important members of your team when it comes to creating social media and posts that can really help elevate your technical product.

What do we mean by 'technical product'

Let’s start at the beginning. Whether a product can be defined as a 'technical product' is usually determined by the answer to these two questions:

1. Is it application specific? This is purposely broad, but effectively we are asking whether there are any parameters which need to be understood before deciding whether a. the product is correct for the end user, and b. which specific size / model of the product is required (if there are variants).

2. Is it dependent? Heat pumps are a great example of an applied or installed technology which is dependent on other components for operation. A heat pump cannot operate standalone, and needs to be tied in to a wider system.

   
   

There will be many definitions of what a technical product is, and how relevant it is to your social media content, but this is avenue we have gone down, and we're sticking with it. 😊

S-I-R-P-E-P

As if by design, Sir Pep's name also helpfully aligns with 6 key pillars of good content for any technical product.

Solutions - Show the product in real life installs. If your installation expertise or product USP leans towards something specific, such as high temperature heating, make sure that is shown as part of the install. Better yet, if your target demographic, for example, is customers who require high temperature heating for church halls which host hot yoga, show them an example of a project. Walk people through the installation with text or spoken explanations of key aspects. Mobile phone cameras are fantastic now, so provided you can record clearly and in a professional manner, the content will serve the purpose it's intended for. This type of content isn't meant to be 'evergreen', so it doesn't have to be perfect. Save the high production values for content that will sit on the website.

Insights - What are relevant things which are happening in the industry that other people may find interesting / useful. Just because you are involved in your industry day to day, don't assume that others are presented with the same information you are. That article from an industry magazine about a change to refrigerant charge in heat pumps may be something you've seen before, but don't assume that everyone else has. Share it along with your own thoughts.

Rhythm - Aim for 3 posts per week. There are 5 sections detailed here which give countless opportunities from where to draw inspiration for your content. Really try and weave this in to your day to day thought process. Ultimately, one of the key aspects here is consistency.

Partnership - Don't be afraid to showcase your relationships with customers, suppliers or other people connected to your business. If your partnership benefits both sides, talk about it. This not only raises your brands profile, but it also raises the profile of whoever you are talking about. Win win. Obviously, it goes without saying that you should get permission first before posting your relationships.

Expertise - Use these posts to show you know what you are talking about it when it comes to the design of your product, or how it's installed. Use this opportunity to really focus in on a specific aspect of the product or installation.

Proof - Do you have validated, verifiable evidence that demonstrates how your product performs? Brilliant! Leverage this data to prove how fantastic your product is. Don't just rely on your marketing information to tell the story. Single out a specific test point, metric or value and show that it can exist in the real world, not just in a laboratory condition.

The Ripple Effect

When writing content, don't limit yourself to things you think only your prospective customers may find interesting. Someone from your competition or even another industry may see your post and react to it bringing more eyeballs to it.

Sir Pep eloquently demonstrating how the downstream effect of post reactions can ultimately lead to benefits for you

Summary

Hopefully the above has given you some inspiration for how to tackle your social media content in the future, with the support of Sir Pep. The goal here is to demonstrate that social media posts don't have to be intimidating or overwhelming. Every day within your business, you'll be exposed to things that other people will find interesting, so don't be afraid to share it.