The United States Department of Labor Occupational Safety and Health Administration revealed an alarming statistic recently — “Workers in transportation and material moving occupations and construction and extraction occupations accounted for nearly half of all fatal occupational injuries (47.4 percent).”

Industrial-related jobs can be dangerous ones. Still, we need people willing to take jobs in the above sectors to support how we live and a thriving economy. Reducing injuries and fatalities in industrial and manufacturing workplaces starts with those educated in industrial safety being willing to share what they know. 

Want to bring attention to industrial safety and help people better understand and approach it? Consider a tried and true strategy: Create stand-out content around the subject and use social media to make it visible. 

Define your audience on social media 

A huge part of using social media effectively is knowing how to communicate with your particular audience on your chosen platforms. Everyone uses social media differently. We also have specific content and media interests that drive our engagements with brands and individuals on social media.  

Who are you educating on industrial safety? Who are you targeting with your content, media, and brand? You must define your audience on social media to help you better reach the people you want to with your content. 

Once you get a general idea of who you're teaching industrial safety to on social media, fill in the details. What are their demographics? What are their lifestyle behaviors? Where does social media fit into their lives and how do they navigate their favorite platforms? What kind of content do they consume?

You’ll create content people actually want and inspire them to engage with it the more definitive your social media audience is. 

Continuously educate yourself on what affects worker safety 

Social media is constantly evolving. New content is uploaded nearly every second. Platforms are rolling out new features. Algorithms are always changing. News users are signing up for various platforms daily. 

There’s constant movement on social media and you must remain relevant through it all if you want to reach people with your knowledge of industrial safety. Consistently providing your followers with fresh information on the subject will help you stay relevant. 

Continuously educate yourself on what affects worker safety and tips for reducing risks in manufacturing and industrial settings. 

Subscribe to email lists and digital publications that cover safety trends in the industry. Follow industrial safety experts and enthusiasts on social media and turn on their notifications to keep up with their posts. Don’t be afraid to delve into search engine research too. 

Stay current on these topics as well: 

• Injuries that happen while working in industrial settings; 
• Emerging training tools and programs; 
• Industrial safety hazards happening worldwide; 
• Technological innovations that support industrial workplace safety; 
• Companies in the industrial industry leading the safety movement. 

If you stay up to date on all things industrial safety you'll be able to share fresh, relevant information consistently that differentiates you from others tackling the same subject on social media. 

Social media content creation tips

When people hear content creator, they think of two specific scenarios. The first is someone who creates content, like newsletters, emails, and digital marketing materials for a business. The alternative is influencers or individuals who create new content for social media to interact with their following and potentially build an income stream through brand partnerships and other avenues.   

Whether you fall into the former or the latter, content creation for social media must be rooted in originality and what your target audience wants if you want the best chance at growing a following on social media. 

Creating great content around industrial safety starts with a strategy. 

Strategize your content 

You can put a lot of content out there and hope for the best. Or, you can be intentional about the social media content you publish to ensure it meets the needs of your target audience and produces the kind of engagement you're hoping for. 

Before you ever publish anything strategize your content:

• Who's involved in creating content? 
• How often do you want to publish new content? 
• What industrial safety topics do you want to cover?  
• How will you track the performance of each piece of content? 
• What kind of content do you want to publish on each social media platform you’re on?
• What kind of content do you want to create? Short and long-form videos? Images and written content? Infographics?

When you get your content strategy hashed out, you can move on to the fun part, creating actual content. 

Concentrate on community-focused content 

Reaching your target audience and growing a real presence on social media relies so much on your ability to create community-focused content. Community-focused content is content targeting your specific audience. You create it based on your community’s needs and interests. This shows that you not only know them but care about what they want, thus building trust and growing your audience on social media. 

Go back to what you learned about your target audience’s content interests, define those related to industrial safety, and share this content in entertaining, memorable ways. 

Leaders in industrial workplaces have so much to do with keeping their workers safe. But the responsibility isn’t all theirs. Individual workers shoulder some of the responsibility too. If you’re someone passionate about industrial safety, you can help workers become more accountable for their workplace safety by educating others on the subject and using social media to echo your messages.