The brief
A quick overview of the business: Houghton Hams is a well established producer of high-quality meat products based in Northampton.
A family run business, they celebrated their 40th anniversary in 2023 and have won prestigious awards.
But while Houghton Hams were a long-standing, successful company, they were yet to focus on their digital footprint and their social media presence.
Until late 2023, when they partnered with Social with Ryan for B2B social media management. The brief was to launch, establish and grow the brand across social media, with a particular focus on LinkedIn to develop B2B opportunities.
2024 success at a glance
Our LinkedIn management approach for Houghton Hams
With the business being over 40 years old, it was clear from the beginning that they had a rich story to tell.
But it needed a structured approach, with a well thought-out strategy.
So that came first – we ran a strategy workshop to understand what Houghton Hams wanted to achieve, what they wanted to be known for, and who they wanted to be known to.
From there, Social with Ryan established four core content pillars aligned with the business, each with key connection points and storylines that would resonate with the target audience. A visual look and feel was also developed, using their existing brand assets to create social-first designs.
And it was then time for action, delivering our done-for-you social media management package, which covers:
- Strategy
- Content creation
- Day-to-day management
- Proactive outreach and engagement
- Monthly, quarterly and yearly analysis
Building a consistent LinkedIn content strategy
Every business has a story to tell. And your target audiences will be interested in your story.
Houghton Hams is no different, and theirs stretches back to 1983.
But they weren’t telling it on social media. Their channels were posting once every few weeks, at best.
Luckily for me, they’d captured much of their story in photos and the family could re-tell many tales from years gone by.
Although a story is only worth telling if it’s delivered in an effective way, for social media.
It was our job to do exactly that – draw the tales out and craft them into impactful social media content that would resonate with our B2B audience.
Take this, for instance, a celebration of Nigel and Jo’s (the founders) wedding anniversary.
It was also Social with Ryan’s responsibility to manage the flow of content, ensuring we were showing up regularly across LinkedIn, with consistent posting and engaging.
↳ The result: The creation of a consistent content engine, producing up to 12 posts per month throughout the year.
Driving engagement through LinkedIn content
One key connection point with our target audience is a love of food.
And being a food producer, naturally, we wanted to include food in our social media content.
To do that, and to create content that drives engagement, we developed a series of food-based polls that would divide opinion and create conversation.
For instance, how crispy do you like your bacon?
Or, what’s your condiment of choice on a ham sandwich?
They’re simple, easy-to-understand questions, with a clear visual example, that everyone has an opinion on.
And people were happy to share those opinions!
↳ The result: The company page received more than 1,500 comments on posts in 2024.
The business impact of LinkedIn management
Watching the green percentage increases on LinkedIn follower numbers, impressions and engagements is satisfying.
But it’s not the numbers that show the real impact of social media – it’s the business impact behind them.
The results Social with Ryan really love to hear from our customers are:
- “We’ve got a new opportunity through LinkedIn.”
- “Our customers have mentioned our social media in meetings.”
- “Our staff have noticed the posts and are enjoying seeing us shout about them, their work, and the business.”
And that was feedback that we regularly hear Houghton Hams in our monthly meetings.
While the numbers are great and show an indication of brand growth, they don’t paint the entire picture.
But feedback from this business showed that professional LinkedIn management was doing so much more than just increasing their followers, impressions and engagements.
↳ The result: The social media activity was having a direct impact on business performance and staff morale.
"Social with Ryan turned our social media into a major talking point. In every meeting with new or existing clients, someone always mentions how engaging and interesting our content is. We receive constant compliments, which is a testament to their creativity and dedication. Ryan's such a great guy to work with that we even invite him out to our socials!"
Joe Nicholson
National Sales Manager
Houghton Hams
If your business has B2B priorities and LinkedIn hasn’t delivered for you yet, let’s change that. Get in touch with the Social with Ryan team to discuss LinkedIn management for your business.
