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PCB Manufacturers Discuss Using Social Media, Part II
June 9, 2014 |Estimated reading time: 4 minutes
This is the second column of a two-part series in which PCB manufacturers discuss their use of social media. I want to impart to you the lessons that can be drawn from their experience.
Question: What didn’t you take into account? What required adjustments in either your thinking or your actions?
Keith Araujo, marketing manager, and Corbett Smith, marketing coordinator, with Epec Engineered Technologies say, “Probably time. There never seems to be enough time to do all the things we would like to using our social networks. And that different content is suited for different social networks. We found that what worked on one didn’t necessarily work on another.”
These are great lessons for anyone just starting in social media. Once a company hits their stride and becomes comfortable with social media, the creative juices really start flowing and you start thinking of all the things you could do. But you need to select the networks and the content that will have the most impact and be happy with that. Bob Burns, national sales and marketing manager at Printed Circuits Inc. in Minneapolis, answered this question in almost the same way: "It is a lot more work than I anticipated. There is always more I could be doing."
And, as Araujo and Smith point out, content that works on one social network doesn’t necessarily work on others. An obvious example would be that what works on Facebook may not work on Twitter. They have different formats (Facebook tends to be photo heavy versus Twitter’s 140 text character limit) to start with, and those formats lead to different expectations from users.
Question: What has surprised you about using social media so far?
Burns says, "I am truly surprised at the number of people we get coming to our website from LinkedIn."
And he wasn’t finished with his surprises at using social media: "We don't get any sales leads from our social media, but to be fair, my own content is fairly crappy. I need to have some better content for our social networks, but am leery of giving away proprietary knowledge. I guess I haven't found a comfortable balance there yet."
I love this comment as it encapsulates a lot of what social media is and isn’t: It’s humbling, and it’s inexact, and it’s about experimenting. And, as you can infer from his answer, it’s about being okay with that, and not giving up. His sentiment is echoed nicely by Judy Warner, director of sales and marketing at Transline Technology Inc. when I asked her a similar question.
Question: Given the different social networks and approaches you have tried, what would you have done differently?
Warner replied, "In the end, probably nothing different at all. Social media isn't something you can put in a box, it's learning by doing. Each thing you try is a building block for the next thing you try."
Question: How does your social media marketing fit with more traditional marketing such as tradeshows and e-mail newsletters?
"It's totally integrated. The idea is one continuous integrated voice and message. For example, we use social media to drive traffic to our tradeshows," says Warner.
Social media is part of a sales and marketing strategy. Many people seem to think that social media marketing is an either or: You can have it, but you will have to get rid of tradeshows. Um, why? If you go out and buy a new screwdriver, you don’t say, “Well, now I can’t use my hammer anymore” or “If I buy a screwdriver, how am I ever going to have time to use my hammer?” And yes, your argument about social media as an either/or does sound that silly.
Question: Have there been any unexpected benefits to using social media?
Warner explains, "People will start to see the huge power of cross promotion. If I write a blog post on the subject of RF it may get picked up and shared by Microwave Journal and then by Rogers Corporation. Then, if they have a post or an article I think would be of interest to our followers, I share their articles. Each of us is acting as a force multiplier for the other increasing our readership."
Most people think that the “social” part of social media is being able to use social networks to engage directly with followers, readers, or fans. And that's true, but what Warner is talking about here is the other part of social media: Sharing. Social networks make it easy to take content and share it with others, usually with one or two mouse clicks. In this case, Warner and her counterparts at Microwave Journal and Rogers Corporation leverage their content to share with readers.
So, cost to write the blog post: Zero. Cost to have two other companies share it with their thousands of followers: Zero. Advantage because 99% of your competitors don’t do this: Huge.Bruce Johnston is a sales consultant specializing in social media and especially LinkedIn. He has over 25 years experience in high-tech sales and management. He can be reached at brucej@practicalsmm.com or through his profile on LinkedIn.