Making Social Media Work For Manufacturers
When I left Jon Olson a voicemail message, I was pleasantly surprised. In his recording he delivered the typical, “I’m not available to take your call,” but offered a unique twist.
“Please visit our website, SterlingSurfaces.com.”
It was just five words, but it told me right away that Olson, operations and communications manager for Sterling Surfaces, was serious about marketing.
When I did finally connect with Jon, my impression from his voicemail was confirmed.
Marketing Web
You name it, Sterling Surface has it. LinkedIn group? Check. Facebook fan page? Check. Twitter? YouTube? Flickr? Check, check, check.
What’s special about Olson is that he’s using social media in a business-to-business setting. I’ve heard from a lot of frustrated business-to-business marketers who’ve tried and then given up on social media because they found it didn’t work for them. Generally, social media is a no-brainer for consumer-facing businesses, but can be much more of a struggle for manufacturers.
But that hasn’t been the case for Olson and Sterling Surfaces, which makes pretty much anything you can dream up out of solid surface materials like Corian. While Corian is most closely associated with kitchen countertops, it turns out you can use the same stuff to make a variety of innovative things, including some pretty far-out looking furniture.
One advantage Olson and Sterling Surfaces has in the social media game is that a good portion of their customers are architects and designers who tend to be plugged into sites like Facebook and Twitter. Olson admits that he’s had a harder time reaching another portion of his customer base, millwork shops. But he’s had some success with LinkedIn, where he’s set up a discussion group for that customer base.
There’s hope
Olson said the key for any newcomer to social media is “starting slow.”
The other lesson Olson’s learned is that managing social media — at least for his 50-person company — doesn’t have to be a full-time job. He swears he’s “got it on cruise control.”
“When I first come in in the morning, I look at all my sites. Maybe I have some posts that I want to make, so I get those out of the way. Then, right before lunch and right before I come home, I check in again,” he said.
So, can every manufacturer have success with social media like Sterling Surfaces? Maybe. It helps to have someone as energized as Jon Olson on your team. And it also helps to have a culture like the one at Sterling that encourages creativity and experimentation. After all, Olson is the company’s production manager. In an old-school company he’d be prohibited from even thinking about marketing.
But Olson hasn’t got it all figured out. He admits that he’s the keeper of the social media keys in his shop. Which means if he takes a vacation, the sites go dark. So, he’s working on cross-training other employees.
“I have to admit, I haven’t taken a vacation this year,” Olson said with a laugh.
Got news for our Digital Diva column? E-mail Christina H. Davis at cdavis@wbjournal.com.
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