Do You Use Social Media?

I mean, really use it to drive business, thought leadership, or to create a buzz?  Celebrities are genius at making something out of nothing.  But we, in the industrial automation industry, have real value, and most of it is hidden in obscure white papers, behind dated collateral, and within busy and unproductive websites.
It takes time to focus and determine what you want the world to perceive you to be—but if you take a little time, and talk with your customers, partners, and sales people, the benefits are enormous.

For Invensys, we started with a small group of people that had interest and expertise in either a market, or industry, or set of products.  Our idea, very simply, was to make our voice heard, to educate, inform, and engage.  So we have a number of blogs that have to do with simulation, HMI, and for me, Operations Management.  We try to post relevant thoughts, or industry activities, to help our readers (and our employees) more up to date about what is occuring in our industry.

But you, as a reader, can benefit as well.  Promote your company’s goods with a blog.  Broadcast your thoughts on your industry through Twitter or Facebook.  Leverage your LinkedIn account to join groups that interest you, and comment as you see fit.  Like Wikipedia, every time you add something, you contribute to a collective knowledge base.  You help to keep our industry vibrant, and on the cutting edge.  And even more importantly, you help to keep us grounded.  Instead of touting our own solutions, by having you, the customer, involved, you make us sharper, more focused, and better tuned into the needs you have as an end user.  So keep on Tweeting, and use it to help all of us build out our stories, offerings, and value to you.