By Brian Robson
If It’s Important, It’s Social.
Here is a simple rule involving the use of social media: If what your business does is important, if what you do is of personal substance and professional significance, then you need to broadcast that news across every relevant medium. For if your role, or the role of the equipment you sell and the services you provide is indispensable to the success of this or that company, then the public should know about it; they should read about it, they should comment about it and they should share this material with others who care about it.
I write these words as someone fluent in those things that, while not examples of household name recognition, are nonetheless of global influence. I offer this aside based on my experience as the President of FD Johnson, a major retailer of the pumps, valves and lubrication systems that keep an organization’s machinery running.
I issue this summons to action because I know that the more transparent a company is – the more articulate that business is – the more likely the odds that trust will ensue with people in general and consumers in particular.
It matters, therefore, what a company says – what it chooses to disclose – and the means by which it achieves that goal. For example: If fans of a food brand know more about the intricacies involved with manufacturing a hit product like a protein bar or an energy drink, if they understand the vital part machinery (and the equipment that supports that machinery) plays in preparing and packaging these items, the greater the respect for that brand; the greater the promotion of that brand by current and prospective shoppers.
The point is, there is no limit to what these companies should address; there is no rule of exclusion about what these companies must address. Meaning: Even technical data – even something otherwise esoteric like a lubrication pump – is a part of a larger story.
Telling that tale is the reason why, through the inclusion of links, photos and videos, we have a chance to communicate with better clarity and conviction.
Put another way, everything is material for social media. Accepting that fact, and it is a fact, is critical to maximizing the power of this resource; which is to say, tell the whole story – details make the story come alive – so readers or viewers can better appreciate what you do, and why you do what you do.
And, since everything is relevant to conveying that message, make this content easily accessible – make it intelligent, yes, but intelligible, too.
These principles are a useful guide to leveraging social media for the good of all, on behalf of the interests of all.
We owe it to ourselves – we owe it to our audience – to bring these stories to life. Indeed, that is the very purpose of social media: To say something, and to say it well.
We would be wise to follow that recommendation.
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Brian Robson is President of FD Johnson, a leading supplier of industrial pumps, valves and lubrication systems. With more than 80 years of experience, FD Johnson ensures that a client’s machinery keeps running.
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