4 Key Ideas to Benefit from Social Media in Business

10.10.13 11:59 PM By gdc-corelite

Social media has been rapidly increasing its penetration in users of all ages over the past years. Many of our friends and colleagues have at least one profile on a major Social Networking Site (SNS). This means that people, in general, are trying to stay more connected than before.

Social media is not only good for networking, but it is also an excellent platform to inform your latest news to the people that care, and get feedback from current and prospective customers. Through social media, people can express their desires, concerns or ideas to improve current and future products. It is all about ideas and innovation, and how useful it can be to learn what your customers want in the Research & Development process.

 

As this social trend continues to rapidly expand, there are constantly new SNS that are coming to the marketplace. Many of them, may not even be useful for your particular line of business. However, being present in at least one of the most widely known SNS can be very useful in many key ways.

 

  1. Learn New Techniques

Learning is a key part for what many people go to social media. There are many composites groups with hundreds of composite industry professionals that are willing to help you with questions and problems that you may have; you just have to ASK. This can be seen as a concise"consulting" service that you are getting directly from other industry professionals. And, if you know the solution to a problem, please also help solve it. This does not mean, however, that you will always find the best answer to your problem there, but it certainly can help you answer your query.It is an online community to exchange knowledge.

 

  1. Meet People that Want toMeet You

Social media is also an excellent tool to discover more people and companies that offer innovative products or services that can help you gain more competitive advantage in a variety of ways.There are many groups and discussions to join in social media, in many industries, including the composites industries. In LinkedIn and Twitter you may be able to find more suppliers, clients or even job postings, plus the opportunity to make connections with professionals that are looking for what you have to offer.

 

  1. Get Product Information

Social media is a great way to tell a story and let the world know about a particular product/service. You can learn about product information, technical specifications and why it is worth looking into it (or maybe not worth looking into it). This may also include reviews by other industry professionals, product testimonials, plus the best ways for you to use that product. The composites industry is driven by innovation, and this is an excellent opportunity to keep up to date with the latest composite technologies and how you can leverage these technologies to reduce your costs and/or increase your overall quality.

 

4. Give Feedback!

What if you had the power to greatly influence the Research & Development teams of manufacturers? Well…Now you can do just that. With the evolution of new social media technologies, by posting suggestions to the company's FacebookTwitter or LinkedIn profiles on what you would like to see in the next product launch, it is very likely that management will work towards a product that would satisfy clients’ requests. Manufacturers do care a lot of what customers have to say and in fact, we try our best efforts to meet those requests. Feedback can go from ideas and suggestions to complaints and congratulations. The bottom line here is that social media technologies are now enabling a closer relationship with the client and the supplier. The clear benefits of these relationships are improved customer service and a community where questions can be answered.


Social media is allowing many industries to improve the client-supplier relationship in ways that you would have never imagined before.


After reading this, you probably have realized the value of social media to find better opportunities and connect with professionals in your industry. Through SNS many professionals can learn how to save money, improve quality and even manufacturing processes. Most likely, you will be able to effectively leverage social media to achieve any of those results.

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